Sorting, scouring and blending

Mosaic pavement outside Witney Mill showing hanks of wool. Created as part of the new housing development in 2002.

In the 18th century Witney master weavers rarely bought in yarn ready for weaving; instead they would buy the raw wool then wash, sort and grade it themselves or pay someone else to do it for them. Scouring (washing) first removed the natural grease and dirt. This was often done using stale urine or 'lant'.

Great attention was then given to sorting the wool into different grades according to the length of staple, its qualities and colour; 'abb', 'super head', 'broad head', 'second', 'short coarse', 'locks', 'middle' and 'tail' were all names used to indicate particular grades of wool. The weavers well knew that 'the perfect and principal ground of cloth-making is the true sorting of wools' - in other words, that the careful blending of different wool grades and types was one of the most crucial processes that determined the quality and feel of a finished blanket or cloth.

Once blended, the wool would have vegetable oil or animal fat added to it to replace the natural oil so that it was easier to work.

Clare Sumner