The railways played a role in deciding which regions would specialize in woollen weaving.
It is, first, a polemical discourse that trumpets the advantages of the worsteds or ' stuffs ' over traditional woollens.
A string stretched before the fireplace displayed 'a quantity of black woollen stockings, almost footless for want of repair'.
So had a notion that the production of worsteds was less exploitative than woollens, whose workforce was dependent on wealthy putting-out clothiers.
All three were known as manufacturers of woollen textiles.
It is clear that, about 1920s, cotton as winter-wear was on the way to extinction, replaced by woollen garments.
At the same time, imported better-quality woollen garments altered tastes and introduced new standards.
The remaining woollen companies either disappeared or merged with others into larger modern joint-stock companies in the 1860s and 1870s.
