SOUND ARCHIVE

Living Linen Interview LL2_R00/23

Sound Recording : Magnetic Tape, Reel

Lutton, Sam (Mr) (Primary maker)
Lutton, Sam (Mr) (interviewee)

23/03/2000
23/03/2000

Sound Recording on Reel: Spence Bryson, Portadown & Markethill. Library Transcript: Transcript. Summary: Sam Lutton Senior, the interviewee's father, was Managing Director of Spence Bryson's Portadown Weaving Factory (Clonavon). His brother, the interviewee's uncle, George Elliott Lutton was Factory Manager at the same works. Sam was taken on as a trainee manager in Portadown in 1935. Apprentice managers were expected to serve their time in every department so as to gain a sound knowledge of cloth construction and the various manufacturing processes. Mr Lutton also attended night classes at Belfast 'Tech (there was no day release at this time) and he also had to pay his own tuition fees and travelling expenses. Sam also spent some time in the Brookfield Spinning Co in Belfast. Mr Lutton became Factory Manager in Portadown on completing his studies. The Portadown factory wove a lot of cloth for the Ministry of Defence during WWII, including aero-linens which were used for covering aircraft wings and fuselages. This cloth was extremely strong being made from 100% linen and woven four ply thick. Clonavon specialised in weaving very fine handkerchief cambrics. Almost all of their bleaching was done in-house by Miltown Bleach Works. At one stage there were a number of factories in the Portadown/Lurgan area producing handkerchiefs. When Mr Lutton joined the trade Spence Bryson still employed a number of hand-loom weavers. This was, however, a dying trade. Sheer expense, coupled with advances in power loom quality, made domestic production prohibitively expensive. At its peak there were some 600 looms in Clonavon. Markethill Factory which was a satellite of Portadown or an outlying weaving shed housed a further 215 looms. Markethill wove sheetings, handkerchiefs and a wide range of rayon, the latter after WWII. As Factory Manager Mr Lutton was responsible for yarn purchases. The fine yarns were bought from Sinton's, Greeves' and Andrews', although he also bought from Spence Brysons own mills - Brookfield and Edenderry. Portadown wove sheers from yarns in excess of 200 lea. These exceptionally fine yarns were woven by Greeves. Clonavon operated via the Great Victoria St office and had very little contact with customers. All of their orders were communicated through headquarters and the woven cloth sent to the Belfast warehouse for shipping. The factory did, however, do some commission weaving for other companies such as Blackers, Bairds and Johnston Allen. By the early 1970s the linen trade was contracting and it was not possible to keep both the Portadown and Markethill operations going. Mr Lutton decided to retain Markethill. Clonavon was taken over by Spence Bryson's shirt making division, and, following a managerial buy-out continues to this day. Some machinery was transferred down from Portadown and the buildings themselves were modernised. Markethill had been bought from Sinton's in 1924. The factory dominated the local employment scene and Spence Bryson had little trouble securing workers or with turnover. Mr Lutton worked for Spence Bryson all of his life - a period spanning some 48 years. Over this time he witnessed the disappearance of the hand-loom weavers, the decline of linen and the decline of Portadown as a linen town. Linen has always been a boom and slump industry. Mr Lutton noticed the booms becoming less frequent and the slumps progressively worse and more prolonged. Mr Lutton retired before Markethill was destroyed by a bomb aimed at a nearby RUC station. A supermarket now stands on its site.

HOYFM.R2000.55

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