Tenterground
A
tenterground or
tenter ground was an area used for drying newly manufactured cloth after
fulling. The wet cloth was hooked onto frames called tenters and stretched taught so that the cloth would dry flat and square.
It is from this process that we have the expression "on
tenterhooks", meaning in a state of nervous tension.
There were tentergrounds wherever cloth was made, and as a result the word tenter is evident in place names throughout the UK, including a street in
Spitalfields,
London.
The Spitalfields Tenterground was established in the
17th century by
Flemish weavers, who were
Huguenot refugees fleeing
religious persecution. Their
weaving industry led to the area becoming a centre of the garment industry (the
rag trade as it became known colloquially), with names such as
Fashion Street and
Petticoat Lane still extant.
It was originally an area of open ground about 150 yards square, surrounded by the weavers' houses and workshops in
White's Row,
Wentworth Street,
Bell Lane and Rose Lane (the last of which no longer exists).
By the
19th century, the Flemish weavers had dispersed and in
1829, the Tenterground was developed for housing. From about
1850, it was populated by
Dutch Jews (see
Chuts), to be joined later by
Jewish refugees fleeing persecution in
eastern Europe (see
pogroms).
During the early part of the
20th century, the Tenterground was largely demolished for redevelopment, but some old buildings remain in and around the area, including Flemish weavers' houses and an early
Dutch synagogue which was formerly a Huguenot
chapel. Another former Huguenot chapel is now a
mosque.
*Plan of the Cities of London and Westminster, and Borough of Southwark, John Rocque, 1746
*Ordnance Survey, London Sheet XXXVI, 1878
