World's last linen beetling mill eyes strong future in Ireland

The noise is deafening and the work can be lonely, but to William Smyth, who toils in the world's last commercial linen “beetling” mill, his job is unique.

- PETER MURPHY

A close-up of the beetling engine at the mill.

"There's nothing modern about it, I'm doing the same now as they were doing 100 years and more ago," said Mr Smyth, 59, at the mill in Northern Ireland in a village some 45 miles (70 kilometres) west of Belfast — the last commercial beetling operation in existence.

"Nobody's come up with anything to make it any easier, there's no other way of getting the finish on that cloth," he told AFP of the traditional method that creates a silky sheen on the linen.

Managers at William Clark & Sons, founded almost 300 years ago in 1736, say the company has a bright future as interest grows in traditional beetled linen from high-class fashion designers, with an eye on sustainability.

The din comes from the giant mallet-type hammers — the 'beetles' — on a 150-year-old beetling machine, an antiquated relic of a once thriving Irish industry.

Dangling from a beam, around 40 beetles relentlessly pound the woven linen fed by Mr Smyth through the machine's cast-iron engine that powers a rotating roll.

Up to 140 hours of beetling creates a fabric with a lustrous and hard-wearing finish.