Hemp Cultivation and Processing in North-West England

Abstract

Although by the 1830s–40s it is unlikely that any of the 150 fields named ‘Hempland’ or similar in the tithe surveys for the counties of Lancashire, Westmorland and Cumberland, were actually then growing hemp, nevertheless these field-names are a useful source for a study of its cultivation in the region. This paper shows that although such cultivation is found back to the early medieval period, it expanded in the early modern period, moving in some places beyond cultivation for consumption on the farm where it was grown, to commercial growth for the rope-making and sail-cloth industries, before losing out in the eighteenth century to imports from the Baltic. The distribution of ‘Hemp…’ field-names, and information from other sources, reveals that cultivation was restricted to the lowlands of the region, notably in proximity to the mosslands, and almost entirely avoiding the Lake District and hilly regions to the east. Where grown for household use, the fields were generally small, often half an acre or less, and were often directly attached to the homestead: while documentary evidence shows it was mainly female household members who were responsible for the cultivation and processing of the hemp, and for turning it into cloth and cord.