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• ULSTER FOLK & TRANSPORT MUSEUM

CULTRA, HOLYWOOD, CO.DOWN BT18 OEU, NORTHERN IRELAND, TEL +44 (0)28 9042 8428

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Tullylish Bleach Green Watch Tower

TULLYLISH BLEACH GREEN WATCH TOWER

Original location: Tullylish, Gilford, County Down

Woven linen cloth is a pale beige colour and must be bleached to achieve the crisp whiteness for which it is famous. Before the introduction of chemical agents bleaching was done by exposure to sunlight and weather. Direct sunlight is not essential, sunlight diffused through clouds will achieve the same result although not as quickly. Bleaching can be a lengthy process, its duration being dependent upon the weather.

The cloth was laid out on the ground, preferably on a south-facing slope, pegged to prevent it blowing away, and left to the full effects of the weather. It was turned regularly to ensure even bleaching on both sides of the cloth.

The watchtower provided shelter for the watchman guarding the linen on the bleach green. This security provision was necessary for two reasons, to prevent grazing animals damaging the cloth and they ranged over considerable distances before field boundaries became common; and to protect the cloth from theft. There was much poverty in the 18th and early 19th centuries, to such an extent that people were driven to crime in order to survive, and there were also those who chose a life of crime. The penalty for stealing linen was death and accounts of executions for cloth stealing are fairly common in newspapers up to 1811 when the death penalty for this offence was repealed.

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