ABSTRACT
Most Tudor 'crafts' or manufactures were commercial undertakings based on a single household and carried on either in the owner's home or in attached outbuildings. A craftsman in a small way combined four functions which today are usually separated. The chief economic function of craft gilds was to control their own membership and so to regulate the supply of labour, the level of wages, and hours and standards of work. The cloth industry required locations with access to raw materials, water power, labour and markets. Mining, iron-smelting, glass-making, paper-making, shipbuilding and others all fell into this category, as well as the large-scale end of the construction industry. The iron industry required water power and extensive supplies of charcoal. The common aim of government, urban corporations and private entrepreneurs was to manufacture goods at home both to satisfy the home market and so avoid imports, or to create new export markets for England.
