Written by Vikki Haffenden

In our September meeting we were privileged to welcome Richard Simms a historian and writer who is connected to Dawes Twine Works, a heritage twine works in West Coker. This report aims to convey some of the stimulating stories and interesting facts from the talk, but, as always something will be missing, so if you wish to dig deeper there is a list of several books on the subject at the end.

Richard was born in Crewkerne and had an initial interest in the history of railway development. This led, via Bridport’s industrial textile history, to that of the bordering areas of West Dorset and South Somerset where, in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth century there was significant rope, twine, sailcloth and netting manufacturing.

There is some overlap amongst terms used for the flax products produced in the area; yarn is generally a length of fibres that have been twisted together and will eventually be twisted with another length, (plied) to make cordage of some sort. Today’s spinners would call this ‘singles’. Cordage is a term that encompasses rope, thread, and twine that have been made by twisting together multiple strands of pre-spun fibres, (yarn) and which are generally used for tying or stitching. Twine can be used to describe both thread and yarn composed of two or more strands twisted together, but is generally thinner than rope. Twine is often applied to utilitarian products made from hemp, flax or jute. ‘String’ is interchangeable with twine, but as it is generally made from cotton, is not relevant to the historical manufacturing of the area under discussion. (definitions from Hanging by a Thread, 2013).

Those of you who know Bridport will be aware of the remnants of the rope walks which show how the industry created the original shape of the town. Textiles were also produced in other local towns and villages including: Axminster (wool), Beaminster (sailcloth and wool), Chard (lace and wool), Crewkerne (sailcloth and webbing), Ilminster (sailcloth, silk, twine and wool), Lyme Regis (silk and wool) and Martock (sailcloth and twine). Of these textile hubs very few have survived, but Axminster Carpets, (est 1755) is still producing wool carpets whilst in Bridport AmSafe, (originally part of Bridport Gundry) plus several other companies make netting for commercial and military uses. Meanwhile in Crewkerne, Crewkerne Textile’s Viney Bridge mill, (est 1789 and now closed) produced webbing, including that used on the space shuttle.

Early on in this talk Richard made a distinction between small scale ‘manufactories’ and powered, industrialised ‘factories’. Prior to Britains’s industrial revolution, (1760-1860) textile production was part of the local community with spinners and weavers working in their own homes or communal spaces in villages. This developing into collaborative enterprises, with small manufactories such as spinning, weaving and ‘bucking’, mills being established in suitable local locations to cater for each other’s need.

Flax and hemp, the raw materials for most of this industry were ideal crops due to the geography of the area where the lias-rich soil suits both plants. Hemp preferred the sandier soil near Bridport whilst flax grew better further inland. There was such a demand for flax that in the 1700s farmers were offered a bounty to grow the crop. However, as flax is not an easy crop, once the farmer had planted it, the commissioning merchant would employ a ‘jobber’ to care for the crop. Despite this, by the 1800s the demand had outgrown supply and Russian flax was being imported to the area.

The processing of flax to fibre was hard physical work, as we saw when Flaxland came to the Guildthis year. The plant was hand pulled to preserve the longest fibres and for this arduous work additional seasonal workers were needed at harvest. After harvesting flax has to be retted, or rotted, which was traditionally done by the slow process of leaving the stems in the field for the dew to break them down. Although stooks of flax could be retted in running water, this was prohibited in Tudor times to prevent pollution of the water supplies. Because stagnant water proved to work well, pond-retting became the most efficient method, but eventually around 1894 purpose built, heated retting tanks were introduced to speed the process up even more. There is what is most likely to be a concrete retting pond still preserved in the grounds of Dawes Twine Works. However, as with the industrialisation of many processes, the smell from the tanks was an undesirable and unpleasant side effect.

The next step in producing the fibre was breaking the flax and Richard showed us a photograph of women using fluted rollers to do this at Burford Mill during WW1. Once broken the flex had to be swingled, (scutched) to remove the final pieces of the outer layer and soften the fibres. This was a dangerous process using a piece of equipment rather like a blunt guillotine. The fibres were then combed or hackled, being pulled through spiked rows of nails grading from coarse to fine to separate the superior, longer fibres, (line) from the short ‘tow’. Nothing was wasted, and tow was spun and used as the weft in sailcoth.

Wastage was carefully monitored, the merchants noted the weight of the bundle of raw flax which was checked against that of the processed bundle and any shortfall would have been deducted from payment. To prevent any wastage, processing took place in closed sheds and worker’s being exposed to the dust generated by this led to Bridport having the highest recorded levels of lung disease in the country at the time.

In Bridport, twine and rope was twisted by ‘walking’, hence the Bridport ‘rope walks’. A large wheel was positioned at one end of a long, narrow strip of land and turned, (usually by a child) whilst the walker held the fibres and as they walked backwards along the strip they allowed the twist to travel up the fibres. Somerset was slightly different, and relied more on the spinning wheel for creating the yarn suitable for weaving into sailcloth.

Sailcloth, also known as canvas, was made in other parts of the country but none was as long-lasting as that from West Coker, where the linen yarn was ‘bucked’. Bucking involved boiling the yarn/twine in a solution of potash, which whitened and strengthened both the yarn and resulting cloth, (see the quote from the Calendar State Papers in the accompanying photo). However, this reduced its mass by a quarter, thus making it more expensive to produce. West Coker’s ‘bucked-in-the-yarn’ sailcloth was eventually proved superior and longer lasting than both Dundee sailcloth and even the prized French ‘Noyals’. In 1634 John Giles of Coker made the sailcloth for the ‘Sovereign, for which he had to weave thirty yards a week by hand. After weaving, the Coker canvas was shaped and sewn into sails in big sail lofts in Crewkerne. In 1812, once it was proved to last 47% longer than other sailcloth, Coker canvas was adopted by the Admiralty for the sails of the fleet, but the boom did not survive the demise of sail in the late 1800s. Following this, Coker canvas continued to be used for the sails of the racing ships in events such as the Americas Cup.

During Industrial Revolution and after the 1860s, fibre processing, spinning and weaving was moved to machines and throughout the area hackling, spinning, weaving and bucking mills were established. Housing was built along the old rope walks in Bridport and factories began to emerge in the textile towns of the region. Rope production slowly dwindled and finally moved to the big naval dockyard being built in Chatham and the introduction of steam ships meant less rope was needed anyway.

Net braiding was another textile product from Bridport and Chard, and this continued into the 1950s, with smaller lengths braided as home working which was often done by women. War stimulates production, and during WW1 there was a shortage of male labourers but a desperate need for linen to manufacture aircraft wings, the consequence of this situation was that female harvesters were recruited and accommodated in a camp at Yeovil. Indeed, both World Wars were times of high demand in the textile towns of the area, and even as recently as 1982, helicopter cargo nets were made locally for use during the Falklands war.

Dawes Twine Works was closed in the 1960s but subsequently saved from demolition by the council. A trust was established and the works have since been renovated and now open once a month to demonstrate the historical twine-making process. There is so much more to learn about the heritage of the textile industry in the local area, it is a fascinating subject and this was only touching on a little of what Richard Simms shared with us.

The flax and hemp heritage of South Somerset and West Dorset

Visit to Eko Alpakas, Weekfield Farm, Nr. Dulverton.