In pictures: Scoil Chaitriona Ballyshannon students grow flax

The children in Scoil Chaitriona, Ballyshannon, enjoy growing vegetables in their school garden.

As a result of their studies in clothing and what fabrics are made from, this year, the fifth and sixth class decided to grow a slightly unusual crop. An interest developed in the making of linen and how it is produced from the flax crop. Please click on the arrows to go through the gallery

The school has made a valuable link with Colm Clarke at the Monreagh Heritage Centre, which is near Carrigans. Colm is a font of knowledge in traditional farming skills and practices back through the years. Colm provided the school with the flax seed and gave the pupils expert advice on how to plant and tend the crop.

In May, the fifth and sixth class tilled and prepared the soil in the raised bed, and planted the seeds.

The class did some research into flax growing in Ulster, particularly in Donegal. Local historian, Anthony Begley, was a great help in this area. It was discovered that the Ballyshannon/Ballintra area had a long tradition of flax growing. In the 1800s, there were four working flax mills in Ballintra.

Rossnowlagh had its own flax dam/retting pond near Coolmore National School. There the sheaves, or stucks of flax, were immersed after harvesting. Ballyshannon town itself had two flax mills that we know today as the Abbey Mills. Nearby at the Washpool, the sheaves of flax were left to soak in the Abbey River.

As the children investigated further, they discovered that the Cistercian monks in the Abbey Assaroe monastery had also made linen here during the Middle Ages. Indeed it is believed that these monks may have built the first mills on the site of the more modern current ones. The Abbey Mills were owned from the 1800s on by the McKeown and McNulty families.

At the start of the 20th century, the demand for linen dwindled. The industry died down but was revived somewhat by the demands for cloth for World War I. By now, the Campbell family owned the Abbey Mills and they restarted linen production again until the 1930s. Francis, Jimmy and Peter Campbell operated the mills, but they finally ceased production in the late 1930s.

The children discovered that World War II saw the demand for flax rise and many Ballyshannon farmers grew the crop again during the war. Local people recall Paddy Slevin (known locally as “Paddy go easy”) drawing the flax crop in his Ford truck all the way to Strabane Mill. Michelle Daly remembers her father Eddie quoting his father Dennis as saying “There was good money for flax back then” and saying that it was the best-paying crop during World War II. Fred Daly remembers bringing their flax to Scott’s Mill in Ballintra from Kildoney during that time.

The class were delighted to see their crop emerge in June and when they came back in September, were thrilled to see the height it had reached and its beautiful lilac-coloured flowers.

As advised by Colm Clarke, the children picked the crop by hand in the first week of September. Pupils’ own research led them to discover that twelve beats make one sheaf or stuck. After harvesting the crop, the children immersed the sheaves in water- known as Retting. Ten days later, they will take out the sheaves, open them up and spread them out to dry and ‘bleach’ in the sun.

They will dry for about a fortnight and then will be regathered for the next stage in the process. In early October, Colm Clarke will visit the school to demonstrate the next steps with his equipment- He will beat the flax from the bottom of the stalk to the top. The broken, harder outer coat will fall to the ground.

The softer inner core of the plant is then left. This will then be ‘Hackled’. Colm has a hackling apparatus which consists of a board with thirty or forty large nails sticking out. The flax is pulled through the hackles’ nails and the fibres separate, leaving a finer fibre. This fine fibre can then be spun to make a linen thread. From this point on, much of the process is the same as that for wool. Weaving the linen thread on a loom or frame was commonplace.

The children have really enjoyed all stages of the process so far and are particularly looking forward to getting their hands on the final product: the linen thread, the fruits of their labour as it were.