Book Review ~ Cotswold Crafts by Edith Brill

Book Review

Cotswold Crafts

by

Edith Brill

Cotswold crafts by Edith Brill first published in 1977 by B T Batsford Ltd of London

Cotswold Craftsmanship predates the Middle Ages.

Edith Burrell writes as a lifelong resident of the Cotswolds, rightly referring to the region in the singular ~ on Cotswold ~ not ‘on the Cotswolds’.

Edith Brill is an authority on Cotswold life in the 1950s , 1960s and 1970s.

This is a historical narrative and authority, not simply a commentary of the author’s interests. It is quite possible – even probable – that some of the skills we take for granted on history’s timeline in 1971 are now, in 2025, lost.

But when society looks within itself, skills we thought had long departed are still present. We have to see this in perspective. Skills are transient and keep pace with time. In time, those skills become obsolete, lie dormant, and then fall into disuse and at this point, become temporarily forgotten, but not lost.

For example, the warships we used to build, and their construction and technical superiority of the day, is perfectly captured in the paintings by JWH Turner. When I first glimpsed this painting entitled A First Rate Taking in Stores in January 2024, its magnificence took my breath away and emphasised the need to revisit HMS Victory in Portsmouth.

Cotswold spans six Counties: Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, and Somerset.

The book is complemented by a series of photographs and also absolutely delightful artwork on Scratchboard ~ a form of direct engraving, where the artist scratches off dark ink to reveal a white or coloured layer beneath.

Cotswold Crafts by Edith Brill

The introductory Scratched Artwork by John Mapp

I have always enjoyed Edith Brill’s writing style. It is therefore fitting to quote here part of Edith’s Acknowledgment, and then to produce as an Extract her Introduction to Cotswold Crafts as, here, we find the author’s own review of her work. To all of us on Cotswold, this is a matter of great pride and importance.

Acknowledgment
by
Edith Brill

First, I must thank the many Cotswold craftsmen who have discussed the working of their various crafts with me, and whose humour and goodwill have taught me far more than the details of skills they so patiently explained.

EXTRACT

Introduction
by
Edith Brill
(1977)

A book on Cotswold crafts must consider the boundaries of the region, but these cannot be set within precise limits. From earliest times craftsman have been influenced by the richer opportunities of centres of religion, government and learning serving Cotswold, such as Bristol, Bath, Oxford, Gloucester and Worcester, where building was on a grand scale and where craftsman would naturally congregate. Ideas from these centres spread to remote villages by means of personal contacts, copy-books and a natural curiosity about the work of fellow craftsmen inside and outside the area.

Because of the difficulties of transport much preparation of stone, for example, took place at local quarries, but it is obvious that such men as the Bryan Brothers of Painswick learned their carving skills and studied Renaissance designs at one of the big Bristol stoneyards, perhaps even on the Continent, while the seventeenth-century sculptor Samuel Baldwin of Stroud shows the influence of Southwark workshops in his memorials.

What I feel constitutes Cotswold craft is work native to the region executed by local men who interpreted and adapted prevailing fashions in their own individual way, using local materials as far as possible, and who kept the old traditions alive and enriched them with the ideas of their own times.

The crafts of any region give an insight into local history as well as revealing the part the region played and still plays in the national economy. On Cotswold this could not be otherwise, for as well as serving their own area the skills of Cotswold craftsmen have been important to the nation in several historical periods. Outstanding examples are the wool trade with the Low Countries in the Middle Ages, the making of cloth for export thus stimulating cross-breeding of the old type of Cotswold sheep with other breeds from Europe to improve the quality of wool, and the expansion of shipbuilding needed to protect that trade as it moved beyond the Continent to Russia, Turkey, the Baltic, India and the Levant.

Quarrymen, masons and stone from the Burford area helped in the rebuilding of Saint Paul’s and other churches after the Great Fire of London; they participated in the building and provided the material for many a great mansion and college in Oxfordshire and beyond, and stone from other Cotswold districts has helped to enrich not only Cotswold but the world outside it.

Each craft had its peak period of excellence and prosperity when the right conditions and the right craftsmen came together to produce its finest work, but there have been men throughout all the centuries who have gone beyond this excellence, thus making the borderline between art and craft impossible to define.

A vital aspect of local work is its strong link with the past. The waves of settlers from earliest times, the Celts, Romans, Saxons, Normans, with minor influxes such as the Huguenot weavers and glass-makers, all made a contribution which gradually became integrated into Cotswold tradition. The old pattern survived, particularly in those families following the same craft generation after generation until the poverty-stricken years of the late 19th century crushed them out of existence in a world where cheaper machine-made goods had become available and the slow process of hand work made it impossible to cope with the demands of a rising population. Quickness and cheapness were the new objectives as the factory era got underway and when improved transport made it no longer necessary for a village to be self-supporting. Younger members of the craftsmen’s families, instead of continuing the family trade, went into factories or sought more remunerative work elsewhere as the old methods became outmoded. The records of any village show a starting decline in the number of craftsmen after the mid-eighties.

The revival, when it came in the mid-nineteenth century, did not arise from the need for basic necessities; these were catered for by the factories in the new industrial towns. Nor did it come from within the region. It was men like William Morris, Ernest Gimson, and the Barnsley Brothers who, shocked by the increasing degradation of British craftsmanship, sought to revive the traditional skills and to encourage appreciation of them. Having discovered that industrial progress had bypassed much of Cotswold and many of the old ways lived on there, they learnt what they could from the remaining craftsmen and the material evidence of their skills around them and inspired younger men like Ashbee and Jewson to follow in their footsteps.

These craftsmen tackled the problem from literary, aesthetic and moral angles, not as part of ordinary living, and though their hope and aim was to bring back pride of workmanship, hand-made goods became a luxury product beyond the means of the ordinary people.

It was a necessary revival. It saved many of the old traditions and taught people to appreciate them, but it could not withstand the pressures of two world wars. During the last decade there has come a new revival, but it could not have happened without the idealism and crusading spirit of William Morris and his disciples. The modern craftsman who turns to the past for his disciplines is aware of the picturesque and aesthetic values of his work and perseveres to that end, whereas the craftsman in the old days was doing a necessary job in a community which could not have existed without him. The beauty to be found in some of the work before the nineteenth century was a bonus, as it were, nor could those men who produced this beauty have explained why this was so, though they must have derived satisfaction from it.

The divisions and subdivisions of the book, each dealing with a separate craft or craft material, have been made for easier reference and reading, but the interrelationship of the work of masons, carpenters, blacksmiths and metal-workers is difficult to fit into neat compartments. Apart from the obvious co-operation between masons and carpenters in the construction of a building, or that between the wheelwright, carpenter and smith in the making of carts and waggons, there is considerable evidence in mediaeval documents to show that the term mason covers a whole range of activities, and that enrichments as well as the overall design could be the work of a master-mason and that he was master of other crafts as well as working in stone.

End of extract by Edith Brill

This book’s map as I call it and to which Edith refers in the final paragraph, gives us a perfect overview of the land below.

The Book comprises five elements ~ Stone, Timber, Metal, Leather and Wool. Each element is treated as a book in its own right, with Leather and Wool being he fourth and final book.

The elements we find are then beautifully tabulated into twelve chapters.

Book One ~ Stone

Chapter One

Stone
The Quarries
Tile Quarries

Chapter Two

Masons and Masonry
The Vernacular and Classical Revival
The Master-Masons of Burford

Chapter Three

Roofs
Drystone Walling

Chapter Four

The Early Carvers
The Saxons
The Gothic

Chapter Five

Sepulchral Art
Coffin Lids
Ledgers
Chest-tombs and Effigies
Bale-tombs
Mural Monuments
Headstones

Book Two ~ Timber

Chapter Six

Timber
Joinery, Carving, and Furniture
Church Furnishings

Chapter Seven

The Village Carpenter
Wheelwrights and Wainwrights
Millwrights
Millers
Coppice Crafts
Pole-Lathe Turnery
Basket-making

Book Three ~ Metals

Chapter Eight

Iron and Other Metals
Memorial Brasses
Bell Foundries

Chapter Nine

The Village Blacksmith
Farriers

Book Four ~ Leather and Wool

Chapter Ten

Saddlers
Harness-making
Glovers
The Village Boot-maker

Chapter Eleven

Wool and the Weavers
The End of the Cloth Trade

Chapter Twelve

Blanket-making

What I adore about this book is the way in which Edith Brill has constructed it. Yes, one can read through from the beginning to the end. But, for me, its allure is the manner in which I can turn to any page at random and find a subject standing absolutely alone and complete. Edith’s writing skill is akin to a walk high on Cotswold in any season, dressed accordingly, chatting about all that we see about us. Similarly, I find myself in the craftsman’s workshop, standing by him or her, unobtrusive and in awe of her or his skill.

Bearing in mind that this book was published in 1977, and Portrait of The Cotswolds in 1964, forty-eighty years and sixty-one years ago respectively, today’s Generation Z suddenly see precisely what Edith Brill is about when they view the acclaimed BBC series The Repair Shop where, notwithstanding technological development, we witness at first hand the continued skills of the Crafts-people, clearly walking in the steps of Edith Brill.

Here, is the value of this beautiful book and of all of the works by Edith Brill, a lady who was way ahead of her time and to whom we owe an enormous debt of gratitude.

9 April 2025

Winter High over Cotswold

Digital Artwork by KTW 2024

Cotswold in Deep Winter

Digital Artwork by KTW 2024

Cotswold High Winds

Digital Artwork by KTW 2024

Cotswold High Summer

Digital Artwork by KTW 2024

J M W Turner RA
(1775 - 1851)

J M W Turner RA (1775-1851)

---

A First Rate Taking in Stores

by J M W Turner, a Watercolour dated 1818

Other Articles on this Website relating to Edith Brill

Portrait of The Cotswolds by Edith Brill (1964)

9 April 2025


This article also contains reliefs of Works by one of our greatest Artists and Member of the Royal Academy, J M W Turner RA

This note was written in my village, in Church Street,
outside my favourite coffee shop in Gloucestershire, The Cotswold
on 24 February 2024 and 9 April 2025