Elogio de las Cosas

The/

1 . 3oot~ Ilagasine Vol IV 1742 p.127.

2 . T. Pagan. The Convention of the Royal Burghs of Scotland p .239. 3 . General Report. 1'unicipal Incorporations in Scotland, 1835#

Appendix class III p.15*

The most important Government measure was probably the freeing o f the industry f om the control of the incorporations. As early as 1600 ex-soldiers and sailors could exercise ohe trade of weaving, without belonging to a c ra ft. Thus the weaving craft grew to f u lf i l an

important fr ie dly function without controlling the trade and toe aaom&ly arises of an incorporation o f weavers being founded in 1664 by Ramsay

the baron b a i l l i e of Abbotshall in the Linktown outside the boundry of

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the royal burgh of Kirkcaldy. The weaving trade grew freely in xbe suburbs of Kirkcaldy whilst other trades languished in the burgh. however,

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i t was the Act of 24th Geo,11 C31 whioh d efin itively freed the trade

declaring that every ..."m aker of heckles, spinning wheels, weaving looms, and weaving reeds and also everv weaver or manufacturer of linen, flaxen or hempen oloth, or every dreseer of flax or hemp sh all and may, and is hereby authorised to exorcise the said trados within any c ity , town, corporation, burgh or place in Scotland, without any le t or hindrance from any parson or persons whatever, and without being chargeable or charged with any entry money or other duty whatsoever, for in respeox of

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their following such trade or business!!. The trade could thus grow freely without craft control - ho-ever, in the long run the luck of orait control prevented the weavers from controlling their numbers in their nineteenth oentury decline. I t was only in obscurantist towns such as Cupar and St* Andrews that the crafts attempted to maintain control over/

1 . J .T . Davidson. The Linktown of Abbotshall pp 45-47*

trade for not entering their apprentices to the Corporation the Secretary wrote " I confess I never before hoard o f an attempt to compel a weaver to enter his apprentices freemen with the

corporation." And in 1795 the Secretary wrote to the Deacon of

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the .eavers in Cui ar and a group of unfreemen that there was no need to

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join the Incorporation.

But i f the corporation sp irit tended to s t if le aconoi.dc

growth in the Royal Burghs there is evidence that the lurghs themselves encouraged the linen industry by establisldng markets and reducing looal t o lls . In 1718 the Kirkcaldy town council decided that "the

manufacture Tykeing and Lin on being a common advantage" the tax on (3)

bleaching should be removed. x / In 1751* seeing the advantage of i linen market they appointed one to be held on the fir s t Wednesday of

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July "and to be cuntara free for three years. In the same year they petitioned the Board of Trustees for the establishment of a h ckler

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in the town. In 1740 "fo r the encourage™ ant of the

Lanufasturera, ordain that yam be custom free in a ll time coining. And in 1751 a market was established on the oooond Wednesday in Apr-1 fo r /

1 . SivQ BOT Letters LG 1 /5 /1 4 . 25/4/1784. 2 . ib id . NG 1 /5 /1 7 50/7/1796.

5 . L. iacbean. Kirkcil y Burgh Records p. 239. 4 . ib id . p . 263.

5. ibid p.264. 6 . ib id . p. 265.

for the sale o f lin t seed* ‘ The town^hc ever, failed to build a dyebouse as i t intended and the yam sorters appointed in the 17403 to improve the selection of yams for the poorer weavers -ere discontinued in the 50s. heverthelesa as uhe century progressed the scale of

manufacture in the town be ran to grow and Checks* T ick s, $ tripes and to a lesser extent napkins and coarse goods became firmly established in the town and cap ita lists began to emerge ready to exploit the

opportunities at the end of the century. Thus John Fergus who was established in the town by the 1750s was described by Loch as having 40 Tick and fcheok looms and a large ble&chfield. ^

The Damask trade i s popularly believed to have been

introduced to Dunfermline by James Blake who learnt the art by crawling under a loom in feigned idiooy at Drumaheug £&inburgfa in 1715 and

% started to weave in the town at the age of 28 in 1718. A fine

Jacobite napkin of (1719) and the fla g of the incorporation (1734) have been at -ributed to him. He d^ed at the age of 80 in 1770 "respected

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and regretted by the h a ill burghJ1 A description of the town in 1723 says In the burgh are a great many weavers constantly

employed in working Damask and Diaper, Tyckings and Bon^all" ^ However/

1 . Ibid p.276.

2 . Loch op c i t . Vol II p .41.

3 . F. Henderson, Annuals o f Dunfermline pp 401 and 428. Industrial espionage was common in the Aighioenth oentury, as was

manufacturer s'd esire to keep their s k ills a secret. Drumsneugh, where the lin est linen was made bv cesoendents of continental

weavers brought over by the have been the obvious plaoe to discover the art of Damask weaving and there is no doubt that Blake was a fine weaver.

However* the Damask trade remained small and the patterns crude* yet in Dunfermline too, efforts were made to improve the *rade* In 1725 the town resolved to enforce the laws against evil frauds in the trade suoh as bad weaving* using i l ported yam and bleaching with lime* ^ and in 1731 the town and the weavers acted together in securing a grant of £200 from the Board of rustecs for a lueachfield and put the job in hand with do termination "The council appointed several of their members to oversee the building of four oanalls in the Bleaohfield with stones on each syde and bottom and that the sane be fallen about os soon as may be*" However* Dunfermline looked su fficien t or soft enough water* and the fie ld decayed, and good3 were soon being sent as far as Glorat

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to be bleached as well as Maryourgh and K eirfield .

A more successful venture was the calender which the

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Incorporation represented to the council taat they had bu ilt in 1735. At a meeting o f fcho Incorporation in 1762 i t was resolved to put the

calender with the hot and cold cylinder and cylinder bouse to roup rjid the building was thereafter leased or taken in hand by the

t i l l sold for 400 in 1837. ^ I t can bo seen that in spite of the