home page   what's new?   email bobtrubs@indigogroup.co.uk to request updates (please mention the Vale of Belvoir Chronicle) or to offer new information   Vale of Belvoir Chronicle only WWW   This site sponsored by   Heart of Albion

Lacemaking in the Vale Former lace factory, Church Lane, Stathern. Around the end of the eighteenth century a significant number of framework knitters lived in Bingham. But elsewhere in the Vale the hosiery trade seems not to have been important. Indeed the Duke of Rutland actively resisted the trade in the villages he controlled in the south of the Vale. Michael Honeybone in his 1987 book The Vale of Belvoir states that in the nineteenth century many hundreds of women in the Vale were lace runners. Dealers based in Nottingham supplied them with machine-made net lace. Their role was to embroider decorative patterns. Lace was first knitted by machine in the 1760s and was sold through the town of Nottingham along with other products from the knitting trade. During the nineteenth century production steadily shifted from domestic 'outworkers' to purpose-built factories, mostly in south-east Derbshire and south Nottinghamshire. But there was one 'outlier' at Stathern in the Vale of Belvoir. John and George Braithwaite (who seem to have farming ancestors in Plungar) converted from framework knitting in 1841 by setting up a small factory of Leavers lacemaking machines. About 1881 they erected a purpose-built factory. The large windows in their factory, with many small panes of glass, allow plenty of natural light. According to Sheila Mason's 1994 book Nottingham Lace: 1760s-1950s this factory employed at least twenty-three operators in the 1880s. This factory is now a Grade II Listed Building because it is: … an interesting and rare survival of a small-scale village factory, linked to the prolific local lace industry which originated in Nottingham in the late C18. The Listing also states: despite the building being primarily utilitarian in nature it has some good architectural detailing including brick cornice and decorative Flemish bond principal façade creating a ‘chequerboard’ effect; the building has seen relatively little alteration and its original use is legible with C19 windows and open factory floors, alterations related to its later use as an engineering works have been relatively minor in nature. About 1920 the building ceased being used for lacemaking and was bought by Stathern resident Bob Allen who used it as a small engineering company. He widened the entrance, added an extension to the south, and installed two cranes made by Herbert Morris in Loughborough. Bob's son Stephen subsequently continued the business. The building ceased being used as a workshop about 2020 according to two different 'locals' I met outside the building in November 2025. Further information historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1486471 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leavers_machine Sheila A. Mason, Nottingham Lace: 1760s–1950s: The Machine-made Lace Industry in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire (Sutton Publishing 1994) Back to top of this page     Back to home page   This website does not gather or store any visitor information. Copyright Bob Trubshaw 2025 No unauthorised copying or reproduction except if all following conditions apply: a: Copy is complete (including this copyright statement). b: No changes are made. c: No charge is made. www.hoap.co.uk/chronicle

Chronicle entries home page what's new? the geology of the Vale the boundaries and rivers of the Vale long, long ago prehistory in the Vale prehistoric boundaries in the Vale north-south prehistoric routeways Romans roads in the Vale Roman settlements in and near the Vale long ago introduction to Anglo-Saxons place-names of the Vale waterborne transport around the sixth century Orston's early church Anglo-Saxon sculpture in the Vale why Orston lost out to Bingham and Bottesford what the Normans did for the Vale Granby's importance in 1086 Granby's lost castle the Vale's watermills in 1086 Romanesque sculpture in the Vale St Remigius why Bottesford is in Leicestershire the Vale in medieval times medieval gargoyles of the Vale Eastwell's chancel screen St Ethelburga's church other early saints Elston's old chapel Muston and Long Clawson saltways of the Vale the Vale's medieval tile collection the Vale in Tudor times Dissolution in the Vale not that long ago the Vale in the C17th the 'great and the good' of the Vale Bottesford's effigies 'wicked practice and sorcerye' the whales on the Whalley memorial Car Colston's bigoted GP cum JP the Vale's very own regicide Wiverton Hall five rare C17th fonts in the Vale pinfolds and pounds in the Vale dovecotes in the Vale the Vale in the C18th turnpiking the Vale gravestones and C18th trade routes goodbye 'Belvoir Angels' C18th gravestone carvers in the Vale Daffy's Elixir the Marquess of Granby Stilton from the Vale springs and spas of the Vale outstanding organs in the Vale Grantham canal changes in the Vale's agriculture since 1800 Eastwell's recusant priest house and chapel Colston Bassett's ruined church seems like yesterday windmills in the Vale stained glass in the Vale village life in the southern Vale 1850 to 1880 folklore of the Vale Flintham museum lacemaking in the Vale gypsum pits in the Vale brick and tile works in the Vale ironstone quarrying in the Vale ironstone railways ironstone quarries of Leicestershire (YouTube video) The Vale's railway stations Orston's famous architect Mothers Union banners of the Vale redundant telephone exchanges in the Vale WWII airfields and pillboxes in the Vale the Vale in 1944 location shooting at Belvoir Castle Screveton's giants researching and writing local history the Vale as a verb getting started free advice from 2005 asking curious questions (YouTube video) local history groups in and around the Vale Aslockton (Cranmer LHG) Bingham Heritage Trails Association Bottesford Eastwell Harby Harlaxton Hickling Redmile archive Belvoir Villages History and Memories Group Belvoir Angel Society Grantham Canal Society you may also be interested in free PDFs written by Bob Trubshaw Earliest Churches in Nottinghamshire How Anglo-Saxons Found Their Way Anglo-Saxon Leicestershire Conversations in Churchyards Little-known Leicestershire and Rutland Bob Trubshaw's YouTube channel Introduction to medieval carvings Anglo-Saxon and Romanesque carvings How Anglo-Saxons found their way Anglo-Saxon shrines at fords Meetings at triangles Rota's Land and Franni's Land Reading Romanesque fonts Church and manor The significances of square headdresses Early churches and waterborne trade Charnwood slate gravestones and C18th trade routes Ironstone quarries of Leicestershire Roman roads in north-east Leicestershire Salt ways in Leicestershire Why Melton Mowbray needed to called 'middle town' Evolving Anglo-Saxon agriculture Nottinghamshire's earliest churches Ploughs not piety? Economic regeneration in the C7th Were Anglo-Saxon weaving huts women-only places? Barrowby Until Now website Rutland Village by Village website Sepulchral Effigies of Leicestershire and Rutland