§ 1. THE CHIEF MANUFACTURING TOWNS—During the period between the Norman Conquest and the middle of the thirteenth century, the towns, as we saw, had been gradually growing in importance, gaining fresh privileges, and becoming almost, in some cases quite, independent of the lord or king, by the grant of a charter. Moreover they had grown from the mere trading centres of ancient times into seats of specialized industries, regulated and organized by the craft gilds. This new feature of the industrial or manufacturing aspect of certain towns is well shown in a compilation, dated about 1250, and quoted by Professor Rogers in _Six Centuries of Work and Wages_, which gives a list of English towns and their chief products. Hardly any of the manufacturing towns mentioned are in the North of England, but mostly in the East and South. {58} The following table gives the name of the town, and its manufacture or articles of sale. TOWN PRODUCT (1) _Textile Manufactures_ Lincoln Scarlet cloth. Bligh Blanket. Beverley Burnet cloth. Colchester Russet cloth. Shaftesbury Linen fabrics. Lewes Linen fabrics. Aylesbury Linen fabrics. Warwick Cord. Bridport Cord and Hempen fabrics. (2) _Bakeries_ Wycombe Fine bread. Hungerford Fine bread. St Albans Fine bread. (3) _Cutlery_ Maxtead Knives. Wilton Needles. Leicester Razors. (4) _Breweries_ Banbury Brewing. Hitchin Brewing. Ely Brewing. (5) _Markets_ Ripon Horses. Nottingham Oxen. Gloucester Iron. Bristol Leather and Hides. Coventry Soap. Northampton Saddlery. Doncaster Horse-girths. Chester Skins and Furs. Shrewsbury Skins and Furs. Corfe Marble. Cornwall towns Tin. (6) _Fishing Towns_ Grimsby Cod. Rye Whiting. Yarmouth Herrings. Berwick Salmon. (7) _Ports_ Norwich Southampton —— Dunwich Mills. This list is obviously incomplete, for it omits towns like Sheffield and Winchester, both of which were important as manufacturing towns from very early times, though the woollen manufactures of the latter were soon outstripped by those of Hull, York, Beverley, Lincoln, and especially Norwich. But such as it is the list is curious, chiefly as showing how manufactures have long since deserted their original abodes, and have been transferred to towns of quite recent origin.