[1] Paul Methuen was born on 13 October 1613 at Frome, Somerset, where his father Anthony (d. 1640) was the vicar of St John's church.
Nothing is known of his early years, but in 1641 he married Sarah Davison of Freshford, Somerset, and thus became brother-in-law to the clothier-politician John Ashe (1597–1659).
By 1646 he had settled nearby at Bradford-on-Avon, where he acquired a large house with a tithe barn suitable for cloth-making and storage.
After Methuen's first wife died, he married John Ashe's daughter Grace (d. 1700), and thus became his son-in-law.
These cloths, made from fine yarn dyed in the wool and also known as medley broadcloths, were mostly exported to Paris, notably to members of the Le Couteulx family of Rouen and Paris, the forerunners of a notable banking family.