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Archiver > BUCKS > 2002-12 > 1038757852


From: "Toni Skidmore" <>
Subject: Re: [BKM] Parchment and Lace Making
Date: Sun, 1 Dec 2002 09:52:08 -0600
References: <5.1.0.14.2.20021201105224.009efec0@pop.freeserve.net> <5.1.0.14.2.20021201131437.009f9040@pop.freeserve.net>


Kevin, thanks for the wonderful site, and thanks also (to Kevin and Eve!)
for your marvelous replies on the subject.

The light portion of the question has already been answered, but having
ancestors who were lacemakers in the 1800s, I remember reading something
similar to the following about the occupation in the book "The Millennium
History of Finmere" [OXF] (paraphrased, not a quote, as I don't have the
book with me):

Lacemaking was a very difficult occupation as the ladies who performed it
had to cope with poor lighting, long work hours, and would often develop
poor posture from hours of stooping over their (lace) pillows. As a result
of this (and the new feminism coming into play in Victorian times?) the
occupation had largely died out by the 1880s, and in 1881 only two women in
Finmere still practiced it.

This could help to explain why there was only one "Parchment Pricker" to be
found in Bucks in the 1881 census. I suspect that lacemaking also became
industrialized (i.e. done on machines) not too long after this.

Cheers,

Toni Skidmore
Chicago, USA

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin Quick" <>
To: <>
Sent: Sunday, December 01, 2002 7:18 AM
Subject: RE: [BKM] Parchment and Lace Making


> I have just found the following web page which goes into great detail
> regarding Candle Stools etc. and has many photos and pictures.
>
> http://lace.lacefairy.com/Gallery/LaceLamps.html
>
> Kevin
>



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