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A tenterground, tenter ground or teneter-field was an area used for drying newly manufactured cloth after fulling. The wet cloth was hooked onto frames called " tenters" and stretched taut using "
''The London magazine; or, Gentleman's monthly intelligencer, Volume 25'', London, 1756, p.564
/ref>), and also covering large areas of
A tenterground, tenter ground or teneter-field was an area used for drying newly manufactured cloth after fulling. The wet cloth was hooked onto frames called " tenters" and stretched taut using "tenter hook
Tenterhooks or tenter hooks are hooked nails in a device called a ''tenter''. Tenters were wooden frames which were used as far back as the 14th century in the process of making woollen cloth.
The phrase "''on tenterhooks''" has become a met ...
s", so that the cloth would dry flat and square.
It is from this process that some have the expression " on tenterhooks", meaning in a state of nervous tension.
There were tentergrounds wherever cloth was made, and as a result the word "tenter" is found in place names throughout the United Kingdom and its empire, for example several streets in Spitalfields, London and Tenterfield House
Tenterfield House is a category B listed building in Dunbar Road, Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland. It was built in the 18th century as a two-storey private residence. A three-story wing with tower was added circa 1860. The house was used as ...
in Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland, which in turn gave its name to Tenterfield
Tenterfield is a regional town in New South Wales, Australia. At the , Tenterfield had a population of 4,066. Tenterfield's proximity to many regional centres and its position on the route between Sydney and Brisbane led to its development as a ...
in New South Wales, Australia.
London
The Spitalfields Tenterground was established in the 17th century by Flemishweavers
Weaver or Weavers may refer to:
Activities
* A person who engages in weaving fabric
Animals
* Various birds of the family Ploceidae
* Crevice weaver spider family
* Orb-weaver spider family
* Weever (or weever-fish)
Arts and entertainmen ...
, who were Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Bez ...
refugees fleeing religious persecution. Their weaving industry led to the area becoming a centre of the garment industry
Clothing industry or garment industry summarizes the types of trade and industry along the production and value chain of clothing and garments, starting with the textile industry (producers of cotton, wool, fur, and synthetic fibre), embellishment ...
(the rag trade
The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of yarn, cloth and clothing. The raw material may be natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry.
Industry process
Cotton manufacturi ...
as it became known colloquially), with names such as Fashion Street
Fashion Street refers to a cluster of over 385 street side clothing shops on MG Road near Azad Maidan and is opposite to Bombay Gymkhana, in South Mumbai, India.
The market is located just opposite VSNL
Tata Communications Limited (pre ...
and Petticoat Lane
Petticoat Lane Market is a fashion and clothing market in Spitalfields, London. It consists of two adjacent street markets. Wentworth Street Market is open six days a week and Middlesex Street Market is open on Sunday only.
The modern market
...
still extant.
It was originally an area of open ground about 150 yards square, surrounded by the weavers' houses and workshops in White's Row
White's is a gentlemen's club in St James's, London. Founded in 1693 as a hot chocolate shop in Mayfair, it is the oldest gentleman's club in London. It moved to its current premises on St James's Street in 1778.
Status
White's is the oldes ...
, Wentworth Street, Bell Lane
A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an intern ...
and Rose Lane (the last of which no longer exists).
By the 19th century, the Flemish weavers had dispersed, and in 1829 the Tenterground was developed for housing. From about 1850, it was populated by Dutch Jews (see Chuts
Chuts is the name applied to Jews who immigrated to London from the Netherlands during the latter part of the 19th century. They typically came from Amsterdam and practised trades they had already learned there, most notably cigar-, cap- and sl ...
), to be joined later by Jewish refugees fleeing persecution in eastern Europe (see pogrom
A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russian ...
).
During the early part of the 20th century, the Tenterground was largely demolished for redevelopment, but some old buildings remain in and around the area, including Flemish weavers' houses and an early Dutch synagogue which was formerly a Huguenot chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common type ...
. Another former Huguenot chapel is now a mosque.
Rocque's 1746 map shows further tenter grounds between Bishopsgate and Moorfields, adjoining "Mr Witanoom's Vinegar Yard" (''i.e.'' Cornelius
Wittenoom/ref>), and also covering large areas of
Southwark
Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...
. Lower Moor Fields, east of Finsbury
Finsbury is a district of Central London, forming the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Islington. It borders the City of London.
The Manor of Finsbury is first recorded as ''Vinisbir'' (1231) and means "manor of a man called Finn" ...
, connected to Long Alley northwards, was a cloth washing area with cloth pegged to the ground to be stretched and dried.
References
{{reflist Dutch-Jewish culture in the United Kingdom History of clothing Textiles Industrial history of London