Trading Places/CR.E.A.T.E. Programme

About the Linen Industry

Here is some general information about materials and processes involved in the linen industry which will be investigated by the participants in this project.

Flax production and harvesting

Flax is the raw material which after a series of processes became linen cloth. Flax seed was imported from a number of locations around the world including North America, Holland and the Baltic region. The ground had to be carefully prepared for sowing the flax seed and once it had grown for a certain time, it was ready for harvesting. The whole process was very labour intensive, as most of the work had to be done by hand. Flax could be grown on a small portion of land and this led, over a period of generations, to the minute subdivision of land. This reckless policy was to have disastrous consequences when the Great Famine struck in 1845.

The Creation of Brown Linen

Preparing flax was a labour intensive process of production. In an era of ³cottage² based industry, the entire household was involved in this backbreaking work. ³Flax holes² had to be dug on the land with a source of water nearby to feed the system. The handpicked flax was then placed in the flax hole to soften the woody core. After ³retting² the flax had to be dried before being gathered into sheeves. It was then ³beetled² or beaten with wooden mallets to break the woody stem. This process was often followed by ³scutching² which entailed striking the flax with a long wooden blade to remove the woody stem. The fibre was sorted once again before it was ready for spinning. The ³shous² or waste stem parts was burned on domestic fires. Spinning was done by the women of the house on traditional spinning wheels. The yarn was then collected on bobbins and measured out into standard quantities. Next, the yarn was boiled in a pot and dried. It is now ready for weaving. Weaving was done by the menfolk and special looms were used for the process. The weaver produced ³webs² of finished cloth which was brought to the weekly ³brown linen² market for sale.

Bleaching

Linen drapers assembled at the weekly markets to purchase the webs of brown linen from the weavers. This cloth was still unready for sale to the general public. Firstly, it had to be bleached. During the early decades of the eighteenth century, the bleaching process was rather slow and primitive. It took up to five months to produce white cloth! Again, all the work was done by hand. This involved using potash for the alkaliley and some type of acid such as buttermilk or animal urine! The pieces of cloth had to be repeatedly boiled over large turf fires and then rinsed in clear cold water. Imagine the pollution! Bleaching was carried out on ³bleachgreens² which had to be located along a river for a steady supply of fresh water. The webs of liner were laid out on the grass to dry in the sun during good weather. Bleach Greens were a common sight in the Cootehill area during the eighteenth century. The bleaching process was eventually speeded up by the use of machinery and a chemical revolution in the later half of the eighteenth century.

Markets and Fairs

Trade was important to the Linen Industry. Flax was grown locally and used by the local people to produce brown linen. However, during the 20th century, flax was grown as a flax crop and many towns and villages resurrected their markets and fairs in the war years to sell flax which was then used for making parachutes etc. The brown linen yarn was sold throughout Ulster at weekly marts and monthly fairs. Linen drapers travelled from as far away as London to attend some of these markets, including Cootehill. Buying and selling was strictly regulated by the Linen board and the webs of cloth were inspected for quality prior to sale by seal-masters. These men stamped the cloth after it passed inspection. These markets and fairs were vibrant and colourful affairs and attracted people from far and wide. Without them towns like Cootehill would not have developed and thrived for so long.

Mechanisation

The linen industry transformed from a cottage-based industry to one which was based in mills and factories. This was the era of the Industrial Revolution which only impinged on parts of north-east Ulster, in the Lagan Valley. Many labour saving machines were adapted from ones developed in England for the Cotton Industry. As the industry became more concentrated in the Lagan Valley after the 1830¹s, other areas further away were decimated by unemployment and emigration. Cootehill was a prime example of this trend. The Linen Industry virtually collapsed in this area prior to the famine. Weavers and spinners vanished and flax was replaced with other cash crops.

Linen Sales

Post Mechanisation, the market became more specialised and the product developed to meet the demands Worldwide. The effects of the World Wars will be looked at and the size of markets in the later half of the 20th century. What does the future hold for linen with all the new materials and fabrics which have come on the market in the 20th century?