Cap

A woollen cap from the 16th century with a neckflap and no front brim. It was knitted in the round in stocking stitch on 4 or 5 needles, then fulled (washed, beaten and felted) and napped (raising and trimming the pile) to produce a stiff, hardwearing fabric. Knitted caps were worn by men in London's business and working communities in Tudor times. They were designed to be warm and waterproof. A range of styles and qualities were available to suit the taste and pocket of the customer.

There were as many as 15-20 successive stages involved in making one cap and they are products of highly-skilled, professional workers. Bright colours such as blue or red were common, as were black and dark brown. Most of the caps are now shades of brown from long immersion in damp earth and would need dyed analysis to discover their original colour. Caps dyed red, sometimes with madder root, are often still vivid. Caps that were undyed have become a pale golden ochre colour.

Workman in the early 20th century digging deep foundations for new buildings around the City of London found many pieces of clothing and textiles buried in the earth. Many are in a good state of preservation and may have been lost from wearers’ heads or discarded when they became unfashionable (from around 1570), thrown into the City ditch and cesspits. Unfortunately, because these were not formal archaeological excavations, any strata details or contextual material such as pottery that would help date the caps more closely were lost.

These caps are sometimes called ‘apprentice’ or ‘statute’ caps. In 1571 a statue was passed ordering every man over the age of six, except those of high rank, to wear a knitted woollen cap made in England on Sundays and holidays.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

The cap, including crown, brims and lining, is knitted in the round in one continuous working, using random decreases on the crown to achieve the round shape without spiral patterns of counted decreases. This cap is a rare example of a completely intact 'double' cap, with the outer knitting extending up into a full lining, finishing off in the centre crown. It appears to have been knitted in one piece, using a coarser yarn and gauge for the lining. No finished edges are visible.The inner lining is a little too big and has formed folds. There are faint remains of the pile in the inner creases.

The fulling has made it very stiff, with no elasticity or ‘give’ at all. The feel is more like crisp felt than soft knitting. The woollen yarn has a hard twist to it, much more tightly spun than modern yarns. This gives the density of fibres that creates the very fine, dense, velvety nap remaining on some caps. Where it exists, the pile entirely obscures the knit loops underneath. The fulling can also make it difficult to determine the yarn spin direction.

Yarn - S spun, 2 ply. Diameter 0.9-1.0 mm 11 stitches per inch.17 rows per inch. Munsell Colour Value 10YR 2/2 (very dark brown). Weight: 158 grams.
The edge of brim is turned inside out. Lining edge has 7.5 stitches per inch, yarn diamater 1.9-2 mm. The ground yarn is the same colour as the remaining pile, suggesting it was yarn-dyed or is the natural wool colour. Average width of crown 9 inches; circumference 20.25 inches; brim width 2.3 inches.