Weaving
It is uncertain, when humankind first created textile
materials by means of weaving. It is likely, however, that weaving
techniques were first developed by the makers of basketry, where
flexible wooden stems are worked by bending, in and out of a
framework of unbending parallel stems which remain in position as
the process of manipulation takes place. The ability to produce
extended lengths of thread by entwining fibres in a process
described as 'spinning', created the possibility of weaving thread
(or 'yarn') together, in a similar manner, in order to produce
textile fabrics. The threads which wind in and out of the weave (or
'web') are referred to as 'warp threads', while the parallel
straight threads around which the warp threads are arranged, are
termed 'weft threads'. Weaving is carried out on a structure with
moving parts called a 'loom'. On the type of traditional
hand-operated loom which was used in Scotland in the 19th Century,
the moving parts, include frames called 'heddles' which control the
action of the warp threads as they move up and down and a shuttle
which carries the weft thread laterally, through the
weave.
Evidence of early textiles is rare because they only survive
for long periods in unusual conditions. In the period before
historical records were kept, weaving activity is indicated by the
presence of the most durable components used in textile
manufacture. The presence of small pottery or stone 'spindle
whorls' on an archaeological site, indicates that the production of
thread, by spinning fibres together, has been taking place. The
spindle whorls were used as rotating weights, in order to sustain a
spinning action. The discovery of larger stone or pottery
'loom-weights', indicate that a weaving loom has been operating.
These weights were suspended from the ends of the warp yarn in
order to maintain tension on the warp, when set up on the loom. In
the earliest looms the warp hangs vertically. These are known as
vertical looms.
Textile material from the remote past, can itself, at times,
survive. The waterlogged, light and oxygen free environment which
exists, in what remains of Scotland's ancient lake-dwellings or
'crannogs' offer the perfect conditions for the survival of textile
fibres. A fragment has been found under such conditions, in recent
years, dating to approximately two and a half thousand years ago. A
period which we refer to as the 'Iron Age'. This discovery provided
evidence that people in Scotland, at that time could produce a
'twill' weave - a type of weave which requires a loom whose
operation is relatively complex. The weaving of wool to make
clothing for local use, continued in communities in Scotland
throughout the following centuries.
During the Middle Ages, specialist workshops existed in
order to weave the ornate tapestries which would have graced the
walls of the houses and castles of noblemen. These were not made in
Scotland but would have been imported from the continent from an
area which is now part of modern Belgium. At this time, royalty and
the wealthiest of noblemen wore garments made from sumptuous
decorative fabrics manufactured using complex weaving processes
with rare and unusual materials such as silk and gold thread. These
were also imported, but from farther afield, from the middle-east
and beyond
The 18th Century, in Scotland, saw a period of significant
economic growth. The textile industries formed a major part of this
process. Whereas, in the past wool alone would have provided the
'yarn', or thread for weaving, now the use of other fibres was
being encouraged. A government body set up to promote economic
activity, provided financial incentives for the growing and
processing of flax in order to produce linen yarn. Silk began to be
imported. Weavers in small communities across the south -west of
Scotland began to use these materials on their looms. Looms
themselves became more sophisticated and were now able to produce a
range of fabrics which had previously been imported from outside
Europe. At this early stage in the evolution of the industry,
weavers worked from their own homes. They were employed by
merchants who were termed 'manufacturers'. The manufacturers
provided the weaver with yarn in the form of a 'web' and collected
the finished product for which the weaver received payment. The
Ayrshire weavers worked for Glasgow and Paisley based
manufacturers, while weavers in Dumfriesshire worked for both
Glasgow and Carlisle manufacturers. As the decades past, linen and
silk were largely ousted by a new imported fabric - cotton. In 1787
a mechanised cotton-spinning mill was established on the river Ayr,
at Catrine by a local landowner, Sir Claude Alexander. He had made
a fortune abroad and was now investing it in this cutting-edge
textile manufacturing technology. A similar enterprise was embarked
upon in Galloway by the entrepreneur, William Douglas. These
advanced industrial enterprises supplied yarn for the increasing
number of cotton hand-loom weavers of the area. Silk and linen did
continue to be woven and the villages and towns of the south-west
developed their own locally specialsed industries. Wool also
continued to be important as a raw material. Kilmarnock in
particular, was renowned for a range of wool-based products, most
notable among these being carpets. Carpets were also made in
Galloway and at Sanquar in Dumfriesshire. The coarse wool of the
local moorland sheep provided suitable raw
material.
The years immediately following the Napoleonic Wars, which
ended in 1815, brought economic slump and industrial change. The
previous century had seen important technological advancements such
as the 'flying shuttle' which allowed acceleration of the weaving
process and increased the breadth of cloth which could be produced.
In the towns, 'loom shops' and factories were set up in which a
number of weavers would work together rather than in their own
home, in a way which improved efficiency. Up until this point,
weaving had been carried out on the 'hand loom' where the only form
of power involved was that produced by the weaver's own physical
effort. Now, fully mechanised looms were being built, which were
powered by water or steam engines. This allowed them to far exceed
the productivity of the hand loom weaver. The rate of introduction
power loom varied along with fluctuations in economic conditions
and demand for woven products. The new power loom factories were
being set up in the bigger urban centres rather than rural
areas.
For much of the 19th Century, only the most simple weaving
processes could be carried out on the power loom. As a result of
this, the hand loom weavers, working in the smaller towns and
villages of the south-west of Scotland, continued to make a living
by concentrating their efforts on finer materials like silk and
fabrics with intricate decorative structures. These required looms
whose movements were complex, and whose operations were controlled
by mechanisms such as the 'jacquard box' and the 'lappet wheel'. In
Dumfriesshire a woollen manufacturing industry thrived based on the
factory system with hand-loom weavers producing tweeds which were
much in demand south of the border.
By the end of the 19th Century, the power loom had been
developed to a point where it could replace the hand loom almost
entirely. For some years, toward the end of the century, young men
from weaving families, abandoned the hand-loom trade and entered
other industries such as engineering and coal mining. As the ageing
hand loom weavers died off, so too did the tradition of hand loom
weaving in the south-west of Scotland. In Ayrshire the renowned
character,
Matthew Fowlds - 'the Fenwick Centenarian' - is
believed to be the last of his breed in this part of
Scotland.
In the first half of the 20th Century, the textile
industries consolidated themselves in the larger towns and
geographically defined areas such as the Garnock Valley and the
Irvine Valley in the north of Ayrshire. Large factories continued
to produce woollen tweeds in Langholm and Dumfries. The linen
weaving industry in the south-west of Scotland had been dealt a
fatal blow during the 19th Century by competition from Ulster and
the towns on the east coast of Scotland, and was now no longer a
factor in the economy of the area.
Carpet weaving in both Ayr and Kilmarnock expanded
in the immediate aftermath of the Second World
War. Cotton spinning and weaving continued at Catrine in
Ayrshire, into the second half of the Twentieth Century under the
management of James Finlay and Company. This company was continuing
the industrial venture which had been initiated during the lifetime
of
Robert Burns by Sir Claude Alexander and his
collaborator, David Dale of Stewarton. In some of the smaller
country towns of the south-west a variety of products such as
blankets, tweeds and rugs continued to be made during this period.
The later part of the 20th Century saw the contraction and
disappearance of the textile industries in many parts of the
south-west of Scotland, along with manufacturing industry in
general, in response to competition from abroad and periodic
economic slumps. Carpet weaving in Kilmarnock reached a critical
point in the 1980s with a slump in orders. Now this manufacture has
gone, bringing to an end a local industrial tradition which extends
back in time, for three hundred years. Although machine lace, warp
knitting and hosiery manufacture continue in Ayrshire, weaving as a
manufacturing process has almost entirely vanished. One interesting
exception is the production of 'Madras', which has survived up
until the present in the town of Newmilns in the Irvine Valley.
This is a decorative gauze which resembles lace, but which is made
in an entirely different way - a process known as 'cross weaving'.
In essence, it is the same cotton-based product which the weavers
of the Irvine valley wove on their hand looms, in their small
cottages in the early years of the 19th Century. Weaving on an
industrial basis, no longer takes place in Dumfriesshire or
Galloway but a few individual craft hand loom weavers continue here
and in Ayrshire and Arran. These weavers make only part of their
income on the loom, but this is not new. It reflects the economic
circumstances of their predecessors in the 18th Century, before the
days of the power loom and the factory system.