Summary: Scutch Mill
Key dates:
Scutch mills offered extra employment for small farmers in rural communities. Any sort of old house that could harness water power was suitable for a scutch mill. Scutching separated the fibre from the flax straw. It was dangerous and unhealthy work. Many scutchers lost fingers, hands or even arms, if their hands got too close to the handles or rollers. These photographs show a former scutch mill in the townland of Aghadowey, Co. Derry, you can also see the weir which supplied the water power.
|
