|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
The dressing shop was the only non-cottage based part of the process. It was carried out by men known as "Croppers", compared to the numbers involved in other processes their numbers
were small. The Croppers were highly skilled craftsmen upon which the end quality and hence value of the finished product depended. A well finished cloth's value could be increased by a third. Entry to the trade was
strictly controlled and an apprenticeship had to be served, the skill was often handed down from father to son. They even formed their own institution operating much like masonic societies.
They were well
paid, for example an inn keeper of the time was quoted as saying "The cropper lads drink three times the amount of ale per night the spinners do!". Records show the croppers were indeed being paid at least three
times the wages of most labourers.
The craft that earned them such great esteem and wages involved raising the napp, (loose fibers in the cloth). This was done by stretching the cloth over an upright frame
known as a "nelly" and combing it with teasels attached to a wooden frame. The cloth now with a raised napp would have a fluffy, furry surface that needed to be removed, this was done by laying the cloth over a
"cropping board" (a long narrow table with a curved surface). The cloth would then be pulled taut using a system of hooks and lead weights. Next, the cropper would use the huge cropping shears who's blades were
curved to match the cropping board to crop away the nap This resulted in a cloth with a smooth and even surface. The job was slow and laborious, the cloth needing to be continually advanced over the cropping table,
the shears themselves weighed in excess of 40lbs. The strength the croppers used to weald these shears would later be put to a less constructive purpose.
|
|
