JOURNAL OF THE COUNTY DONEGAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY THE WOOLLEN INDUSTRY l(PAlR.T I.) BRONZE AGE WOOLLENS. SPINNING and weaving are . coeval wit~ civilisation. iAt what p.enod our ~emote ancestors reached this stage is not known, but it is certain that the ancient Irish .possessed an advanced knowledge of :these arts. We have reliable proof of this from a find made at Airthe·ar !Maige, County Antrim, some years ago. This was a h'Oard of bronze obje1cts of the fifth period of the. bronze age, wrapped in a woollen cloak which had been preser:ved from total .Q.estruction •by .the antiseptic action of the ibog. The destgn was herring-bone, the warp· white and the weft dark-coloured, and the whole presenting ·an appearance hardly di:ff.erent from the herringbones of the present day. The elaborate · workmanship of the hors•e-hair fringe which /bordered it was in itself a work of art,' :and would repay :the closest scrutiny. "It gi·v1es us a very high opinion of the ingenuity of the artificers in textiles of the fifth period of the <bronze age."* 1 DYEING IiN ANCIENT TIMES Not only were the :Andent Irish spinners and weavers, ,but they possessed a deep knowledge of dyeing and the mixing of dyes to produce different shades. They were also acquainted with the use of mordants (such as alum) for making the dyes fixed and permanent. !BLACK was .got from a sediment o{ intense blackness found at the bottom ot certain bogs, chips of oak were added to tYcm. ,3a,y{ie6~ S"tm.e6 ~c IDcneg.a.{ R·cm.e6pu.n by P. J. McGILL . produce a glossy black, This sediment was known as "doo-·ach,''* and it was so important that it has given its name to townlands 1and districts all' over the oountry. We have many such names as; Pulladooey, Sradooey and Meenadooey. ORIMSION was produced ·bY a plant called "roid" which required care·- ful attention in a garden. BLUE was got .from "wioad,'P' called in Irish "gl1ashe·en,'' and, Ulre "roid," required careful cultiv!ation. It was later supplanted by indigo. 188 In one of the1 papers of an iirish manuscript now in Turin is a p1assage written by a:r;i Irish hand in the -beginning of the ninth century which proves that at that early time the Irish were acquaintea With the art of dyeing P:UIRPW iby meaps of a lichen. A beautiful purpl-~ was also obtained from shell-fish.. This was the dog-whelk to Which. I referred· in my paper ait Dooey in August, 1947. This dye was produced in very small quantities, and for that reason was very expensive. · In olden times1 on the Contfnent it was worth 1thirty or forty times its weight in gold. Partly for this reason and partly for its •beauty it has been designated a royal or imperial colour. This art of dyeing was continued from generation to generation, and even in the •thirteenth, fourteent;h and fifteenth centuries "Oatelonian manufacturers' who rivalled the skill of the lF'lor·entines, sought the secret of !Irish ·colours as w.eU' ·as o.f their faibrics.'' * Not connected wit•h the Gaelic word "dumhaclh," which means sand dune.
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