The Changing Fortunes of the Irish Linen Industry – A Case Study of Technological Change and Industrial Decline. Part 1: Raw Materials, Processing Arrangements and Innovations

This paper is concerned with outlining the nature of flax-fibre manufacture in Northern Ireland in the mid-twentieth century. Attention is focused on the various stages of processing, aimed largely at removing impurities and in parallelising the fibres in a regular, continuous, attenuated format known as a roving, in preparation for spinning into yarn using one of various alternative systems. Subsequent processing stages, aimed at the production of finished linen fabric, are outlined also. Technological developments and innovations, of particular importance to the post-Second-World-War Irish-linen industry, are identified.