Burling & mending:
The final stage of the worsted manufacturing process was burling and mending. This involved highly skilled workers inspecting the finished cloth by sight and feel, for imperfections and knots. These were then teased out and invisibly mended, to leave a perfect length of cloth. This photograph, hung on the wall of Bradford's Industrial Museum, captures the process - and the concentration required - very well.
It reminds me of when I was first a student at Bradford University in the early 1970s. I rented a room high in the attic of a house in Bradford. From my window I could look down into a room in the building across the road where workers sat with huge rolls of cloth. Not being from this area, I was rather puzzled - until a fellow student, Bradford born and bred, explained that the workers were highly skilled burlers and menders in the textile industry, which in those days still survived as a major business in the area.
HERE is a photo of the Burling and Mending Shed at Salts Mill.
I had no idea there was such a process.
ReplyDeleteSo glad to hear you actually were there experiencing some of the activities of that industry, as it sank into history. The link only took me to one shot of the museum, showing women working with the fabric. But I do appreciate seeing these techniques which are now done totally by machines somewhere else.
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