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Culture & Heritage
The earliest evidence of human manufacture is a piece of fabric found in Taiwan.
It dates back to the eighth millennium BCE, 10,000 years ago. That fabric is made of hemp.
Similar remains from mainland China are dated to 8000 BCE.
The Saxons brought hemp to East Anglia when they arrived in the early 400’s, using it for food, oil, textiles and of course for sails rope and rigging for their ships.
By medieval times the crop was essential for many industries in Britain. John Taylor [1630] lists:
‘The profits arising by Hemp-seed are ‘Clothing, Food, Fishing, Shipping, Pleasure, Profit, Justice, Whipping, Farming, Shoe Making, Apothecaries, the Paper Maker, Saddler and Harness Maker all have their livelihoods from hemp’.
Here in the Waveney Valley where Contemporary Hempery is based, hemp was grown extensively for the purpose of making cloth, household linens and clothing.
In the 16th and 17th centuries walked across England to the markets at Diss Woodbridge and Halesworth to buy the Suffolk Hempen. The cloth was renowned for it’s quality and durability.
This industry was hugely important to the economy of East Anglia, though lost in the early 1800’s it’s language remains rooted in the landscape. We see it in village names like Hempton, Hempstead and Hempnall.
Pubs carry names like The Scutchers Arms, Hempsheaf, The Hempsted and also farms; Hemplands Farm, Hempfields Farm, Bleach Farm, in Spinners Bridge and Heckfield Green.