Page "Shepton Mallet" Paragraph 14

Charters for the holding of markets and fairs were granted in 1235 ( though this charter was swiftly revoked following objections by the Bishop of Wells to the competition it represented to the market in that city ), 1260 and 1318, and indicate that the town was developing and prospering in the 13th and early 14th centuries.

However the Black Death struck the town in 1348, reducing the population to about 300.

In the late 14th and early 15th centuries, the population and economy of the town were bolstered by the arrival of craftsmen and merchants from France and the Low Countries who came to England to escape wars and religious persecution in their home countries.

They introduced cloth-making which, together with the local wool trade, became a major industry in Shepton and other towns in Somerset and Wiltshire.

Indeed, it appears that wool became such a source of riches for the town that when, in 1496, Henry VII needed to raise money to fight the Scots, he called upon the wool-merchants of Shepton to contribute £ 10 to the cause: