Hucknall: A brief history of the manufacture of Shetland shawls and falls in the town

Twenty years ago, in 2002, I applied for a research grant hoping to write a book about Hucknall's textile industry.

It had to be a 'Living History' community project which meant that although the earliest documentary evidence yet found dated framework knitting and the textile industry in Hucknall back to 1687, I had to research nearer to our own times.

The eventual decision was to start with Hucknall textile workshops and factories beginning in the 1850s when the innovation of making unique Shetland shawls and falls began. Some of the people I interviewed recalled that their parents and grandparents had been involved in this new type of work.

In his book 'History of Hucknall Torkard', J. H. Beardsmore tells us "about the year 1852 the 'Shetland' hosiery industry sprang up and gradually gave employment to the men who had been engaged in 'spider-work' stockings and gloves."

Apparently "Mr. James Wood bought a knitted fall in the Shetlands and asked Mr. Robert Widdowson, postmaster and stocking maker if he could make something similar on a frame".

The task was submitted to the Farrands and Ben Woollatt who managed to adapt a frame for this new kind of work.

Very soon, other knitters were engaged in this type of manufacture.

The earliest shawl and fall makers I had found at the time (2002) recorded in different documentary sources were:

1855 Woollatts making Antimacassars and falls

1864 Rhodes Shawls and falls

1864 Saxton's Shawls and falls

1864 Hardy's Shawls and falls

1864 Raynor's Shawls and falls

1877 Hucknall Manufacturing Shetland Shawls

1879 Buck Jno. & Bettison Geo. Shawl manufacturers (West Terrace)

"About the year 1884 Mr. H. Rhodes introduced the manufacture of Orenburg shawls". These imitated "the knitting of the peasant women of the Caucasus and Western Russia. So fine was this work that a shawl measuring two yards square, containing from a million to 1,300,000 loops, and weighing less than 2 ½ ounces can be pulled through a finger ring."

Surprisingly it wasn't until the 1950s that automatic machines could make the shawls as fine as the ones handmade by the men working in the frames. The last shawl making business in Hucknall was Hucknall Manufacturing which was still busy in 2002 but closed shortly after I finished the project.

The above list is of manufacturers of Shetland goods I found then but gradually other information is located and data needs to be changed. I wonder if your family has memories of Hucknall's shawl making industry, if so, it would be good to hear from you.

Incidentally just in case you didn't know: A Shetland fall is a veil put over a babies face to keep flies away.

If you are interested in finding out more on this topic, both books referenced in this article: 'History of Hucknall Torkard' by J. H. Beardsmore, and 'Factories and Fabrics' by Maureen Newton, are available to borrow from Hucknall Library.