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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
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