Abstract
IN a paper on “The Preparation of Woad in England”, read by Messrs. H. O. Clark and R. Wailes on February 19 to the Newcomen Society, the authors said that, after being cultivated for centuries, dyer's woad (Isatis tinctoria) was last grown and prepared at Skirbeck, Lincolnshire, in 1932, and that it is not likely to be grown again either in England or elsewhere. Much has been written on the history, botany and chemistry of the plant and the dye, and the object of the paper was to place on record information as to the technology and the cost of the preparation of woad. Fortunately, on farms at Algarkirk and Skirbeck, the machinery used in the industry remains almost intact and many photographs and drawings have been made of it. At Algarkirk, too, are old account books covering the period 1844-56, and these show that the output of the farm varied from 75 tons to 178 tons and the price obtained for the prepared woad from £9 to £15. The operations involved in the preparation of woad include sowing, weeding, cropping, grinding, balling, drying, couching and packing. The most interesting of these processes was the grinding in large horse- or steam-driven mills. In the mill at Algarkirk is a circular track of oak blocks about 24 ft. in diameter on which the leaves of the plants were crushed and chopped by means of four great tapered rollers each furnished with about thirty-six cutters. The rollers were towed round the track by a large overhead cast-iron wheel with cast-iron spokes and a toothed rack with 456 teeth. Such mills were fine specimens of millwrighting. After the woad leaves were crushed, they were kneaded into balls by hand, and dried. A few weeks later the balls were broken up and the woad spread over the floor of the ‘couching house’ to a depth of about three feet. It was allowed to ferment for six to eight weeks, being turned over daily, and then was again dried, after which it was packed in barrels for dispatch to the dyers.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Preparation of Woad in England. Nature 137, 354 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137354a0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137354a0