Stones at the flax dam. Original painting by Brian Willis.

STONES

When I was first given the photo I originally thought the stones dotted around were part of the bank, but I am glad to say my greengrocer friend put me right. "Make a big point of those stones" he said, "They were collected to be put on top of the flax to hold it down in the water".

THE MUSEUM

In my search for detail I visited the library of the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. The library is not generally open to the public and you have to make an appointment, but well worth doing if you have a particular interest in a traditional folk subject.

They have a huge collection and as I had told them beforehand of my reason for visiting, the Librarian had photos already out for me to see. These were from the W. A. Green collection. Around the turn of the century, say the 1880's to 1930's approx, a few far-sighted individuals (Laurence, Welch, Hogg etc.) took it upon themselves to photograph everyday life in Ulster.

William Alfred Green was one of them and I was shown several of his photos of the various processes involved in preparing flax to be made into linen.

HOVELS

One particular image intrigued me. It showed men stacking the flax in bundles which Green called "Hovels". A new use of the word for me, yet sure enough the stack certainly had the shape of a cabin.

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