A once wide-spread industry on the
Isle of Man - the processing of flax - of which remarkably little
remains overtly visible. Wool was not the only fibre spun and
woven on the island. At one time probably as much flax was
processed and woven as wool.
Flax and hemp are field-grown crops which, unlike wool or cotton,
have relatively long and straight fibres which make them easier
to align and produce yarn. The coarse fibres of hemp when spun
into yarn could be woven into sacking, but were typically used to
make cordage which was woven into nets, or twisted-up in rope
works to make hempen ropes. Even though nets and ropes were made
on the Isle of Man, there was relatively little hemp production,
compared to the volume of flax that was grown and processed.
Flax has finer fibres which produce a finer yarn; the longer fibres
also mean a stronger cloth typically results. When woven from the
finer yarn, the cloth is known as linen; when thin yarns are
combined (twisted) and woven, strong canvas is produced. Linen
has been woven for millennia, and can produce light but strong
fabric.
Warriors’ shields are known to have been faced with leather to
armour them. But it has been suggested that, from Roman times,
linen was used on some shields - bonded on with paint or varnish,
possibly like laminating with glass-fibre mat or Kevlar.
Preparing the yarn
The journey from field to fabric can be split into two stages -
growing and processing the flax into yarn and weaving. Whilst
water is needed for processing flax, it doesn’t grow well ’with
wet feet’, so it was often grown near water. Flax was usually
harvested when sufficiently grown to produce the best fibres,
though sometimes it was left to mature and the seeds collected
either for sowing the next year or for processing as linseed.
Some types of crop are sown once and then cut and harvested year
after year, but flax takes a lot out of the soil, so it was
normally sown on fresh ground each year. As there was no need to
leave the rootstock in place, to maximise the yield it was often
pulled rather than cut.
Once the flax straw had been collected, it was ’retted’ to loosen the
various components so they could be separated. Just laying the
flax out in a field will achieve that eventually, but it was
usual to submerge bundles of flax under water to hasten their
breakdown. Sometimes this was done by weighting bundles down in a
stream or river, but often convenient still-water was used - a
’retting pond’ or as they were known on the island, a ’flax dub’.
When retted-down, the flax was beaten or scutched to separate the
wanted fibres from both the woody and soft pith material. This
could be done by hand, pounding with sticks, flails or logs; but
in later days Scutch mills sprang up alongside sources of water
power.
Once all loosened and beaten the flax was ’heckled’ or combed to separate
it and align the fibres prior to spinning; this was very similar
to carding wool or cotton, but the nature of the flax meant the
initial heckling used a long-toothed comb. Spinning, like for
wool, was long a domestic side-line; it could be spun using the
same spinning wheel, although it was sometimes found the dried
flax fibres had to be dampened as they were being spun.
Weaving
Weaving linen from flaxen yarn is not that different to weaving
with wool, the only significant difference is that the yarn might
be thinner and hence more threads to the inch. Some weavers wove
flax, cotton and wool. Others specialised. Flax can produce a
spectrum of fabric - from fine linen to coarse canvas; most home-
and small-scale flax weaving was for linen. Wool fibres are
naturally ’wavy’ with many bends along the length of each fibre
on the sheep’s back (known as ’the crimp’) and when spun into
yarn and then woven or knitted, this residual waviness means air
is trapped and the resultant garment has insulating properties.
In comparison, when linen is woven from flax, the lack of ’crimp’
means the fibres, as they lie close together, have minimal air
trapped between them, so the resultant linen doesn’t have the
same insulating properties as woollen material.
Linen was used for cooler-wear and for items such as
tablecloths; and because of the fine and stable weave, became
popular as ’a blank canvas’ for artists and embroiderers. Mixed
wool/linen weaving, known as ’linsey-woolsey’, is also recorded
for such as ’health belts’; it was claimed that flax had health
benefits, but it may just have been the linen gave dimensional
stability and the wool gave warmth. Raw linen has a warm grey /
light beige colour, but could be bleached and then dyed,
sometimes in the yarn but also ’in the piece’ after weaving - be
that fine linen for an undershirt or tea-towel, or canvas for
’red sails in the sunset’.
Unbleached linen is sometimes described as ’ecru’ (French for raw
or un-bleached).
Flax on Mann
Flax has certainly been processed on the Isle of Man for at least
a significant part of the last millennia, reaching its peak in
late 19th century. It became a cultivated crop on the Isle of
Man, albeit never on the
industrial
scale which arose in Ulster in the 19th century. Basil Quayle’s
1794 survey of Manx agriculture reported: ’The growth and
manufacture of flax is very general throughout the whole island,
almost every
farmer and cottager growing a
little, both for the use of their families and exportation.’
The Isle of Mann was a central player for
trade in the north of the Irish sea where the small trading
vessels carrying flax did a circular route from Liverpool,
Lancaster & Ulverston around Morecambe Bay, heading up to
Whitehaven before calling at the Isle of Mann on the way to
Belfast, Dublin and back to Liverpool
with linen goods.
There are certainly records of ’flax
mills’ but in the same way that woollen mills could provide a
range of services, there’s no way of knowing if a ’flax mill’ was
just scutching and heckling, or spinning, or weaving, or
bleaching and dying - or a combination of these. Flax mills
abounded on many of the streams where power was found, in
locations such as Glen Auldyn and Glen Roy. In the same way that
corn and woollen mills may have used the same waterwheel, it is
possible that not all flax mills were used solely to process
flax. Some also evolved, such as the Silverburn/Ballasalla mill -
originally developed in 1767 as a fulling mill for processing
flax by John Quayle, and later owned by George Quayle of Bridge
House in Castletown (who shipped linen to America). The building
was converted first for grinding ochre, and later into a dwelling
’Grey Tower’ in 1901 - an example that shows new uses can provide
new lives for a building. Similarly, the Ballasalla ’Factory’ had
several lives - as Delapryme’s Cotton Mill, as a fishing-net
works, then a mill to process flax. Most rural flax mills were
powered by water, but there are suggestions that there was at
least one wind-powered flax mill in the North of the island.
Linen wasn’t just woven for domestic consumption, it was also
exported. The amount used at-home and sold locally cannot be
determined, but the Receiver General’s returns show that between
1781 and 1810, average exports of linen were 40,000 to 60,000
yards of linen fabric each year.
Tromode
The pinnacle of the Manx flax industry was Moore’s Tromode
Flax-Spinning, Bleaching, and Sailcloth
Manufactory. Moore's
started by Douglas harbour, then moved to Factory Lane (now
Wellington Street). The Tromode works were established in 1814 by
Edward Moore, who was succeeded in 1823 by his brother James and
James’s son William Fine Moore. The works were powered by water,
with sophisticated water management feeding a waterwheel then
later a turbine; augmented by steam engine when there was
insufficient water to drive the wheel/turbine. They also had
their own plant to manufacture gas for lighting. Moore's did use
some Manx flax but increasingly imported flax from the Baltic and
Northern Ireland, from whence they also brought in weavers. The
workforce reached some 150 in number. To accommodate the
workforce close at hand, and build loyalty, W.F.Moore built the
island’s only industrial village: Cronkbourne village - houses, a
school and chapel - for their workers.
Archibald Knox was born in one of the houses, his Scottish
father was employed as a master machine maker at the Tromode
works. In 1882, a water-powered Crompton dynamo was installed,
this supplied not only the works, but also a small number of
lights in Cronkbourne village. Moore’s canvas stamped with the
Three Legs was exported world-wide to navies and for merchant
fleets. Supplying Moore’s Three Legs canvas to Isambard Kingdom
Brunel’s ’Great Britain’ was one of their greatest coups, but
also an omen. Following loss of a contract to supply much of the
British Admiralty’s sailcloth, as steam took over, the works
eventually closed in 1906. The Three Legs brand was sold to a
rival in Crewkerne and the sailcloth works was eventually re-used
as a laundry for the burgeoning visiting trade.
What remains now?
For an industry that spanned every parish, very little physical
evidence remains, but there are some documentary sources. The
Folk Life Survey in the Manx Museum Library has many
recollections of growing, spinning and weaving flax. Recorded
mid-twentieth century, these recall life in the later 19th and
early 20th century. Going back further, documents such as the
Letter books from the Bridge House papers, and Deeds relating to
various mills, provide an insight back to at least the 1700s into
their ownership and value. There are also more poignant glimpses
such as that relating to James Sampson, who was buried at Kirk
Michael on October 25 1769. Killed by the log-wheel of the Flax
Mill. Retting ponds or flax dubs were probably the most prolific
structures used for flax processing, but there was nothing
specific or distinctive about them - even if some were
specifically constructed for flax retting, nowadays any that do
remain are ’just another dub or pond’. Whilst an engine house and
vestiges of an early stone flue remain at Tromode, there is very
little elsewhere which is known to be definitely connected with
the actual processing of flax. The only significant built
heritage from the flax industry is Cronkbourne Village, whose
future is uncertain.
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With amendments by Ged Dodd. As far as I am aware only 4 Russian
flax bale seals have been found on the Isle of Man which is wide
open for exploration for metal detecting especially around
Cronkbourne.
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ЛД = LD
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H47 |
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(flax) |
Peeler
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177? |
1
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H112 |
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1827
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Jon Wade
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Cross
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Baltic States
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Jon Wade
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Cronkbourne Village, Tromode
Tromode is the only 'industrial' village on
the Island.
The view is looking up the river to the factory
from Cronkbourne House - the village is to the left.
The first Moore sailcloth works was started in Duke Street in
1790 by brothers James and Edward Moore with their father. As
they needed a bleaching field they rented Ballabeg farm in
Braddan on the other side of the river from Tromode. Following
the death of their father in 1810 the brothers dissolved their
partnership in 1814 - Edward started his business in the old corn
mill across the river at Tromode whilst James moved back to
Douglas starting his factory in Factory Lane (later Wellington
Street) but in 1823 bought his brother's works after Edwards
bankruptcy. James bought Cronkbourne (his invented name mixing
Manx Cronk = Hill and English bourne = river) and built
Cronkbourne
House and the works in which he was assisted by his
son William Fine Moore. On James' death in 1846 his estate passed
by law to his eldest son Joseph Christian Moore who being
unmarried and Archdeacon of Man, sold the business to his brother
William Fine Moore.
The village was started in the 1840's by William Fine Moore to
provide accommodation for the workers at his nearby Flax mill
(making sailcloth etc.) along the river to the North of the
village. He lived in Cronkbourne House a little to the south of
the village along the river.
The plan, extracted from the 1868, 1:2500
plan shows the two lines of small terraced houses separated by a
sward of grass. To the west the village green terminates in a
schoolroom and chapel, to the east bounded by the river which
originally provided power for the works. Four larger houses exist
in the north-east - these were probably allocated to the skilled
engineers needed for the machinery. Archibald Knox was born in
Tromode whilst his father worked at Tromode. A lithograph was
issued c.1850 showing a somewhat idealised view of the village
(possibly the housing was intended to be two storey but they do
look a little like a Scottish tenement).
The Factory
The newspaper Manx Sun for 28 September 1850 gives a lengthy account of
the factory in its early days. The motive
power is derived from an iron water-wheel . . . 19ft diameter and
10ft wide, the water is applied on the overshot principle.
When
the supply of water is plentiful the motion is entirely derived
there from, and even in times of scarcity the water is by a
peculiar contrivance, husbanded, as it were, so as to give an
adequate supply for a few hours in the
morning. . . . When the water fails to communicate the required
motion recourse is had to a horizontal steam-engine of 16 inches
cylinder and aft stroke. ... The wheel was made by John Rowan and
Sons of Belfast.... The motion of this wheel . . . is conveyed by
internal and external contrivances . . . to the rooms containing
the different machines....
We come now to the heckling. This operation is for the
purpose of removing the tow or short fibre.... A quantity of the
flax is arranged in a sort of case, and introduced at one end of
the machine. Speedily the first operation is effected - that of
getting rid of the coarser matter. In this state, the portion of
the flax is passed, by the machine itself . . . into another
division, and then to another, in each of which a different
degree of fineness is produced, till, at last, every particle of
extraneous matter is removed, and the whole of filaments arranged
in distinct even and parallel fibres.... The heckling machine was
manufactured by Samuel Lawson and Sons of Leeds, upon their
patented principle The next process is accomplished by various
drawing machines. The drawing is for the purpose of straightening
the fibres. The first result of the drawing is what is called the
sliver, a beautiful, glossy, ribbon-like arrangement of the
fibres. The subsequent drawing is for equalising this sliver....
The product is then ready for roving.
The roving throws the sliver, thus arranged and
equalized, into coarse thread, twisting it slightly, which thread
is then ready for the spinners. The spinning is conducted in
upper rooms, where there are 636 spindles . . . Here the coarse
thread, derived from the roving, is spun and is afterwards
reeled. The spinning and preparing machines were made by Samuel
Lawson & Sons and Peter Fairbairne & Co of Leeds.... The yarn is
also bleached on the premises. This department contains a
plash-mill, washing reels, wringing hooks, and weft beating
machine driven by a water-wheel. After bleaching process is
accomplished, the yarn is in summer hung on poles in the
neighbouring green to be dried, and in winter, this is effected
by means of a stove. During the night time, and in rainy weather,
the yarn is carried into a shed 150ft long and hung up there. The
drying may now be supposed to be completed.
All is now ready for the weaving. This important part of the
process takes place in a separate building . . . it is in reality
one room. The roof consists of a number of divisions a
peculiarity adopted for the due admission of light. The whole of
the Northern aspect of each division is glazed . . . the power
looms are by C. Parker of Dundee....
The Laundry
The present premises were formerly occupied in making Moore's Sail
Cloths. Clucas's Laundry, Ltd., have made the works into a large
Laundry and Brush making Factory. The Laundry is one of the
largest and best equipped in the United Kingdom, and the Brush
Factory is steadily growing into one of the largest Brush
Factories.
It is just doubling its turnover each year. This Laundry and
Brush Factory is a great credit to the
Island and speaks well for the ability and enterprise of
the three partners, viz T. Clucas, S. Clucas, and
W. Callow. This is the only Laundry Co in the British Isles which
provides houses for its employees. The Company owns the whole
village of Tromode, and their employees occupy all the houses.
The village is lighted by electricity, and is worth a visit any
evening to see the decided improvement of Lighting by Electricity
instead of gas. The electric current for both village and works
is generated by Water Turbines, which were recently added to the
laundry plant to replace the water wheel formerly used by the
Sail Cloth Works. The photo shows the Interior of Clucas's
Laundry c. 1913
Current state
The sail cloth works closed in 1905 ; the site was
taken over for many years as Clucas's laundry and brush factory
but in the 1990's became a somewhat rundown industrial site - a
new housing estate has been built to the east and the village
itself, initially threatened with destruction seems to have been
saved. The south row of houses have had extensions to the rear -
following extensive renovation both rows have kept their facades
but the interiors have been modernised..
