FOLK LIFE
family were mad. It is likely
that hatters were sold
rabbit or hare pelts by men
Thomas Griffiths of Llanwenog
such as
(known as Thomas yBlew —
prepared the fur themselves,
Thomas the hair) and
but whether they used
There does not appear to
mercuric nitrate is not known.21
be an
producing areas of Ceredigion, unusually high incidence of madness in the hatand in any case other
might account for cases
factors such as lead
oflunacy.
pollution
Hatters were well-known for
being unruly and
system offines connected
drunkards. In London there
with the trade which
was a
involved the drinking oflarge
of beer, while in Wales
the hatters ofWelshpool
quantities
were notorious for fighting
drinking.22 There is some
and heavy
evidence. that the
equally many were among
Llangynfelyn hatters were unruly,
the founders ofthe
but
Methodist chapel in Tre'r-ddo1.23
In the years after the
Napoleonic Wars, Ceredigion
was regarded as the
disturbed county in Wales. This
most
was mainly the
consequence ofa substantial
population leading to severe
increase
of
economic
and
social problems. There
rural disturbances and
were a number of
these were often
connected with
enclosure ofCors Fochno does
not seem to have caused enclosures. Surprisingly, the
any great problems
hatters' reliance on the supply
despite the
ofpeat. The enclosure
ofCors Fochno took a
able time to complete. It
began in r8r 3 and was only
considerhowever, one incident of
completed in z847.24 There was,
fence breaking. This
occurred as late as 1843
hatters under the leadership
when seven
ofWilliam Lewis, Craig y
Penrhyn, were charged at Tal-ybontPetty Sessions with
destroying fences near Trwyn y
major landowner in the area,
Buarth, a farm owned by the
Pryse Pryse, Gogerddan.
it was the intention of
According to press reports, `..
the defendants and
others to do away with
altogether, and reduce the bog
the enclosure act
to its original
no such efforts to
unproductiveness.'25 It is surprising
prevent enclosure had taken
that
place
enclosure had begun thirty
years earlier. Perhaps most previously, as the process of
ofthe hatters had been
with the provison in the
content
Enclosure Act which
guaranteed rights of turbary
Jpeople. Certainly some hatters
for local
had been able to buy
some ofthe enclosed land.
ames, Goitrefach, for
example, acquired four acres.
David
The seven hatters were
fined £3 6s. 6d., including
pay they were sentenced
costs, but as they were
to six weeks hard labour
unable to
at Cardigan Gaol.
have been caused by an
Their
act
may well
increasing frustration with
the rapid decline ofthe
trade during the z 8q.os, and
hat-making
may also have been
inspired by the `Rebecca
were at their peak at this
Riots' which
time.
Mention has already been
made of the successful
hat-making trade in the
England. For a time, the wages
north of
ofhatters compared favourably
but during the z84os they
with
other
craftsmen,
declined sharply. Lancashire
and Cheshire hatters
petition in r84S to complain
organized a
that their wages had
fallen by 3o to 40% during
previous fifteen years. There
was considerable
the
unemployment. One traveller
unemployed hatters of Oldham
described
as `.. ,melancholy
men lounging on the pavement.'z6
clusters of gaunt, dirty,
unshaven
The main cause of this
decline was a change in
fashion. The old beaver
replaced by the silk hat which
hat was
was now being masswas lighter than the felt
produced in London. The
hat, smarter in appearance,
silk hat
kept its colour and,
cheaper in price. By r85o it
crucially, was
was estimated that about
three million silk hats
had been
S~
SI
18SI
i86i
i8~i
447
337
zz°
I~6
Wales
became associated with old men; only a few
Once the decline had set in, the trade
trouble oflearning the craft. The r 85 r Census
workers born after the z82os went to the
and So years old(on average much older than
reveals that most hatters were between 2~
shows that the vast majority ofhatters were over
other craftsmen), and the i8~i Census
forty-five.
fell by a half between z84i and z8S z, and by
In Llangynfelyn, the number ofhatters
working in Blaenpennal whereas once there had
the z85os there was only one hatter
group of five hatters crossed the Atlantic from
been fifty. Some hatters emigrated. A
in 1847, while Morgan Morgans, a hatter
Aberystwyth to America on the Tamerlane
there were probably only approximately ten
I24
(>7
42
z2
Ceredigion
incomplete for t86t but
*The Census Returns for Llangynfelyn are
hatters active at that time.
SI
Zo
3+*
S
Year
i84i
Llangynfelyn
NUMBER OF HATTERS
asta aeTSUltI of
sold and the
esisuch as DentonandeStockpoTtivaminlye
86oeinhala
p
of felt hats
styles
trade after I
new
increasing popularity of
mechanization and also because of the
and later the homburg and trilby.
such as the bowler
to be no revival after
trade in Wales was irreversible; there was
The decline of the
it was a change in
England,
began in the z84os and, like the north of
complained
Carmarthenshire,
z860. The slump
crucial. The hatters of Narberth,
fashion which proved
Of
blamed.29
was
hat
silk
hats, but in Llangynfelyn the
about the influx ofJim Crow
among
fashion
in
change
the
Ceredigion hatters was
considerable significance to the
steeplehad gone out offashion by the r 84os. The
hats
felt
women. The wearing of
hatters
Ceredigion
the
by
made
but these were not
crowned hats were worn by some,
wearing
in
persisted
areas
rural
short time only old women in
and in any case within a
century photographs
girls seen in numerous late nineteenthWelsh
such hats. Those
national costume'
`Welsh
in
models dressed up
wearing Welsh hats were in fact usually
to wear their
refused
women
Welsh
was also claimed that
to suit the tourist trade.30 It
at by
laughed
were
they
because
done for many years,
felt hats to market, as they had
or
London
from
hats
fancy
wore
women now
English visitors.31 In general Welsh
as
such
towns
In
milliners.
local
from
bought hats
Paris, if they could afford them, or
midmilliners
by
of
number
the
Aberystwyth there was a substantial increase in
shops selling a wide variety offashionable
century, while there were.also several draper
1858, for example, a draper's shop in
headwear. According to one advertisement in
room set aside exclusively for the
Aberystwyth, London and Manchester House, had one
Welsh women go to the hatter's workshop or a
sale ofhats of all sorts.32 No longer did
communications bymid-century meant that new
local fair to buy a new hat. Improved
fashions reached even the remotest parts of Wales.
decline in the trade:
The following statistics clearly illustrate the
CEREDI6ION
FELT HAYMAKING IN