several shakers in the meal floor. Elevators containing metal buckets took the grain up and down through the system. At the shelling stone the outer shell of the grain was removed, passing on to a fan where the outer chaff was blown off. Then the elevator brought the meal up to the top floor where it was sieved and back down the elevator to the ground floor where it was bagged. Sometimes the farmer could not afford to pay for the milling work. In this case the miller was allowed to mutter the grain, which means he held back 10 lbs of grain from every hundredweight bag; he used this as payment for the milling work. The flax mill was re-built in the early 1940s. P.F. Gallagher took advantage of grants offered by the Dublin Linen Board which sought to increase linen production for use as part of the war effort in the production of camp beds and parachutes. Before the flax arrived at the mill it went through a process called wretting. This meant that the flax was picked from the fields (rather than cut) and was gathered into bundles called beets. These beets were placed in a large lint dam and covered by slabs of stone. This process allowed the pectin in the flax to rot. After eight to ten days men would go into the dams, maybe neck high in water, and remove the beets which were then laid out to dry in a process called grassing. When the flax had dried it was brought to the mill. The flax bundles were placed through rollers by two men, one of whom fed the flax through the breaker while the other man tied the broken flax into bundles. The bundles then proceeded down to the scutchers on the floor below. They inserted the flax into a series of rapidly rotating blades, a very dangerous process resulting in many injuries. In addition the dust generated was a health risk. The finished product from the scutching was known as live which went on to make very fine linen cloth. The scutchers were paid according to the amount of live they produced. The Office of Public Works has restored Newmills to its former glory and today it is one of the finest examples of Industrial Heritage in Ireland. Guided tours showing the mill machinery at work and an audio visual presentation are available to visitors. Entry to the site is complimentary. www.heritageireland.ie/en/northwest/newmillscornandflaxmills/ Right: ‘The Scutchers’ exhibit at the Flax Mill. Exterior view of Newmills Corn and Flax Mills, near Letterkenny, Co. Donegal. The Waterwheel at Newmills.
www.heritageireland.ie
17