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Kidderminster had been a textile producing town since medieval times. During the reign of Henry VIII, its industry had been protected by statute, along with that of a number of other Worcestershire towns. By the seventeenth century, Kidderminster cloth was the only textile industry to survive and flourish because of the town’s ability to adapt to changing needs and tastes. Already famous for its broadcloths, the town rapidly gained a reputation for producing what was known as “Kitterminster Stuff”, which was used mainly for bed coverings and wallhangings.

By the early 18th century, this industry was experiencing a decline and enterprising stuff weavers started to look for a replacement product. In 1735, John Pearsall was the first person to introduce carpets, as we would recognise them, to Kidderminster. They were not floor carpets in the truest sense of the word but were more like wall hangings. Known as “Ingrain”, they later came to be known as “Kidderminster” and later as “Scotch”, when the process was exported to Scotland. Initially, their success was limited, due to stiff competition from Wilton carpets, thought to be superior products. Over a period of about fifty years, the production of this new type of carpet overtook the production of the more traditional worsted trade.

In 1749 further developments took place, thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit of John Broom, then a leading stuff manufacturer. There are several versions of how he achieved this and it is difficult to prove any of them with a 100% certainty but all have more than a hint of industrial sabotage. He travelled to Brussels, Tournai, or Wilton and returned with both the plans for a new type of loom, the Brussels loom, and immigrant workers, settling them in the Mount Skipet area of the town. Whatever the truth of these stories, Pococke, a traveller, in 1751, noted that Kidderminster was now making carpets “the same as Wilton”.

Lord Foley, lord of the manor of Kidderminster, recognised the need for new housing for the carpet weavers who were now flocking to work in the town in the mid-18th century, and the potential of extra rental revenue for himself. Kidderminster became synonymous with carpet weaving. In 1753, John Doharty’s 1753 Plan or map of Kidderminster showed some 150 new houses, neatly laid out in courts, along with two buildings clearly marked as “Carpet Halls”. These can be identified as the first two carpet factories of any size, leased jointly by John Broom and John Pearsall. By 1758, these two buildings contained thirty-two looms between them. In 1788, the traveller John Byng described Kidderminster as flourishing, with a great demand for its products, meaning carpets, both at home and abroad.