In medieval England, wool became big business. There was enormous demand for it, mainly to produce cloth and everyone who had land, from peasants to major landowners, therefore raised sheep.

Whilst the English did make cloth for themselves, very little of what was produced was sold abroad. It was the raw wool from English sheep that was required to feed foreign looms. At that time the best weavers lived in Flanders and the rich cloth-making towns of Bruges, Ghent and Ypres, were ready to pay top prices for English wool.

Wool became the backbone and driving force of the medieval English economy between the late thirteenth century and late fifteenth century and at the time the trade was described as "the jewel in the realm"! To this day the seat of the Lord High Chancellor in the House of Lords is a large square bag of wool called the 'woolsack', a reminder of the principal source of English wealth in the Middle Ages.

16th century Antwerp

Connecting the Zirkstraat to Oude Beurs. At the beginning of the 16th century, the city bought land in Hofstraat to set up a trading post. At the time, this district was the centre of the trading offices, galleries and warehouses, especially of the English cloth merchants.

From Korte and Lange Koepoortstraat to Wijngaardbrug. It was initially called "great Coppenol" or "Cobbenhol". Probably called Wolstraat since the 16th century, after this name had fallen into disuse for the former Wolstraat, now Oude Beurs. Wool warehouses belonging to the English were located in both streets.

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