What a wonderful challenge. My daughter went to school in historic Williamsburg VA at the College of William and Mary. There was a lot of emphasis on historical costuming and a magnificent textile museum that we got lost in all day at one visit. So don't forget to research your university libraries in England. On the internet, I googled historical costume fabric and came up with this wonderful site that might be useful to you. It even contains a list of where to buy historically accurate fabric:
https://adamselindisdress.blog/2014/...cal-costuming/
Best of luck in your searching, shopping and creating.