SOUND ARCHIVE

Title: Living Linen Interview LL2_R00/78
Object Name: Sound Recording : Magnetic Tape, Reel
Maker: Neill, William S. (Mr) (Primary maker)
Neill, William S. (Mr) (interviewee)
Date Made: 20/10/2000
20/10/2000
Description: Sound Recording on Reel: Frazer & Haughton, Lamonts. Library Transcript: Transcript. Summary: Mr Neill grew up in the Ballymoney district and helped harvest and ret flax in his youth. His sister married into a scutching family near Dunloy. In 1955 her brother in law was one of the first scutchers to purchase a Belgian flax puller. This machine, which was pulled behind a tractor, consisted of two belts which gripped the flax and tore it out of the soil. Mr Neill's first love was meteorology. In 1952 he joined Frazer & Haughton as a lab assistant. Frazer & Haughton were a well-established bleaching, dyeing and finishing works. Although they processed yarn and cloth, the firm specialised in linen damasks. They also had a set of metal beetles. Frazer & Haughton had stopped grassing cloth shortly before Mr Neill joined. Mr Neill joined Lamonts soon after. He was employed as a junior manager at G H Bellis and Co, a yarn bleaching works closely associated with Lamonts. The Bellis plant processed 10 tins of linen yarn per week, working 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. G H Bellis dates back to the 1920s. Bellis' weaving factory, Braid River, had already been sold to Lamonts. George Bellis died soon after Mr Neill joined the firm and it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Lamonts. Given his interest in meteorology, Mr Neill also had responsibility for recording and regulating the humidity and temperature levels in the weaving shed, and for charting the relationship between yarn performance and atmospheric conditions. Lamonts sourced their yarns from Herdman's, McCleery's and Andrews. They ordinarily used yarns of 10-40s lea. Bellis did a small commission business with Ferguson's and with Leslie Schamma in Brazil. The water for bleaching was drawn from the Braid River. Lamonts had sand filters to treat the incoming water. Their position on the river was not ideal. The works were prone to flooding and when the river ran high the sand failed to clean the water adequately. In such eventualities the operation had to cease until the river levels subsided. Lamonts diluted their effluent before discharging it and never had any trouble from the water authorities. Their major chemical suppliers were Sandos, ICI and Becks. The bleaching chemicals had to be stored and handled with great care; all workers were instructed in their use and supplied with protective garments. Bellis had a very small testing facility and worked closely with LIRA. The bleaching of yarn was mostly to a 3/4 white stage. They did not use recipes and no fluorescent was added. In later years Mr Neill pioneered the yarn dyeing operation at G H Bellis. Mr Neill eventually became General Manager of the Braid River weaving factory in 1965 and loosened his links with Bellis. Braid River was re-equipped with Northrop looms. Braid River wove suitings and cotton terry towels. The suitings were processed by John Hanna of Kildrum. The towels were processed at Ballievey, which was partly owned by Lamonts. Mr Neill sat on the Board of Ballievey as a Lamont representative. Towel weaving is a very specialised trade. Lamonts brought Sydney Sanderson over from Lancashire to run their terry towel business. Terry towels are woven with 2 warps, one loosely strung so as to make the loops of the pile. The Lamont warehouse was moved to Ballymena and run by Mr Neill. Although Lamonts retailed their own towels through their factory shops, they also sold to stores such as Debenhams and supplied towels to the Royal family. Mr Neill left Lamonts in 1985. Shortly afterwards the towel looms were transferred to Clark's of Upperlands and Braid River sold.
Catalogue Number: HOYFM.R2000.145
Notes: National Museums NI

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