By the 16th century, the manufacture and finishing of cloth had grown into a major industry in England. Cloth production was an expensive process, involving the work of many people. As a result, the completed cloth product was quite valuable. The industry was highly regulated to insure the quality of the material as well as to provide the government with some revenue through subsidy taxes.

The manufacturer, the merchant, the quality control inspector, and the tax official crimped small leaden seals, known as cloth seals, onto finished cloth. These seals can tell the archaeologist not only what type of cloth the colonists were using, but also where it came from. Cloth seals can also provide an accurate date for a site because textiles were sold soon after they were made. They represented too much money to remain as inventory.

Lead cloth seal bearing the Tudor coat-of-arms used during the reign of Elizabeth I. It would date no later than 1603, the year of Elizabeth's death, and therefore represents old stores of cloth being supplied to the colonists. Context: Pit 1, ca. 1607-1610.