Kersey

Kersey is a coarse, hard-wearing woolen, woven as a narrow twill and fulled to a dense, slightly ribbed cloth. For centuries it was one of England's great export staples, the workaday partner to the finer broadcloth, made up into hose, breeches, work clothes, and soldiers' coats across medieval and early modern Europe. Cheap, warm, and durable, it clothed ordinary people and armies rather than courts, and its name, like so many English cloths, is simply the village where it was first made.

Illustration: a medieval English wool market in a Suffolk cloth town, bolts of coarse woolen stacked on trestle tables under a timbered market hall, merchants and a packhorse as small distant figures, weak northern light — A medieval English wool market in a Suffolk cloth town, bolts of coarse woolen stacked on trestle tables under a timbered market hall, merchants and a packhorse as small distant figures, weak northern light.

Named for

Named for the village of Kersey in Suffolk, an early center of its weaving.

Modern equivalent

The closest cloth in this catalogue you can source today.

Melton →

Common questions

What is Kersey made of?: Kersey is a coarse, hard-wearing woolen, woven as a narrow twill and fulled to a dense, slightly ribbed cloth.
What is Kersey named after?: Named for the village of Kersey in Suffolk, an early center of its weaving.

Where to buy

Burnley & Trowbridge Co.
An 18th century reproduction textile and notions shop, stocking wool, linen, and cotton yardage for historical costuming and reenactment, plus in-person and online sewing workshops.
They also run sewing workshops.

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