Prior to the 1750’s, woollen garments were a cottage industry, neither exported nor imported to any great extent from Europe. During this period, Scotland was a major trader with Europe especially with the Low Countries, France, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Poland and Russia and the east coast ports were busy commercial centres – Fish from Crail, Anstruther, Dunbar; salt from Kirkcaldy, Culross, Dysart and Prestonpans; grain from Montrose; hides and leather from Bo’ness.
Wool, however, was produced locally for local consumption. This was to change by the end of the 18th century, however, as the invention of the “flying shuttle” in 1733 led to development of power-driven spinning factories, the first of which, in Scotland, was opened in 1779. The “industrialisation” of the woollen industry took place in the late 17th and 18th centuries and this, to a certain extent, was a factor in the Clearances, not only in the Highlands but also in the Lowlands where people were replaced with sheep – sheep being seen as a much more profitable commodity than people and rents. King Sheep took over in Scotland and the mills in the central belt in particular were constantly demanding more and more of the raw product to help feed the growing markets of the south and in the colonies.
There were, however, parts of Scotland where the traditional method of spinning and weaving were jealously guarded – mainly in the Highlands and Shetland – and these remain even to this day with a separate identity to the mass produced product.
The ability to generate power was one of the main determinants for the setting up of woollen mills. If there was a good source of water, it was more than likely that a woollen garments production system would be set up. One of the main centres was in the Borders – close to a power supply, the River Tweed and its tributaries, a wool supply, the Borders farms and a market both north and south. The highest quality of woollen goods, Cashmere, was also a speciality and the industry boomed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
One of the best examples of a woollen mill can be seen at New Lanark, south of Glasgow. Robert Owen’s beautifully restored 18th century cotton mill and village lies close to the Falls of Clyde and is now a World Heritage Site. Owen was mill manager here between 1800 and 1825; he revolutionised the treatment of workers. Employees were for the first time offered housing, schooling and even healthcare.
The colonies, rather than import woollen goods started to farm and weave their own and the designs of weaving machines developed in Britain began to be copied by the Americans in particular. Cotton also began to be major alternative to woollen goods.
Throughout the mid and late 20th century, competition from the Far East began to take effect in the UK and Scotland and woollen mills, being unable to compete with the price, started to close. The effect has been felt nowhere as much as the Borders where the once proud woollen and cashmere industry has been decimated – but the name of Scotland still remains synonymous with Woollen mills and millions of visitors a year come to the many woollen mills in the Highlands and Lowlands.
Quite a few paragraphs ago, mention was made of Highland Tweeds and Shetland. These markets still flourish. Harris Tweed is made all over the Outer Hebrides – probably THE cottage industry of all time. Its name is known the world over as is Shetland Knitwear, Fair Isle sweaters and the Paisley pattern and many others still very much involved in what is left of the Scottish Woollen Industry – still a great product, long may it continue.
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