Captions for Bury St Edmunds Flax Factory

Title 

Cullum Road, Bury St Edmunds, Flax Factory

Date: 

 1919-1923

Caption:  

The Flax Factory opened in March 1919 and closed in 1923-4. Flax was an important element in the war effort, being used to cover the wings of aeroplanes. Although plans by the government began in 1917, by the time the factory opened the war was over. The move for Home Rule in Ireland also had implications for the importance of flax manufacture in England which was not resolved until 1921. The end of the war and resumption of flax imports from Ireland combined to render the factory unnecessary, hence its short life. This image shows how extensive the factory site was. Note the hopper at the corner of the building. In the foreground is flax drying after being retted.

Title 

Cullum Road, Bury St Edmunds, Flax Factory interior

Date: 

 c1919-1923

Caption:  

The factory employed mainly women. Here they are putting the dried flaxon a conveyor belt to be combed by a deseeding machine. The seed was then bagged, the best kept for next year and the inferior ground into linseed oil. The pith was bundled for 'retting', soaking in water for several days to separate out the the fibres by a fermentation process. The women have shorter skirts than in the other photographs, suggesting that this was taken at the later date.

Title 

Cullum Road, Bury St Edmunds, Flax Factory

Date: 

 1919-1923

Caption:  

Machinery is being installed, probably for a new scrutching line. Note the short pieces of flax on the floor, typical of the waste from scrutching, and the rollers lying around; in the scrutching department the flax straw, retted and dried , was put through rollers, thus separating the inner stalk from the outer pith or 'shrive'. The long fibres, known as 'line' were twisted into 'stricks', graded and bundled for the spinners. The short fibres, or 'taw' were used in feedbags or papermaking.

Title 

Cullum Road, Bury St Edmunds, Flax Factory exterior

Date: 

 1919-1923

Caption:  

This exterior view shows either an engine or furnace house on the right of the picture. In the middle ground are the retting tanks. In the forground the retted flax is laid out to dry and bleach. Usually, retting was only carried out when fine linen was required, which suggests that the factory was not fulfilling its original purpose of making the courser linen used for aeroplane wings. When the factory closed in the early 1920s local children used these tanks as swimming pools.

Title 

Cullum Road, Bury St Edmunds, Flax Factory

Date: 

 1919-1923

Caption:  

This interior view of the flax factory shows an engine room with lockers and a man in attendance. Note the belt going from the engine to drive machines elswhere.

Title 

Cullum Road, Bury St Edmunds, Flax Factory

Date: 

 1919-1923

Caption:  

View of a long corridor with what looks like a fire at the end. There are sacks in the foreground, probably of flax seed.

Title 

Cullum Road, Bury St Edmunds, Flax Factory interior

Date: 

 c1919 - 1925

Caption:  

Note the electric lights, an innovation at the time, and the large number of women workers; women went to work in vastly increased numbers during the First World War. Although in this case they seem to have been allowed to retain their jobs when the men returned, this was probably because the work was poorly paid The men in the picture are obviously in a supervisory role The manager or foreman in the right foreground is wearing a collar and tie, jacket and waistcoat. Notice his hat; it was impolite for a gentleman to wear a hat indoors, which suggests he was wearing it as protection against the dust from processing the flax. The women are also wearing headgear as protection. The final product is seen here - bundles of flax fibre, sorted into bundles of the longest fibres and combed or 'heckled' ready to go to the spinners to be used for rope or twine or woven into linen.

Title 

Cullum Road, Bury St Edmunds, Flax Factory

Date: 

 1919-1923

Caption:  

These very large stacks of flax are awaiting processing. The flax was harvested once a year and had to be stored until the factory was ready to process it. There was probably a furnace to help with the drying if the flax became damp in the winter.

Title 

Cullum Road, Bury St Edmunds, Flax Factory

Date: 

 1919-1923

Caption:  

This is a good overall view of the site, with the flax drying in the fields after being retted.

Title 

Cullum Road, Bury St Edmunds, Flax Factory furnaces

Date: 

 nd

Caption:  

An overall view of the site which gives an idea of the scale. There are barns for storage of the flax as well as the factory in view. The site looks a little deserted, apart from the dog in the centre of the picture, so this could have been taken at the time of closure.

Title 

Cullum Road, Bury St Edmunds, Flax Factory furnaces

Date: 

 1919-1923

Caption:  

The boilers for the steam engine which ran the machinery for the flax factory. They may also have been used for drying the flax before processing after retting. It is quite possible that they were Bellis and Morcan furnaces, popular at the time.

Title 

Cullum Road, Bury St Edmunds, Flax Factory

Date: 

 1919-1923

Caption:  

Part of the factory works where the power ,taken off from the steam engine, ran down to the machines on the floor. The small railway may have been used for transporting the flax at different stages or coal to the boilers, or it may be a rope walk for flax rope making. Notice the bucket and hydrant; dry flax and flax dust would have been highly flammable.