Waulking in the Ross

During a session of Remembering the Ross, round the fire in Creich Hall, the question came up: Was there ever the practice of Waulking woven cloth in this part of Mull? No one present remembered it, but a search in our archives produced these lively descriptions, transcribed from conversations with a generation whose names and stories are still with us.

UISGEAN (Conversation with Attie MacKechnie 1992)

Chan eil e cho fada a stad obair a’ luadhaidh anns an Ros Mhuileach. An t-àite mu dheireadh a chuala mi seo a’ gabhail àite ’s ann shìos ann an Uisgean – tha taigh an-sin fhathast. ‘S e Cloinn ‘ic Eachairn’ a bha sin cuideachd …na mnathan air fad a bhith cruinn agus na caileagan òga is bhiodh iad a’ seinn na h-òrain luadhaidh.  [ … san linn seo?]  O gun teagamh sam bith, san linn seo – bha cuid de dhaoine a bha math air obair clò is chùm iad an rud a’ dol.

It is not so long since the work of waulking the tweed stopped in the Ross of Mull. The last place I heard of it taking place was down in Uisgean – the house is still there. They were MacKechnies there; the women would come round and the young girls and they would sing the waulking songs.  [ … in this century?] O without a doubt, into this century – some folk were good at weaving work and they kept the thing going.

CREICH (Conversation with Jeannie Campbell in 1922)

A’ deanamh luadhaidh: I saw that, the waulking, being done at Drumbuie in my grandmother’s time. Mrs MacPhee and all the ones in Kentra were up … Cirsty Morag they called her, Mrs MacFadyean …they were all up and singing the songs. And they had the tubs underneath in the kitchen, for the water and the cloth being worked then … I don’t know who wove the cloth but my grandmother did the spinning … To me as a child it was too noisy – I would probably be six or seven I think – they would sing, you see, and thump, it was done really properly. And late at night they would have their tea … you were in your bed of course. [So it was a big celebration, the luadhaidh?] Oh yes, it was quite a thing, people liked it … there was one singing the lead I don’t know which it would be, and whatever song they would remember that was suitable for it … it was inside the house they did it, at night … just the women …

KNOCKAN (Conversation with Chris Black, 1992)

The house was a good ceilidh house …and I remember the women coming in for the waulking – boards were set up in the kitchen and there was a tub of urine … my mother allowed me down to the door, just to hear Mairi Ailein sing. She was the main singer and had a beautiful voice.

BUNESSAN (Conversation with Mary MacKechnie, 1992)

Oh, bha luadhadh ann, biodh iad ag obair air ais ’s air adhart leis a’ luadhadh – waulking. Bha luadhadh aca anns an t-seann cheàrdaich shuas an-sin … chan fhaca mi e ach tha fhios agam gun robh e aca, shuas an sin..chan fhaca mi luadhadh idir chan fhaca ach tha fhios agam gun robh e aca, shuas aig a’ cheàrdaich … dar a bha iad ag obair air ais ’s air adhart, tha fhios agam gum biodh iad a’ seinn .. a weaver? Oh bha, breabadair mar a their iad ris, ’s a Black, ach a bh’ ann shuas ann an Ardtuna, ’s esan a biodh a’ weavadh.

Oh yes, there was waulking, they would work it back and forth at the waulking. They had the waulking in the old smiddy up there – I never saw a waulking at all, no, but I know they had it, up at the smiddy, when they were singing. Oh yes there was a weaver, Black was his name, up in Ardtun, it was he who would be weaving.

FIDDEN (Conversation with Janet Faulds, 1994)

I’ve been at the luadhaidh, in the wee house at Fidden, it was the MacMillans that were in it, there was a family of them – in fact my uncle Colin married one of the MacMillan girls. I went with my mother to the luadhaidh and they sang and of course I was only a wee girl but I got sitting beside my mother and kidding on I was helping – that was wonderful … it was inside the house, there would be about twelve women, I would say, that day … they all sang together, Gaelic songs , and it went with the waulking … it was hard work, the thumping on the (table). I would have been about six … and I went with my mother, she joined in the luadhadh. It was in the afternoon … and there was tea and scones, fresh butter and talk … it was a celebration when they got it finished … but the men weren’t there, oh no – no man was allowed – women only. 

These are fragments of memory, of a communal activity needed to tighten the loose web of woven wool, to make it more weatherproof and waterproof. There must have been many more such memories, preserved in family stories, in poetry and in the ‘waulking songs’.

Remembering the Ross will resume, probably in Creich Hall in October. Come to listen and bring your own stories.

JSP