of which may still exist.(This needs to be checked) But it was not all without problems as an example in 1470 the weavers of Shrewsbury obtained an order by the town authorities that banned the drapers from bringing in Welsh cloth. The prohibition proved unsustainable. The independent Mercers' Company, formed in 1425, had become the richest and strongest trade organisation in Shrewsbury in the 15th century. But that was about to change. Rise to dominance of cloth trade: 16th century In the early 16th century Welsh cloth for export was mainly produced in south Wales and shipped from the local ports. Later there was a shift in production to mid and north Wales. After the Act of Union in 1536 the Shrewsbury Drapers provided an increasingly important export market for Welsh light coarse cloths, known as cottons, friezes and flannel and Welsh plains. The Mercers, who retailed cloth, had formerly claimed a share of the Welsh trade, as had the Shearmen, who finished the cloth. In the early 16th century the Drapers shut the Mercers out of the trade and make the Shearmen purely subcontractors, creating an effective monopoly. During the Reformation the company's religious duties were eliminated. The drapers came to wield great power in Shrewsbury, and included all the leading men of the town. From the mid-16th century to the end of the 17th century members of the Company dominated Shrewsbury's administration. The drapers provided homes for a number of poor people, whom they employed, and gave work to over 600 shearmen. In 1565 this was used to justify an act of parliament that gave them a monopoly of the cloth trade in the town. The formal monopoly was repealed after six years, but the drapers usually managed to exclude competitors. In 1576 the Company built a new Drapers Hall in St Mary's Place on the site of an earlier hall. The company was allowed a coat of arms the same as that of the London Drapers in 1585. At first the "staple", or woollen cloth trading centre for Welsh cloth, was located in the town of Oswestry about to the north west of Shrewsbury. In 1585 the market was temporarily moved to Knockin due to an outbreak of plague in Oswestry. There was also a market in Welshpool in Montgomeryshire, where it was reported that 700,000 yards of webbs were manufactured in the reign of Queen Elizabeth