Historic Trades and Crafts of Morpeth

Morpeth was a working market town long before it became a commuter town. For centuries its economy was built on leather, wool, and the weekly market, and the trades that sustained it were organised into powerful guilds that controlled who could work, what they could make, and who could sell it. The names of those guilds survive in the historical record and their legacy is woven into the fabric of the town.

The Seven Trade Companies

The medieval and early modern corporation of Morpeth was governed by seven incorporated companies of freemen -- the trade guilds that controlled economic life in the borough:

1. Merchant Tailors -- makers of clothing
2. Tanners -- processors of animal hides into leather
3. Fullers and Dyers -- cloth finishers who cleaned, thickened, and coloured woven fabric
4. Smiths -- blacksmiths and metalworkers
5. Cordwainers -- shoemakers and leather workers
6. Weavers -- cloth producers
7. Butchers -- meat processors and sellers

Freedom of the borough was tied to membership of one of these companies. To trade in Morpeth, a man had to be a freeman, and to become a freeman he had to be admitted to one of the seven companies -- either by birth (as the son of an existing freeman) or by serving a seven-year apprenticeship.

Best for: Morpeth's seven trade companies controlled who could work and sell in the town for centuries. Freedom of the borough required membership of one of the guilds.

Tanning and Leatherwork

Tanning was one of Morpeth's most important industries. The process of converting raw animal hides into usable leather required a reliable water supply (the River Wansbeck), a supply of oak bark (from the surrounding woodlands), and space for the tanning pits where hides were soaked for months at a time.

The Tanners were one of the wealthiest of the seven companies. Closely associated with them were the Cordwainers -- the shoemakers who turned the finished leather into boots, shoes, and other goods. In 1762, there were 55 cordwainers (boot and shoemakers) working in Morpeth, a remarkable number for a small market town and a sign of how central leatherwork was to the local economy.

Tanning was not a pleasant trade. The process involved scraping flesh from hides, soaking them in pits of lime, treating them with animal dung, and then immersing them in tanning liquor for up to a year. Tanneries stank, and in most towns they were banished to the edges of the settlement, usually near running water.

Morpeth's tanning industry declined through the first half of the 19th century and had all but disappeared by 1850.

Weaving and Cloth

Morpeth was also a centre for wool processing and cloth manufacture. The Weavers' Company and the Fullers and Dyers' Company were both represented among the seven guilds, reflecting the importance of textiles to the local economy.

The fullers cleaned and thickened newly woven cloth by pounding it in water -- a process originally done by foot (the word "fulling" derives from the same root as "foot") and later by water-powered fulling mills. The dyers then coloured the finished cloth using natural dyes derived from plants, minerals, and insects.

Like tanning, the cloth trade declined in Morpeth during the first half of the 19th century, unable to compete with the mechanised mills of Yorkshire and Lancashire.

Best for: By 1850, both tanning and cloth manufacture had all but disappeared from Morpeth, swept away by industrial competition from the great mill towns.

Blacksmithing

The Smiths' Company was the guild of Morpeth's metalworkers. Blacksmiths served both the town and the surrounding agricultural communities, making and repairing tools, shoeing horses, forging gates, and producing the ironwork that was essential to daily life.

In a market town like Morpeth, the blacksmith's shop was typically near the market place, where farmers coming in for market day could have horses shod and tools repaired while they conducted their business.

The Market

Morpeth was granted its market charter in 1200, and by the mid-18th century the market was one of the largest in northern England. The weekly market brought farmers, traders, and craftspeople together and was the engine of the town's economy.

The cattle market was one of Morpeth's most important institutions, drawing livestock buyers from across Northumberland. The market place in the centre of town -- still the heart of Morpeth today -- was where all of this commerce took place, surrounded by the shops, inns, and workshops of the town's tradespeople.

Bagpipe Making

Northumberland has its own unique musical instrument -- the Northumbrian smallpipes, a bellows-blown bagpipe that produces a distinctive sweet, quiet tone quite unlike the Highland pipes. Pipe-making was a specialist craft practised by a small number of highly skilled makers, and Morpeth's connection to this tradition is preserved in the Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum, which holds over 120 sets of pipes from across Europe.

The museum's collection includes the instruments and tools of William Alfred Cocks, a master clock-maker and pipes enthusiast whose collection forms the core of the museum.

Evidence That Remains

• The Chantry: The 13th-century building on Bridge Street that now houses the Bagpipe Museum was originally a chapel for travellers and tradespeople crossing the bridge.
• The market place: The wide central space where Morpeth's market has been held since 1200 remains the heart of the town.
• Bridge Street and Newgate Street: The medieval street pattern, with long burgage plots running back from the main thoroughfares, reflects the layout of a working market town where tradespeople lived above or behind their shops.
• The River Wansbeck: The river that powered the fulling mills and supplied the tanneries still flows through the centre of town.

---

Frequently Asked Questions

What trades were practised in Morpeth?

Morpeth's seven medieval trade companies were the Merchant Tailors, Tanners, Fullers and Dyers, Smiths, Cordwainers (shoemakers), Weavers, and Butchers. Tanning and cloth manufacture were the most important industries until they declined in the early 19th century.

Was Morpeth a tanning town?

Yes. Tanning was one of Morpeth's most significant industries. In 1762 there were 55 cordwainers (shoemakers) working in the town, reflecting the scale of the leather trade. The industry declined and had all but disappeared by 1850.

What is the connection between Morpeth and bagpipe making?

The Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum on Bridge Street holds over 120 sets of pipes and preserves the tradition of Northumbrian smallpipe making. The collection includes instruments from the master clock-maker and pipe enthusiast William Alfred Cocks.