ABSTRACT
The changes of the early modern period brought a sharp decline in the fortunes of a few towns. Many of the towns and villages of Hampshire and Berkshire also played a part in the cloth industry during the 'boom' years of the sixteenth century making mainly Kerseys and other coloured cloths. Market towns like Andover, Basingstoke, Alton, Whitchurch, Petersfield, Newbury, Abingdon and Reading were all centres of cloth production, as was Salisbury where the trade continued during the sixteenth century, although it had decayed at older centres such as Winchester and Romsey. The cloth-finishing trade, which had been the economic mainstay of Winchester, declined in the sixteenth century, especially following the collapse of Southampton's position as a major port. The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries saw a number of important advances in agricultural techniques and crops in the region.
