Image ID: 11107

Houses on Scales Row, Farndon Road, Newark on Trent, c 1920s

off Farndon Road
Newark on Trent
England

The houses in Scales Row were occupied by worker's at the adjacant Scales Linen Factory. This terrace of eight workmen's cottages extended towards Devon Bridge and were built in early 1800s and demolished in 1959. The living arrangements in the cottages exhibited a number of unusual features. As may be seen from the picture (see NCCK000085), each entrance combined a short flight of stairs which gave access to the house proper. Below may be seen an extra set of windows (boarded-up) which let light into the cellars where the factory weavers worked - weaving the linen cloth that would later be bleached at Scales' factory. George Scales is believed to have established his linen factory on (what is now) Farndon Road at Newark in about 1793. The site was chosen with some care with the Rivers Devon on Trent close by providing plenty of water for the bleaching and dying processes. At its height the factory employed around 500 hands. The company made great play of the quality of "mineralised water" used in their washing process, and the fact that the whitening process relied on no artificially introduced chemicals. This "good water", they maintained, came exclusively from a nearby spring known as St. Catherine's Well. A full description of the processes involved in making linen at Scales factory may be found in The Newark Heraldnewspaper of 19th October 1889. Having passed through the factory, the linen was laid out on the 9.5 acres of meadow land behind the factory which was used as a Bleaching ground. This gently sloping site down to the River Devon was an ideal place for "exposing the linen to pure air, gentle dews, and bright sun". It was by these natural agents alone that Scales' cloth was bleached - a process which could take upto a month.

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Keywordsscaleslinenterracedhouseshousingterracearchwaystairscasementbrickroad

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