Straw plaiting for the hat industry

Straw plaiting flourished in Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire from the early 18th century in towns and villages within reach of the hat manufacturing towns of Luton, Dunstable and St Albans.

Women, children and some men plaited straw at home into long lengths. They often sold their plait in local specialist markets. Initially the work was relatively well paid and required little investment in materials, so until the later 19th century, when the trade declined due to competition from abroad, thousands of villagers were occupied as plaiters. In 1851 in one Chilterns village, The Lee, 109 people of a population of 126 were straw plaiters, 90 of them women.

Straw plaiter, hat maker and historian Veronica Main is the leading authority in the UK on the history and technique of straw plaiting for hats and she was excited to learn that our volunteers were finding out more about straw plaiting workers and dealers who worked in the Chilterns villages. If you would like to find out more about Veronica’s work, and about straw plaiting, head to her website and to the blog she wrote to get the volunteers started on their research.

You can also buy Veronica’s book Straw Plaiting. Heritage Techniques for Hats, Trimmings, Bags and Baskets (Herbert Press, 2023).