When English wool warmed the world

Wool, Britain's most important export for many centuries, kept a large amount of the world warm, made fortunes, and gave birth to many major industrial cities. Surprisingly, in a country which appears to have lost interest in farming, the UK remains the seventh largest wool producer. But for England anyway, the industry appears doomed.

About a third of the annual 60,000 tonne clip is still exported, but falling prices are turning farmers away from wool production. Some former sheep farmers say the current price for wool no longer covers the cost of shearing.

The exports fetch about 50p a kilogram, so the income from that massive outpouring is around £10 million. As a comparison, UK exports of food and drink reap more than £8.5 bn. Even eight years ago, cheese exports earned £153 million.

It was all very different back in wool’s early heyday. England was onto a good thing, and it wasn't sharing the new wealth. In 1370 all borders were closed to raw wool exports. Edward III – known as the royal wool merchant - stopped all woven goods imports, and banned the weaving of foreign wools.

Spain, which considered its wool industry quite as precious as England's, helped her old enemy rather unintentionally during an invasion of the Low Countries.

Highly skilled Flemish weavers, fleeing the fighting, crossed the Channel and settled in England, and boosted the thriving industry.

Shakespeare's slings and arrows of outrageous fortune struck again during Henry VIII's reign in the 1500s. When the infamous monarch seized the assets of monasteries and nunneries, flocks of sheep were distributed among his supporters. The church's loss became the country's gain, because many of the new owners were competent farmers. The flocks burgeoned, and England became the unchallengeable empire of wool.

By the middle 1600s, two-thirds of England's export trade was wool textile.

Today, most wool in the UK is marketed through the British Wool Marketing Board, which co-ordinates the collection and sale of wool from around 70,000 registered producers. Wool is graded, pooled, and sold throughout the year at public auctions, some of which are live online.

Sadly, the reduction in wool’s popularity has resulted in its being replaced by cheaper synthetic fibres. Wool has been the mainstay of clothing of all types for almost 6,000 years and has qualities no other substitute can match.

Wool is natural, extremely versatile, perfect for clothing, and rugged enough for carpets. It is wear-resistant, provides good insulation against the elements, and has the extraordinary ability of absorbing up to 30% of its own weight in moisture without feeling wet. In addition, with much of the world’s focus being on environmental issues, wool is the ultimate renewable resource.

Synthetic textiles can match wool only on cost. Perhaps the "Pure New Wool" marque needs to be emblazoned on the outside of products, so it can be recognised as a natural designer tag. Of course, wool will remain a premium product for the discerning, and those who settle only for the best.