The usual
aids were also expected to be paid.
A large village also had a smith, a wheelwright, a millwright, a
tiler and thatcher, a shoemaker and tanner, a carpenter wainwright
and carter.
Markets were about twenty miles apart because a farmer from the
outlying area could then carry his produce to the nearest town and
walk back again in the daylight hours of one day. In this local
market he could buy foodstuffs, livestock, household goods, fuels,
skins, and certain varieties of cloth.
The cloth was crafted by local weavers, dyers, and fullers. The
weaver lived in a cottage with few and narrow windows with little
furniture. He worked in the main, and sometimes the only, room.
First the raw wool was washed with water at the front door to
remove the grease. Then its fibers were disentangled and made fine
with hand cards with thistle teeth, usually by the children. Then
it was spun by a spinning wheel into thread, usually by the wife.
The threads forming the warp of the fabric were fastened parallel
on a double frame, of which the two ends rose and fell alternately
and were worked by two pedals. To make the weft, the weaver threw
a shuttle between them, from one hand to the other. Since one loom
could provide work for about six spinners, he had his wool spun by
other spinners in their cottages. Sometimes the master weaver had
an apprentice or workman working and living with him, who had free
board and lodging and an annual wage.
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