History of Worcestershire Kidderminster and Blockley. Henry VIII confined cloth making to Bromsgrove, Kidderminster, Droitwich, Evesham and Worcester. Rural production of cloth had been spurred by rural poverty and the need to supplement incomes. Trade in Worcester and the cloth trade in Kidderminster was still controlled by guilds. Fulling (cleaning new cloth) around Worcester and dyeing in the Teme valley, for instance in Tenbury and Clifton, were major employers. Rope making was prominent around Bromsgrove. However, tanning was probably the largest single industry across the county, concentrated near rivers and streams in the north and west of the county. Glassmaking was first established
Dominic of Evesham Knowles felt that the account of Abbot Æthelwig's death that is contained in the "Chronicon Abbatiae de Evesham" was written by Dominic, not by the main author of the chronicle, Thomas of Marlborough. Another possible work was a "Vita Sancti Wistani" (or "Life of Saint Wistan"), about St Wistan, a Mercian saint whose relics rested at Evesham. The main manuscripts containing Dominic's works are Bodely MS Rawlinson A.287, Hereford Cathedral Chained Library MS P.7.vi, Balliol MS 240. The Dublin manuscript only has the first book, while the Hereford manuscript contains both books. The account of the death of Æthelwig along