Method of production

The caddows were only ever produced on a hand loom.  The weight of the yarn used made them unsuitable for production on a power loom, and were always woven from cotton.  During the weaving process two weft shuttles were used, one containing a binding thread and another with a thicker ‘double’ folded yarn, the latter also known as candlewick.

This candlewick thread was picked up with a ‘reed’ hook or ‘picker’ after every two lines of binding thread (known as a ‘double pick’) to form the short loops known as ‘knops’, which formed the patterns on the quilts.

In the highest quality quilts knops were picked up at every double pick of binding weft; on medium or ‘full’ quality quilts on every alternate double pick and in low or ‘radical’ qualities on every fourth double pick. Although the weaving method was relatively simple, a great deal of skill was needed to place the knops in the rows of weft to form the patterns over the counterpane.

Labour intensive

The caption to an illustration of a hand-made ‘knopped’ counterpane depicting St George’s Church in Bolton from 1800 , records that it took around six weeks per quilt, with 60 knops raised in every square inch of pattern.  The caddows seem to have been produced in the houses of the weavers, with several references and photographs of the counterpanes being made in the basements of cottages.

An article in the Manchester Guardian from 1907 includes an interview and photographs of a counterpane weaver in the cellar of a cottage.  In the museum accession registers it is recorded that the Wilson caddow was woven in a cellar in Turton Street. 

Weavers employed by larger companies

The caddow weavers were employed by larger companies who provided them with work.  The caddow presented to the Bolton Coroner in 1846 on behalf of the Counterpane Weavers Association includes the text, ‘Manufactured by Thomas Greenwood & Co.’. Although it has not been possible to definitively trace manufacturers who produced the caddows, it is likely that the companies who made other types of power-loomed quilts and counterpanes were initially involved.

The last remaining quilt makers

In James Longworth’s book The Cotton Mills of Bolton, it is possible to see which companies were manufacturing various types of quilts and especially counterpanes from 1780-1985, including who was making those of a similar type to the caddows, such as the Marseilles quilts.  In 1929 six of the surviving quilt manufacturers amalgamated to form Quilt Manufacturers Ltd, which was itself renamed Vantona Ltd in 1936. Vantona was later taken over to form the current Viyella-Vantona.

Strength and durability

The strength and durability of the caddows seems to have made them desirable to institutions such as workhouses and charity schools, as attested by a counterpane weaver in the Manchester Guardian in 1907.  There is a Caddow in the museum’s collection produced for the Wigan Workhouse in 1878 and paper patterns detailing designs for the ‘Frances West Leigh Charity 1859’, ‘Metropolitan and City Police Orphanage’ and ‘Manchester Deaf and Dumb School 1864’.

Use

There is some debate about the use of the caddows. As counterpanes the expected use would have been as a bedcover, and there are several photographs showing them utilised in this manner. There are several examples from the American whitework tradition (believed to have descended in part from the caddows), which have been adapted with slits to fit around the posts of a canopy bed.