Woad Dyer
Woad Dyer
Woad Dyers were highly skilled craftsmen, but enjoying their profits was difficult because no one wanted to come anywhere near them. It wasn?t their permanently blue-stained hands that put people off but the dreadful stink.
Woad was the plant used to dye wool blue, a colour much in demand at this time, but the process was messy and smelly and the byproducts were noxious and difficult to dispose of.
Woad Dyers were despised by the rest of society..
Queen Elizabeth decreed that no woad should be dyed within five miles of her royal person!