Teasels

Today's the day ....................... for medieval clothmaking

Back in the day, the town of Kendal was famous for the manufacture of woollen cloth. The woven lengths of cloth would be rinsed and hung out to dry on wooden frames known as tenterframes on which there were tenterhooks to hold the cloth in place.

Once the fabric had been dried, it would be shaved or sheared to remove the fuzzy bits on the surface using a pair of shears, the design of which had remained pretty much unchanged since Roman time.

The next process was called napping or teaseling. This was to raise the nap of the fabric enough to give it a soft, smooth finish and was done by grooming the cloth with the head of a teasel plant. Though metal and wood tools were tested for this step, they were considered potentially too damaging for fine cloth, so the teasel plant continued to be used for this process throughout the Middle Ages.

They were important enough to find their way on to Kendal's Coat of Arms .............