Spinning With Hemp

Written by Alexander Gunn aka A Native of Badbea. Printed in the Northern Ensign, March 23, 1882 Part A

 

One man using a Muckle wheel and the other carding wool. Source: Am Baile

“The Badbea youths had a spark of genius about them. They were artificers in “wood and iron.”  There was a great demand for spinning wheels at this time, the manufacturing of herring nets being a branch of local industry carried on very extensively. There was scarcely a house where the spinning of hemp and the making of nets were not engaged in during the long winter nights. The remuneration for this was very poor. A net 40 yards long was made for 20s, the hemp being spun and made into a net for this sum; but there was not any other branch of work or industry by which a shilling could be earned during the winter months, and while the pay was small it was very useful when it came to hand”.

 

Berrydale, 1820, William Daniell 1769–1837. Note the fishing nets drying on the shore

“One or two of the youths began the manufacture of spinning wheels, making their own turning-lathes, and all the tools they required. The material cost them nothing. They had only to take their axe and saw in their hands and walk up to Ousdale or Badaskary woods, and carry it home if they escaped the shepherds or the gamekeepers’ eye, and season it and cut it into shape at their leisure. One of these youths, got the name of “Pirnie,” which stuck to him even to this day”.

My Comments:

It seems that hemp was being imported from Russia or Poland at that time.

Hemp Crop off Peasenhall Road, Walpole, England

Hemp was used in the manufacture of ropes of all sorts and was also used to make hammocks and other things for the military and was regarded as an important import. 

Sir John Sinclair investigated the possibility of hemp being grown in Scotland – as had apparently been done in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and wrote several articles about the idea but it doesn’t seem to have taken off in his time. 

While every home in Badbea had a spinning wheel the family members were making different products at different times. Wool from sheep was spun to make clothing for everyone in the household. Socks and other garments were knitted by hand from the spun wool. Wool was also provided to a local tailor to weave and make garments.

The Spinning Wheel by Raphael Tuck

Working in the fishing industry was one of the few ways Highlanders could earn a living. Besides going out as crew in the fishing boats there were other ways people made a living within the fishing industry. Alexander Gunn tells us that the manufacture of fishing nets was carried on extensively in local homes. And to be able to do this, spinning wheels and hemp were needed. 

 

A ball of hemp at Newtonmore

Before the 1850s a simple wheel called a ‘muckle wheel’ was used. From my own knowledge of a spinning wheel I am fairly confident that a muckle wheel is what the Badbea boys were making. It had a simple design and few moving parts. A drive belt linked a large wheel to a small spindle (usually a thin iron rod) to which the teased wool or hemp was tied. A slow turning of the large wheel with one hand while holding and twisting the fibre with the other would cause the spindle to draw more hemp from the bundle. The wheel could then be reversed so the spindle wound up what had just been spun. It required the spinner to walk backwards and forwards to wind the yarn onto a spindle. 

 

A girl using a muckle wheel. Source Am Baile

The muckle wheel was eventually replaced by the Saxony wheel which had a number of advantages. It was smaller, had a belt drive system which turned not only a spindle but also a bobbin allowing the wool to be twisted as it was wound onto the the bobbin. It also had a foot pedal allowing the spinner to sit down while working. But from the boys' perspective it would have been much more complicated to make. The Saxony wheel is still used by spinners today. I have had several of them.

 

A Saxony wheel at Newtonmore

Gunn’s reference to the family spinning and making nets during the long winter nights is interesting. The source of light in the Badbea houses was very limited. They often had small lamps that gave off poor light while the fire was kept burning – but spinning and making nets in the near dark would have been a challenge.

My own spinning wheel and carders. It is an elegant wheel but works on the same principles as the original Saxony wheels