Flax is accompanying and leading us through half of Northern Europe this August. Being on tour with Berta means meeting many wonderful fibre people, learning about new linen and flax traditions, spending hundreds of kilometres on the road and braving the weather. We already proved that with the weather on the first day. The drive from Julbach to Burlo (800 kilometres, pure driving time 9 hours) was wet. The first night on site still wet and so windy that the camp neighbours' roof literally blew off. A sea formed around our bus and gave me wet feet at 7am. But what won't you do for flax?
The name of Burlo, this sleepy little town in the Münsterland (North Westphalia), goes back to the word Bu(e)r, synonymous with farmer, the second syllable derives from Loh or Loe and means as much as light forest, or deciduous grove. The Niederlade are only a stone's throw away and can be reached by bike in 15 minutes across the green border. That's why it was a Dutchwoman, Anja Roerdink, who invited me and Berta to the lecture in Burlo. Anja belongs to the "Achterhoekse Vlasspinners", who keep the knowledge of flax and its processing alive. They have already started the campaign "1 square metre of flax!" three times in spring, giving away seeds for one square metre of flax each time. On both sides, i.e. in Germany and the Netherlands, flax is being spun diligently again thanks to them.
Rural textile production
The region of North Westphalia was a flax-growing area until well into the 19th century, and weaving was already a peasant trade in the High Middle Ages. For a long time, however, the production of textiles served mainly to cover the region's own needs. The Münsterland was largely excluded from the heyday of wool and linen weaving, which Dortmund, Cologne and Soest, for example, experienced in the Middle Ages.
It was different in the Ravensberg region around Bielefeld. Westphalia quickly established itself as one of the centres of German linen cultivation and processing. The most important buyer of Westphalian fabrics was the Netherlands. From here the goods were exported further overseas. From the 16th century onwards, fine linen yarns from the Ravensberg region were also exported, which after being refined in Elberfeld bleachers and twisters were used in the flourishing lace production in the Netherlands.
Cheap cotton conquers flax
There was a spinning school for fine yarn in the town of Brakel between 1838 and 1842. It was built with state subsidies and had over 50 pupils who were trained in fine spinning and later in coarse spinning. From the middle of the 19th century, industrialisation was then unstoppable. In 1820, the following was reported from Brake: "As heavy as the Napoleonic period had been on the countryside, the heaviest blow to economic life was still to come when, in 1820, spinning machines from England entered into competition with the industrious spinning hands and when linen grew into fierce competition with cheap cotton goods. The result was an economic crisis that brought hardship and misery to many a family in Brake. It also spread to the large farmers, who could no longer get rid of their products or had to sell them off at low prices. Often people tired of the hardscrabble life here, followed the lure of America and emigrated."
Anja also told us that at the beginning of the 20th century hardly any flax was grown in the region, although with a bit of luck you can still buy beautiful old linen.
Flax stove as a traditional saviour
The lecture on Berta's flax was attended by 35 interested people in the Burlo Heimathaus. Spinners, lace makers, textile workers and people interested in handicrafts. Among them was Claudius van 't Westende Meeder and his family, who recently revitalised an old flax stove from 1825 and is also working to ensure that the history of the region is not forgotten. https://vlasoventeveene.nl/
Thank you Anja, for the invitation and the really nice event in Burlo and the first ideas for a visit of the German/Dutch spinners in the Mühlviertel are already being spun.
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