ABSTRACT
At some time in the middle of the sixteenth century, William Sheldon, a prosperous landowner in Warwickshire and Worcestershire, set up a tapestry-weaving industry on his estates at Beoley and Barcheston in Warwickshire.1 In 1570, Sheldon left the weaving business to his son Ralph, along with money and grants to continue it. In Sheldon’s will, there is mention of Richard Hicks, his manager at Barcheston, who may well have been trained in tapestry weaving and design in the Low Countries.
