The great number of women weavers helped to produce a gross over supply

in the market. Wages were forced down, and the standard of living of the

weavers, which in the early 1800s had been relatively high, was lowered and in

many cases it became extremely low. The over supply of the market leading

to low wages and the spread of machine looms eventually destroyed the hand-

loom weaving industry.

By 1871 the number of weavers in Strathkiness was down to a total of

36 and by 1881 only one or two elderly weavers such as David Dishart were

left.

The decline and eventual disappearance from Strathkinness of such a major

occupation had a profound effect on the village. People were forced to find

other work and although the census of 1881 shows that the population of 584

was higher than in 1841 when it had been 507, by 1891 it had fallen to 401,

or by about one-fifth. There were fewer jobs in the quarries than there had

been ten years earlier and people left the village for towns and cities. Some of

the people who remained, including many women, found employment in the

Guardbridge Paper Mills which had opened in 1875, others worked at the

Seafield Tile Works and some became shop assistants or domestic servants in

St. Andrews.

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