Archaeological dig at £7m car park suggests hats were made from cats in medieval Norwich
Beautiful Norwich
Domestic cats‘ pelts were used to line gloves with fur in 13th century Britain.
Britain is the most civilised country in the world 😉 . This means that we have already been through a lot of the bad stuff that other countries are experienced today. We have passed through that phase in the development of the country. I hope that isn’t too chauvinistic.
Cat fur is big business in China. China has a long history and they are proud of it but they seem to have stalled somewhere along the line. Switzerland is also linked to the cat fur trade today.
However, a dig at the site of a proposed car park in Norwich, Norfolk, England has reminded us of the common practice in medieval (13th century) Britain of using cats in the fur trade of the time.
Cat bones have been found on what is believed to be the site of a tanning works producing leather goods. In addition to finding goat’s bones there were cat bones and the bones of a young cat.
This indicates that cats were providing skins at the site. The report by archaeologists states that:
“It is quite possible that cats were also providing skins and fur at this site – a common practice in medieval Britain and one that has been seen in Norwich…There is the possibility that the cat fur could have made small items or contributed to other garments being produced e.g. fur trims to leather gloves or hats.”
Today in the 21st century cat fur is used in exactly the same way although almost everyone who buys gloves and clothing accessories with fur trim are unaware that the fur probably belonged to someone’s cat. This is 800 years or more of abusing the domestic cat as far as I am concerned.
They speculated whether monks where operating the “factory” because the location is near two friary sites. It is close to the river. I suppose this was to remove toxic waste.