ABSTRACT
Developments in the Kreise of Lennep and Mettmann were similar to those in neighboring Solingen. In them, the textile industry became more important and the metal-working industry relatively less so than in Solingen, but the economic structures of all three were basically the same. The smiths and grinders, at least the ones who lived in the countryside, enjoyed quite comfortable living conditions. Frequently they had gardens and raised livestock. Their workshops were either adjacent to or on the first floors of their homes, which contained at least a living room, bedroom, and kitchen but frequently also a “good room” and extra bedrooms for the children and journeymen or apprentices. The oldest textile branch in the area made woolen cloth. Its production around Lennep dated from the thirteenth century. In the sixteenth century a division of labor into the separate processes of weaving, fulling, dying, and shearing occurred, and the putting-out system replaced pure handicraft production.
