Crossroads and Characters

1. THE VILLAGE WEAVING TRADITION.

Peter Flockhart's life spanned three great phases of the handloom weaving trade in Dunning and Scotland. In the 18th century, demand for Scottish linen provided abundant work for weavers even in country villages like Dunning. Two local lint-mills processed flax, and weavers often worked four to a loom in their homes. When Peter was born in 1819, some Dunning weavers were still producing linen. By 1841, the linen trade had dropped away and Peter, like most other Dunning weavers, worked at cotton. The orders from the Glasgow agents were large. In the 1850's, there were 475 cotton weavers and winders when Dunning hit its population peak of over 2,200. But then city factories took over cotton weaving, and by the 1870's Peter had become a weaver of wool, like most of Dunning's dwindling number of handloomers.