Tentering and drying

Tuckers at the turn of the 20th century hanging out blankets on tenter racks. This job would have changed little since the 18th century.

Tentering or racking was the next stage; here the fulled cloth was hung outdoors in long lengths (known as 'stockfuls', usually equivalent to 24 blankets in one piece) to dry out and stretch. This was done by hooking the material onto tenterhooks that were fixed at regular intervals along the big wooden tenter racks or frames. The line of holes where the tenterhooks had been would remain in the finished blankets and were accepted as a necessary part of the production process.

The master weavers would pay groups of tuckers to do the tentering; working together in teams they would carry the long and heavy lengths of damp material and hook it all the way along the racks, top and bottom, so that it was evenly stretched. The ideal weather for this was sunny with a slight breeze but if rain threatened the tuckers would have to unhook everything and get it in indoors quickly. Spells of bad weather could very much affect the business of blanket making in those days.

In the past it would have been a familiar sight to see rows and rows of blanket-drying racks on tentering grounds in the fields all around Witney; a lot of the racks were given names to help the tuckers distinguish one from another. The Witney Blanket Weavers' Company (the local trade guild) controlled many of the racks in the 18th century; this made sense as it ensured tentering was carried out properly and the cloth was not being over-stretched. It was not compulsory to use the Company's racks for drying, though, and many fullers owned racks and carried out all the finishing processes for the weavers. One or two weavers had their own drying grounds [1].

In the 20th century indoor tentering lines and dyeing machines began to take the place of rows of outdoor tenter racks but a few were still in use in Witney up to the 1950s.

Clare Sumner