WEAVING IN STRATHKINNESS

There is no mention of linen hand-loom weaving in Strathkinness in any

literature about weaving, although it is known that, like most villages in Fife,

there was a substantial amount done there.

Early farmtouns had their weavers and there would have been a number of

them around Strathkinness. The first mention of weavers in Strathkinness

comes from title deeds. (There are almost certainly title deeds mentioning

weavers going back earlier than those uncovered so far). In 1764 Robert

Melville feued a piece of ground at ‘Meadow Bank of Strathkinness to Robert

Robertson weaver’. There are other references dated from 1790 to 1800.

In 1798 ‘David Dishart, weaver of Strathkinness, son of David Dishart, Tailor

of Strathkinness’ inherited the feu from his father. One of the few weavers

left in the village in 1881 was another David Dishart, aged 78, who lived in

what was at one time called ‘Weavers Cottage’ (now 39 Main Street).

It is not always possible to say where the weavers lived and worked in

Strathkinness. Sometimes the weaving was done in a room in the house and

sometimes it was done in a shed in the yard outside. The floor was made of

earth in which the weaver embedded his/her feet. Several places in the village

are known to have had weaving sheds which have been demolished. There was

a shed which had three looms in the yard at what is now ‘Lilac Cottage’, 45

Sunnyside; there was a shed at what is now called ‘Murella’, 34 Main Street;

and there is thought to have been a weaving shed at ‘The Poffle’, behind

Sunnyside.

It is known that weaving was done in some of the houses along The

Pleasance, but it is not possible to tell by title deeds just where the weavers

lived. For example, William Peattie, a weaver in Strathkinness, already owned

property in Strathkinness when he bought what is now known as ‘The Cottage’,

24 Church Road, in 1845. It is not possible to say which house he lived in

and which house he let out.

Although there was flax grown locally, primarily for home use, most of the

flax was imported from Holland. In 1725 a premium to encourage the growing

of flax in Scotland was introduced but as there was ‘much sowing of poor

ground with bad seed just to claim the premium’ the premium was soon with-

drawn.

The typical linen woven in East Fife was a coarse brown linen such as

Osnaburg, Dornick or Dowlas which was usually sold unbleached to merchants

from Cupar~, St. And rews or Dundee. Bleaching mainly for home use was done

at the common bleaching field along the High Road. The well is still in front

83