FROM THE ARCHIVE: DEEP ROOTED - LINEN'S IRISH LINEAGE
Written by Polly Devlin (Selvedge issue 18)
Linen noun. 1. cloth woven from flax 2. articles such as sheets or clothes made, or originally made, of linen. – ORIGIN originally in the sense made of flax: from Old English. Flax. Linum usitatissimum LINN. Plant of the genus Linum that is cultivated for its seeds and for the fibres of its stem. Common flax (also known as linseed) is a member of the Linaceae family, which includes about 150 plant species widely distributed around the world.
From Flower to Fabric - How Linen is made
Flax is sown in April producing delicate blue flowers in June and is harvested in August. Rippling retrieves the flax seeds from the seed pod. The crop is laid out in the fields to ret, when the woody bark rots and fibres come loose from the main stem. Scutching is a mechanical operation that breaks and beats the flax straw, and separates the textile fibres in the plant stem from the woody matter. The divided fibres are then heckled (combed) to split long line and short tow fibres. Line fibres then go through a process where they are drafted and doubled, until a rove (a slightly twisted sliver of flax fibre) has been formed. SpinningThe rove is spun into a yarn. During this process, it is soaked in warm water that softens the natural gummy substances contained in the yarn and permits the individual fibrils within each fibre to slide in relation to each other, thus producing a very fine and regular yarn. This process is called “wet spinning”. Line fibres produce fine, strong yarn. Short tow fibres are dry spun and a heavy, coarse yarn results, ideal for use as furnishing fabrics, heavier apparel and knitwear.
Image courtesy of Emma Hutchinson
Linen in Ulster|
Anyone looking for a brief introduction to the history of Irish linen should be warned; such a thing could only ever fall short of its aim. Draw out a single thread and you unravel a story that begins with the Phoenician merchant fleets and progresses to the Irish monasteries, takes in the high drama of the Flight of the Earls in 1607, the violent Plantation of Ulster and the horror of the Potato Famine. It’s fair to say the growth of the linen industry in Ulster has deep and political roots. The manufacture of linen existed primarily as a domestic industry in the 15th and 16th century. Evidence such as the typical Irish costume with its extravagant use of linen suggests flax grew in abundance and perhaps this is what attracted the attention of English. It was by kind “permission” of the English Lord Wentworth, Earl of Strafford that the linen industry was nurtured while the trade in wool was suppressed to protect this staple commodity of England. Appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland by Charles I in 1632 the Earl’s contributions to the industry are often noted; he imported Dutch equipment and high quality flax seed, improved weaving looms anD consulted technical advisers from abroad but his methods were uncompromising and he cleared the way for technical innovations by punishing with fines or imprisonment anyone who worked in the traditional fashion. His indifference to the misery that resulted underlines the fact that his draconian measures to make linen profitable were in the service of the English exchequer rather than the Irish people. Nevertheless improved industrial processes, combined with the knowledge brought by the Huguenots who settled in Ulster when the Edict of Nantes was revoked, were the foundations of an industry that grew and prospered. In the 19th-century almost every town and village in Northern Ireland had a mill or a factory. By 1921 almost 40% of the registered working population depended on the linen industry but by end of the 20th-century only 10 significant companies remained. The Living Linen Oral Archive and Collection was set up in 1995 to preserve of the knowledge of a nucleus of people who worked in the industry in Ulster are held at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, County Down, Northern Ireland.
Reaping what was sown
Everyone has moments in their lives when they hear or see something that touches them and stirs previous but untapped knowledge. For me, such a moment occurred while reading Irish history. I came across a list that started me on a life's work I may never be able to finish – a book on the great O'Neill, the last great Gaelic chieftain of Ireland who fled in 1607 in the Flight of the Earls. It was one of the most important events in Irish history, clearing the way for the Agrarian settlement known as the Plantation of Ulster. My ancestors, the Devlins, were O'Neill’s Praetorian guard and after he fled we were dispossessed of our lands. O'Neill's castle, Tullyhogue, was sacked and the list I read was a record of the items found by an English soldier – two chests, a brass kettle, spices, a pair of taffeta curtains and a silken jacket. It was the taffeta, that shook out flaming over the centuries that stirred me and sent me on my quest for the life that I might have had – that my sept, as Irish clans are known, might have had if Ireland had a different history. A history like England, where the great families passed down their treasures through generations undisturbed. The Irish artefacts, linen and clothing I collect are more than objects to me, more than aids to memory. They are symbols of another kind of Ireland.
Slow TV, Linen Harvest
Make sure to tune into our upcoming Slow TV experience, a live streaming of the flax harvest at Silverburn Flax Mill.
The date of the Slow TV event can only be predicted a few days ahead of the harvest of the flax crop at Silverburn Flax Mill. Nature defines the harvest and cannot be hurried. We will follow the flax crop during the month of September 2022 to monitor when it is ready to harvest and for the Slow TV event to document the process. Filming is dependent on the flax crop and the weather.
This is a free event that will live streamed on our website on the SLOW TV PAGE.
Linen noun. 1. cloth woven from flax 2. articles such as sheets or clothes made, or originally made, of linen. – ORIGIN originally in the sense made of flax: from Old English. Flax. Linum usitatissimum LINN. Plant of the genus Linum that is cultivated for its seeds and for the fibres of its stem. Common flax (also known as linseed) is a member of the Linaceae family, which includes about 150 plant species widely distributed around the world.
From Flower to Fabric - How Linen is made
Flax is sown in April producing delicate blue flowers in June and is harvested in August. Rippling retrieves the flax seeds from the seed pod. The crop is laid out in the fields to ret, when the woody bark rots and fibres come loose from the main stem. Scutching is a mechanical operation that breaks and beats the flax straw, and separates the textile fibres in the plant stem from the woody matter. The divided fibres are then heckled (combed) to split long line and short tow fibres. Line fibres then go through a process where they are drafted and doubled, until a rove (a slightly twisted sliver of flax fibre) has been formed. SpinningThe rove is spun into a yarn. During this process, it is soaked in warm water that softens the natural gummy substances contained in the yarn and permits the individual fibrils within each fibre to slide in relation to each other, thus producing a very fine and regular yarn. This process is called “wet spinning”. Line fibres produce fine, strong yarn. Short tow fibres are dry spun and a heavy, coarse yarn results, ideal for use as furnishing fabrics, heavier apparel and knitwear.
Image courtesy of Emma Hutchinson
Linen in Ulster|
Anyone looking for a brief introduction to the history of Irish linen should be warned; such a thing could only ever fall short of its aim. Draw out a single thread and you unravel a story that begins with the Phoenician merchant fleets and progresses to the Irish monasteries, takes in the high drama of the Flight of the Earls in 1607, the violent Plantation of Ulster and the horror of the Potato Famine. It’s fair to say the growth of the linen industry in Ulster has deep and political roots. The manufacture of linen existed primarily as a domestic industry in the 15th and 16th century. Evidence such as the typical Irish costume with its extravagant use of linen suggests flax grew in abundance and perhaps this is what attracted the attention of English. It was by kind “permission” of the English Lord Wentworth, Earl of Strafford that the linen industry was nurtured while the trade in wool was suppressed to protect this staple commodity of England. Appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland by Charles I in 1632 the Earl’s contributions to the industry are often noted; he imported Dutch equipment and high quality flax seed, improved weaving looms anD consulted technical advisers from abroad but his methods were uncompromising and he cleared the way for technical innovations by punishing with fines or imprisonment anyone who worked in the traditional fashion. His indifference to the misery that resulted underlines the fact that his draconian measures to make linen profitable were in the service of the English exchequer rather than the Irish people. Nevertheless improved industrial processes, combined with the knowledge brought by the Huguenots who settled in Ulster when the Edict of Nantes was revoked, were the foundations of an industry that grew and prospered. In the 19th-century almost every town and village in Northern Ireland had a mill or a factory. By 1921 almost 40% of the registered working population depended on the linen industry but by end of the 20th-century only 10 significant companies remained. The Living Linen Oral Archive and Collection was set up in 1995 to preserve of the knowledge of a nucleus of people who worked in the industry in Ulster are held at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, County Down, Northern Ireland.
Reaping what was sown
Everyone has moments in their lives when they hear or see something that touches them and stirs previous but untapped knowledge. For me, such a moment occurred while reading Irish history. I came across a list that started me on a life's work I may never be able to finish – a book on the great O'Neill, the last great Gaelic chieftain of Ireland who fled in 1607 in the Flight of the Earls. It was one of the most important events in Irish history, clearing the way for the Agrarian settlement known as the Plantation of Ulster. My ancestors, the Devlins, were O'Neill’s Praetorian guard and after he fled we were dispossessed of our lands. O'Neill's castle, Tullyhogue, was sacked and the list I read was a record of the items found by an English soldier – two chests, a brass kettle, spices, a pair of taffeta curtains and a silken jacket. It was the taffeta, that shook out flaming over the centuries that stirred me and sent me on my quest for the life that I might have had – that my sept, as Irish clans are known, might have had if Ireland had a different history. A history like England, where the great families passed down their treasures through generations undisturbed. The Irish artefacts, linen and clothing I collect are more than objects to me, more than aids to memory. They are symbols of another kind of Ireland.
Slow TV, Linen Harvest
Make sure to tune into our upcoming Slow TV experience, a live streaming of the flax harvest at Silverburn Flax Mill.
The date of the Slow TV event can only be predicted a few days ahead of the harvest of the flax crop at Silverburn Flax Mill. Nature defines the harvest and cannot be hurried. We will follow the flax crop during the month of September 2022 to monitor when it is ready to harvest and for the Slow TV event to document the process. Filming is dependent on the flax crop and the weather.
This is a free event that will live streamed on our website on the SLOW TV PAGE.