Faith and the blanket makers

Witney, like many small towns away from the larger population centres, had an open society unhindered by local manorial constraints or the repressive guilds that became a problem in larger towns. Craftsmen and tradesmen were able to develop and expand their business freely. Weavers, like other craftsmen traders, often started from modest beginnings as cottage based concerns and then developed into larger businesses.

Charles Early in the mid-19th century.

This independent spirit of enterprise in Witney arose alongside a growth of religious freedom and Non-Conformity. First recognised as 'Dissenters', the Non-Conformists grew in prominence in the town, eventually equalling and exceeding the position of the Established Church of England. These Dissenters were important to the development of Witney from the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The tradesmen, particularly blanket makers, clothiers, fullers and weavers, were among the independent tradesmen that later became prominent leaders of the community and major employers. They included such families as Early, Marriott and Smith. Typical of these was Charles Early, an innovative Victorian entrepreneur who did much to bring blanket production into the mills and who was in his day a lay preacher and lifetime supporter of the Methodist movement. Similarly the life and work of William Smith, the founder of Bridge Street Mill, was underpinned by his faith, from the time that he first went to Sunday School until his adult days when he attended church often twice a week. He was greatly influenced by the preachers that visited Witney.

William Smith (copyright D. Smith).

The Society of Friends ('Quakers') were probably the first to establish a meeting house in Witney, having sited one on Woodgreen by the middle of the 17th century. The Congregational Church and Methodists also established meeting houses. At first the Methodists met in a weaving shed in Corn Street, which was licensed as a meeting house for their use in 1817. This was soon outgrown as the numbers attending swelled to make the building of a new chapel on the High Street necessary. By the late 18th century the Methodist movement became the main Non-Conformist group in the town, no doubt encouraged by the 'thunder and lightning Christians' who came to the church following a sermon on Woodgreen and the violent storms of 1783 that followed, when 83 converts were brought to the church.

The Wesleyan Methodist Church of 1850, Witney High Street.

This High Street church soon became too small, therefore a 'Tea Meeting' was organised in John Early's blanket warehouse at Newland in 1849 where the proposal for a new chapel was discussed. The foundation stone of the new building was laid in 1849. Coins of the realm were placed under the stone along with a parchment containing the names of the church committee. Members of the Sunday School then stepped up and each received a bun served from the stone. The building was completed in 1850.

William Smith recalls how as a boy he was greatly influenced and educated by the Sunday School movement of the Methodist Church. The first Sunday School was an old thatched building next to the chapel. As it grew new premises were required, and the pupils brought along a penny every week to help fund the new building. This burden was lifted with John Early's financial involvement in the development of the new chapel and Sunday School. The Early family have continued to be important local benefactors in the church's development and refurbishment. They also contributed to financing the Primitive Methodists Chapel in 1869. Charles Early gave the site for the minister's house on High Street.

The relationship between the Established Church and the Non-Conformists in Witney has almost always been an amicable one. The Church accepted the Non-Conformists as they occasionally attended Church, as did their leaders from time to time. Probably more importantly the Non-Conformists always paid their tithes. The absence of resident vicars, some of whom rarely visited the town but depended on paying a local curate to maintain church life, also eased this relationship. The local Church even undermined the Bishopric's over-zealous actions towards the Quakers, local pragmatism winning the day. On at least two occasions Quakers were appointed as town bailiffs, a role usually reserved for the Established Church members. No doubt an important factor was the economic balance of power, which lay very much in the hands of the Non-Conformist mill owners. Although they were all ardent Methodists they still held deference to the Established Church, which put ecclesiastical matters in balance. It was commented even as late as the 1940s by an incoming incumbent, that in his previous parish the Church ran everything but in Witney it ran nothing.

The high point of Methodism in Witney contrasted with a low ebb in the parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, which was said to be virtually unusable due to disrepair. Despite this the Anglican community built a new church, Holy Trinity on Woodgreen in 1849.

Early 19th century engraving of St Mary's Church, Witney, the Anglican parish church.

In the later 19th century relationships between Non-Conformists and the Established Church became ever closer, fostered by joint projects such as the foundation of the National School and the formation of a Temperance movement. Occasional disagreements did arise but these were seldom protracted or allowed to hinder the permanent relationship. This spirit of cooperation even saw Methodists assisting with the repair of the parish church; this attitude continues today and can be seen in ecumenical movements such as 'Churches Together in Witney'.

William Smith joined the Temperance movement and formed the Temperance Society brass band. He was also an important influence as a founder of the Witney Town band. This was very successful in national tournaments and competed favourably with larger more established bands. The Temperance movement ideals were taken up by several mill owners such as James Harold Early, who having taken the pledge maintained a teetotal household at his home in Newland. It is told that when blanket buyers came to his house for lunch, they thought they were going to get cider to drink and were disappointed to receive a non-alcoholic equivalent known as 'Cyrax'.

Teetotalism even extended to the Tuckers' Feast, an annual event given by the weavers to the tuckers in recognition of their important role in blanket making. This was always held on Shrove Tuesday, the Tuesday before Lent. It is reported that due to the influence of a teetotal Non-Conformist mill owner and it being held in the Friends' Meeting House on Woodgreen, no alcohol was allowed at the Feast. This did not go down well with the tuckers who visited The Three Pigeons pub immediately before the Feast, crossed the green for their meal and sang the tuckers' song 'Wonderfully Curious', then repaired to The Three Pigeons again after it was over. Eventually it was decided that one bottle of beer per man should be allowed but it must not be seen, this lubricated the proceedings a little and made it a more sociable occasion.

James Early was very involved with the Boys' Brigade, founded at the Methodist Chapel. He regularly organised Boys' Brigade camps on the Isle of Wight assisted by Brigade leaders from London. Witney Boys' Brigade would go to camp for two weeks each year. James would some times stay for six weeks organising the camp, and occasionally took his family. At the outbreak of the First World War, James Harold Early along with other old Boys' Brigade men from Witney volunteered and joined the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. James was severely wounded in 1915; he convalesced at home and was due to return to the front when the armistice was declared.

Richard Early in later life, handweaving (he was also Chairman of Early's).

This experience may have influenced his son Richard to be a conscientious objector in the Second World War, which led him to be enrolled in the Friends Ambulance Unit. Richard was sent to the Russo-Finnish War after which he went to Greece. He was captured when Germany invaded Greece and held in a Prisoner of War camp; he spent the rest of the War working in a German hospital.

The Methodist Church built in 1850 was replaced by a new building in the 1990s; this incorporated meeting rooms for clubs and groups and has become a recognised centre in the middle of Witney.

References
Smith unpub.
Townley 2004