A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE Newbury were the great centres of the manufacture, which extended itself to other neighbouring towns and villages. Of Abing- don, Leland stated that in his time ' the town stondith by clothing.' The records of Reading and Newbury abound with refer- ences to the skill and prosperity of the clothiers, of the fame of ' Jack of Newbury,' of John Kendrick, and many others who wrought well and worthily and brought prosperity to their native towns and county. For a full account of their achievements we would refer the reader to the special section relating to Cloth-making. Besides its rich fleeces Berkshire has few natural products which tend to encourage other industries than agriculture. Of modern developments of its resources it is proposed to treat later. It may be well now to glance at the records of early industries which flourished in the chief centres of the population, and to con- sider the condition of the traders and their craftsmen. One of the earliest industries which flour- ished in Berkshire and rendered the county famous was that of Bell-founding. There was a foundry at Wokingham in the four- teenth century ; in the fifteenth it was owned by Roger Landen and later on by John Michel ; and the Knights, John Carter and others flourished at Reading, and were the makers of some of the best rings in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire and Oxford- shire. For a further account of this im- portant industry the reader is referred to the special section dealing with this subject. In the eighteenth century malting was one of the principal trades of the county, and an extended notice of this industry will appear later in the section on Brewing. There seems to have been a considerable trade in candle-making at Wallingford at the beginning of the eighteenth century, as revealed by the records of the County Ses- sions, and apparently unrecorded elsewhere. In 1732 one John Sexton forfeited 100 for using his private storehouse for laying and keeping candles for sale ; he also forfeited 50 for making a ' course ' of candles without having given a declaration to the proper office. A century later we find that the industry was still in existence and was represented by Edward Button, soap-boiler and tallow chand- ler, in St. Martin's Street. 1 A new industry was introduced into Reading by William Wimpery, ' wire drawer,' who was admitted to the freedom of the borough in The list of trades at Reading in the time of Elizabeth shows that the making of pins was carried on in the town. There were three pinners at that period. In 1633 John Barnard, pinmaker, of Wargrave, approached the Corporation for the purpose of establish- ing a pin-making business in Reading ' for setting poor boys on work.' He asked for a convenient room for his people to work in, and convenient lodgings for himself and his family. He engaged to set in work ten or more boys, and offered the not very remunera- tive wages of 1 2 d. to 20 d. a week, nor would he find them meat, drink, apparel nor lodging. His offer seems to have been accepted by the Corporation, though no record of the order appears. But in 1640 Francis Thackham, a pinner, pays for his freedom and receives 30, which Mr. Barnard had in his hands upon security, and such convenient rooms in Mr. Kendrick's building as may be spared, he keeping six boys from time to time in work. 3 The scheme of Mr. Barnard had evidently prospered. ' Mr. Kendrick's building ' was the famous Oracle, 4 which continued to be the chief seat of the industry until pin-making ceased in Reading with the destruction of the Oracle about the middle of the last century. The trade was not confined to ' Mr. Kend- rick's building,' as in the same year John Mihell, a ' pynmaker,' is allowed to use his trade in the borough on payment of 20 shil- lings. The introduction of pin-making into Reading corresponds with the time when the home manufacture of this article began to grow more extensive and regular, and to supersede the foreign trade, which is said to have been so large in the reign of Elizabeth that 60,000 a year left the country to pay for the import of pins. The charter of the Pinners' Company of London was granted in 1636, some years after the introduction of the industry to Reading, though they existed in the city some three centuries earlier, and were allied to the Girdlers' and Wire-workers' Companies. The charter of Charles I., how- ever, stimulated the industry, which found a congenial soil in Reading. The trade con- tinued to be carried on in Reading through the seventeenth century. At the beginning of the eighteenth century the industry was carried on at the Oracle by Mr. Henry Deane, and provided employment for many poor persons, not only in the Oracle but also in their own homes, particularly in the heading part, which was principally performed by children by means of an engine worked by the 1 Pigot and Go's. Commercial Directory, Berks, 1830, p. 60. a Rec. of Reading, ii. 90. s Ibid. iii. 508, 510. 4 Vide infra, Clothing Industry. 378
