The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage
Abstract
The lace industry in the East Midlands of the UK was a major feature of the local, and wider, economy from the invention of the ‘Leavers’ process in 1813 to the end of mass manufacturing of lace early in the 21st century. The industry grew out of innovations in machine knitting technology that date back to William Lee’s invention of the stocking frame in 1589. In 1816 it was exported to northern France, under conditions of trade embargo, where the industry grew in the towns of Calais and Caudry. In both Nottingham and northern France it generated parallel industries in machine manufacture and textile finishing
