This series has examined the economic and social prominence of sheep-rearing and the wool trade for centuries between the Middle Ages and the Victorian era, employing many of our ancestors and literally shaping the rural and urban landscape. However the 19th and 20th centuries witnessed immense changes in the British woollen industry, as output declined and established companies closed or amalgamated in the face of changes in fashion, the advancement of synthetic fibres and surge in overseas production of cheap textiles.

Earlier generations would have noticed the marked shift, especially in areas where the manufacture of woollen goods was prominent and provided work for the local population. In some cases change came relatively early: for instance, in eastern England the production of fine Norwich shawls made from silk and wool was a major industry employing large numbers of people in the early to mid 1800s, yet plummeted in the later 1800s as shawls fell from fashion. In the Midlands the production of frame-knitted hosiery using wool from Leicestershire sheep was centred on Leicester, Loughborough, Hinckley and Castle Donington. In 1851 an early steam-powered factory was established in Leicester and in 1865 Edwin Corah started building the St Margaret’s Works, which became famous for hosiery and other garments, from football shirts to bathing costumes. This vast factory complex occupying over four acres eventually employed over 1,000 people, but closed during the 1970s recession.

Many woollen districts were affected by the new Victorian railways, which improved communications for some but left other areas behind, struggling to compete with better-connected rivals. Some regions have specific stories to tell: for example, in Yorkshire after WW2 and especially during the 1960s, many people from the Indian subcontinent arrived and worked in shifts around the clock in local woollen textile mills and factories; when the industry declined, many Asian families used redundancy payments to set up their own successful companies. Another theme has been the combining of smaller manufacturers into larger, more profitable concerns, allowing some to survive, although many floundered: the flagging wool industry was strikingly reflected in the falling number of wool workers from some 270,000 in 1890 to about 50,000 in 1980.

Although our modern British woollen industry is much reduced, a few manufacturers continue to produce high quality woollen goods, enjoying an impressive global reputation. And the long history of sheep and wool is entrenched in the English language in pub names like The Ram and The Woolpack; street names, field names and surnames recalling the old occupations, including Fuller, Tucker, Dyer, Weaver, Walker and Shearer; and popular sayings and phrases such as ‘spinning a yarn’, ‘a web of lies’ and ‘on tenterhooks’.