Cap fragment

A woollen cap lining from the 16th century. 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.

Cap linings survive inside and separate from casp, usually in a different colour and cut from another piece of round knitting. These may come from other caps as there can be fine nap and bright colour on the lining showing it has been fulled and finished. Sometimes there is a cut out of the round to make it fit within the crown diameter.

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, like this lining.

The piece was bought from the artist (John) Seymour Lucas in 1913 and may have formed part of his set of studio costumes and props used in historical genre paintings. No further find details are known. 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 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. The fulling process 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.

Separate circular lining knitted in the round with cut edges. Some red patches.
Yarn - ? spun, ? ply. 8 stitches per inch. 14 rows per inch. Munsell Colour Value 10R 3/4 . Fine velvety pile present. The ground yarn is paler than the pile, suggesting the cap was dyed after construction. Width 12 inches; circumference 38 1/2 inches.