Flax, retting ponds and linen
15 September
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The Lows Lochan and cottage, an old retting pond
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The old retting pond looking west
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Lochlands Lochan, another possible retting pond near Kirkleegreen.
Scotland was one of the first countries in the World to grow flax for making linen on an industrial scale and in North Ayrshire the firm of William & James Knox, linen thread and net manufacterers, was established as early as 1778, based in Kilbirnie and still active today.
Flax plant stems consist of a stiff inner core, surrounded by fibre, a bit like the bark on a tree. Processed flax fibre is soft, lustrous, flexible and stronger than cotton; bundles have the appearance of blonde hair, hence the common expression "flaxen". The raw fibre however is stuck together and also to the core of the stem with a ‘glue’ formed of chemicals known as pectins and lignins. To loosen or 'ret' this fibre the glue has to be dissolved or rotted away using water and bacteria. The final stage, 'heckling' the fibre, is a process that brings Robert Burns and Irvine into the picture, buts that's another story.
Retting was carried out in natural or man-made ponds, lochans, bogs, and slow moving burns, some of which are stll a landscape feature of Beith and district today, others just a folk-memory or an annotation on a map. The old Lochside Farm on the north-west side of Kilbirnie Loch had a 'Flax Pond' linked to the loch in the 19th century, now visible as a wet area dominated by rushes. Another retting pond was located at Windyhouse Farm near Barrmill, however the best surviving example is at Lows Cottage, below the Lochlands Hill, where the Lows Lochan was used for retting and the cottage was built for the workers and the tasks involved.
At Lows you can still see where the bundles of stalks were once submerged in water, weighted down, with stones or wood, and left for about 8 to 14 days, depending upon the temperature. Retting time had to be carefully judged; under-retting made separation difficult, and over-retting weakened the fibre.
The retted stalks, called straw, were dried in the open air or by mechanical means, and then stored for a short period before the brittle woody portion of the straw was broken by hand or by passed through rollers, followed by the scutching operation, which removed the broken woody pieces, leaving the tow or fibres. Finally the tow was heckled by pulling the flax through combs, thereby locking the fibres together and making them straight, clean, and ready to spin and then 'weave' into linen, rope, etc.
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