Straw Plaiting in Leighton Buzzard

Straw plaiting was a thriving cottage industry in Leighton Buzzard and as early as the twelfth century, an English harvester might have worn a single twist of plaited straw around his head. It was not until the seventeenth century that the poor of several parishes were instructed in the making of straw hats. Some of the plaiting was carried out in Plait Schools where the owner would educate the children he employed in the rudiments of reading and writing, instead of paying a wage for the straw plaiting they produced for the remainder of the day.