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A tenterground, tenter ground or teneter-field was an area used for drying newly manufactured cloth after fulling. The wet cloth was hooked onto frames called "tenters" and stretched taut using "tenter hooks", so that the cloth would dry flat and square.
It is from this process that some have the expression "on tenterhooks", meaning in a state of nervous tension.
There were tentergrounds wherever cloth was made, and as a result the word "tenter" is found in place names throughout the United Kingdom and its empire, for example several streets in Spitalfields, London[1] and Tenterfield House in Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland, which in turn gave its name to Tenterfield in New South Wales, Australia.[2]
- ^ Approximate centroid of North-, South-, West-, and East- Tenter Street, and Tenter Passage, in Spitalfields, London: 51°30′45″N 0°04′18″W / 51.51251°N 0.07159°W
- ^ "Town blaze makes news Down Under". East Lothian Courier. 21 July 2011. Retrieved 4 March 2019.