The Pin Manufactory was established here, by John Tisley, in the year
1626, and the business is now become so extensive, that the returns from
London alone are estimated at near 20,000_l._ _per ann._ Before the
introduction of Pins into England (1543) skewers of brass, silver, and
gold, and likewise thorns curiously scraped, called by the Welch women
_pin-draen_, were used. Though the Pins themselves are apparently
simple, yet their manufacture is not a little curious and complex. The
wire in its most rough state is brought from a wire company in the
neighbourhood of Bristol: till the year 1563, English iron wire was drawn
out by manual strength. The first operation attending this curious
process, is the fixing the circular roll of wire to the circumference of
a wheel, which in its rotation throwing the wire against a board, with
great violence, takes off the black external coat: vitriol is next
applied to bring the brass to its common colour. The brass wire being
too thick for the purpose of being cut into Pins, is reduced to any
dimension the workman pleases, by forcibly drawing it through an orifice
in a steel plate, of a smaller diameter. The wire, being thus reduced to
its proper dimensions, is next straightened: it is then cut into portions
of six inches in length, and afterwards to the size of the Pin, and each
piece respectively sharpened on a grinding-stone, turned by a wheel. We
now come to a distinct branch of the manufactory: the forming the heads,
or, as the workmen term it, _head spinning_: this is accomplished by
means of a spinning-wheel, which, with astonishing rapidity winds the
wire round a small rod: this, when drawn out, leaves a hollow tube
between the circumvolutions; every two circumvolutions, or turns, being
cut with sheers, form one head. The heads, thus formed, are distributed
to children, who, with great dexterity, by the assistance of an anvil, or
hammer, worked by the foot, fix the point and the head together. The
Pins, thus formed, are boiled in a copper, containing a solution of
block-tin pulverized, and the lees of Port; and by this last process, it
changes its yellow brassy colour, and assumes the appearance of silver,
or tin. The labourers are all paid according to the weight of their
work.
Near Gloucester, at the small island of Alney, formed by the river
Severn, historians relate, that Canute and Edmund, after many bloody
engagements in Essex, determined to prevent a farther effusion of blood
by a single combat. Neither, however, as the story relates, obtaining a
victory, peace was concluded, and the kingdom divided between them. We
paid, however, little regard to the supposed place of this contest, as it
was not for us, puisne antiquarians, to discuss points, on which the
greatest historians had so materially differed.
I forbear to make any remarks on the Cathedral and Gaol of Gloucester, as
much has already been done towards their illustration; and as ample
accounts of them are given in the Gloucester Guide, which the Tourist
will meet with on the spot.