A brief history is given of terry towel weaving in England from 1850 to 1900. All terry structures may be viewed as two cloths having a common weft. The three prick structure is the basic terry weave, and is the one most often used in the production of terry towels. Henry Christie brought the first samples of terry cloth to England from Istanbul in 1848. By the turn of the century, all of the basic mechanisms for pile formation had been developed.