Weaving: The earlier period

The information in this section is supplied by Thelma Morris

The most usual sort of loom in use from the 15th century to the 19th was the four-poster counter-balanced type. These were typically fitted with four shafts operated by foot pedals. Each contained the correct number of heddles to weave a cloth of a particular type. Specific looms mentioned in inventories at the time of the ‘Strangers’ included, saye looms, bayes looms, lace looms, damask looms, velours looms, and mockado looms.


No hand-looms of the early period survive to the present day. Images from manuscripts are limited in accuracy but indicate that they varied slightly in design. Essentially the hand-looms were constructed with a frame of four square posts. The posts were made from oak or occasionally other strong hardwood. They were jointed and held together by tenons secured with wooden wedges. The loom had to be geometrically accurate and of substantial construction, so that it did not distort under the considerable forces it was placed under during the weaving process. It might be secured by wooden struts to the building to help provide additional stability. When several looms were found in one workshop, they might be secured to each other by additional cross-beams. Once correctly set up, hand-looms required only occasional maintenance.

Although terminology used and actual design varied, each variant of the hand-loom had the following parts:

1. A warp beam or roller which held the unwoven warp. This was placed under constant and even tension using counterbalanced weights hung from a rope wound around the beam.

2. Nearest the weaver, the warp threads stretched onto the horizontal breast beam (sometimes incorporating the cloth beam on which the finished cloth is rolled).

3. Upright shafts operated by treadles (pedals, lams) allow the weaver’s hands freedom to operate the shuttle and batten ( or beater). Upon these are mounted the heddles (healds, havels) through which the warp is threaded, and a mechanism (levers or tie-ups operating in conjunction with the pedals) to raise or lower the warp threads according to the pattern requirements.

4. The batten incorporated the slay (or reed) which knocked the weft into place after each pick (single weft row) and controlled the width and the set of the cloth. It also held the shuttle race (or channel). The shuttle held the weft yarn and ran across the loom from side to side to produce a row or pick.

Handlooms could be of a simple type with two pedals and two shafts which produced a basic tabby weave. Or they could take a four shaft arrangement allowing for a wider variety of fabrics such as twills and bird’s eye patterns. Standard four shaft looms were capable of producing a very wide range of fabrics. Four posted looms could also be adapted to take various refinements including extra shafts, extra warp rollers, compound harness, a roller for woven pile fabrics or a draw-loom montage.

Draw Looms

Draw looms were used to produce cloth with more elaborate patterns. A monture (or mounting) positioned above the main frame held extra heddles and mails weighted by lingoes. These looms were particularly associated with top-of-the-range Norwich fabrics such as worsted damasks and brocaded fabrics like tappisado. The beautiful ‘fillover’ shawls also used draw-looms. They required two people to operate them. The weaver set up the warp by reference to the pattern he was to reproduce. A draw-boy, sitting on a swing arrangement half way up the loom, then pulled up groups of warp threads according to the design supplied on point paper. This allowed more variety of design than on a four shaft loom. The draw-boy was often the weaver's son learning his trade.

Jacquard Looms

The ‘Jacquard loom’ was a mechanical attachment invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard in 1801. The mechanism uses holes punched in cards and lashed into a continuous chain to produce the patterns. The holes allowed the spring loaded needles to remain forward and hook onto the rising griffe which by raising the warp threads in the correct order. Each hole in the design links to a hook linked to the harness which guides the warp threads either over or under the weft to produce the pattern. Each punch card corresponded to one row of the design. The cards were strung together and ran through the mechanism at the top of the loom; hundreds of cards strung together were needed to make the final piece. Once correctly set up, the production of perfect patterns was much easier. The setting up of the warp was an extremely skilled and time-consuming job. Sometimes the same long warp was often used to produce variants of one design, making them slightly more economical to produce.

The Jacquard looms were used to produce huge shawls and with elaborate swirling or floral ‘style vegetale’ designs which are typical of the 1850s and 1860s. These luxurious shawls were sent to all the international exhibitions of the mid-19th century as evidence of the art and skill of the Norwich weavers, where they won acclaim for manufacturers such as Towler and Campin, Clabburn, Sons and Crisp and C & F Bolingbroke & Jones.

Jacquard mechanisms could be operated on hand looms for working in individual weavers’ houses or workshops. They required a high ceiling and so more often, they are associated with power weaving in factories. The invention has proved an enduring one: jacquards are still used today on computer controlled looms using thousands of hooks to achieve a complex design.