Editing Fulling (section)

===Milling===
The second function of fulling was to thicken cloth by matting the fibres together to give it strength and increase waterproofing ([[felting]]). This was vital in the case of [[woollen]]s, made from [[carding|carded]] [[wool]], but not for [[worsted]] materials made from [[combing|combed]] wool. After this stage, water was used to rinse out the foul-smelling liquor used during cleansing. Felting of wool occurs upon hammering or other mechanical agitation because the microscopic scales on the surface of wool fibres hook together, somewhat like hook and loop fixings.

==== Manual methods ====
[[File:Pompeii; its history, buildings and antiquities - an account of the destruction of the city, with a full description of the remains, and of the recent excavations and also an itinerary for visitors (14772708972).jpg|thumb|Manual trampling, drawing after an [[Ancient Roman]] fresco in the [[Fullonica of Stephanus]], Pompeii. A [[fullonica]] is a fullery and laundry shop.]]
Originally, fulling was carried out by the pounding of the woollen cloth with a club, or the fuller's feet or hands.

In Roman times, fulling was conducted by slaves working the cloth while ankle deep in tubs of human [[urine]].{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

There are several Biblical references to fulling ({{Bibleverse|2 Kings|18:17}}; {{Bibleverse|Isaiah|7:3}} and {{BibleVerse-nb|Isaiah|36:2}}; {{Bibleverse|Malachi|3:2}}; {{Bibleverse|Mark|9:3}}). In addition to this, at least one reference appears in the speeches of [[Lysias]], written in Athens during the 5th century BC.<ref name=woods/>

Scotland, then a rather remote and un-industrialized region, retained manual methods into the 1700s. In [[Scottish Gaelic]] tradition, this process was accompanied by [[waulking song]]s, which women sang to set the pace.

==== Mills ====
<gallery mode=packed heights=200>
File:Fulling at Goritsa waterfall.JPG|Fulling cloth by letting a waterfall agitate it
File:Fulling mill bockler.jpg|upright=1|A driving-stock fulling mill from [[Georg Andreas Böckler]]'s ''Theatrum Machinarum Novum'', 1661
File:Fulling mill.jpg|Model of a falling-stock machine, showing the set of hammers that drop in sequence to pound the cloth in the vats below
File:PSM V39 D471 Rotary fulling mill.jpg|1891 illustration of a rotary fulling mill
</gallery>

From the medieval period, the fulling of cloth was often done in a [[water mill]], known as a fulling mill, a walk mill, or a tuck mill, and in [[Wales]], a pandy. They appear to have originated in the 9th or 10th century in Europe. The earliest known reference to a fulling mill in France, which dates from about 1086, was discovered in [[Normandy]].<ref>J. Gimpel, ''The Medieval Machine'' (2nd ed., Pimlico, London 1992 repr.), 14.</ref> There was a fulling mill established at [[Temple Guiting]], Gloucestershire which was documented in the [[Domesday Book]] (also 1086).<ref>The Doomsday Book. England's Heritage, Then and now. Book Club Associates, 1985. Editor:Thomas Hinde. Page 107.</ref> E. A. Lewis (possibly Welsh historian [https://archives.library.wales/index.php/lewis-e-edward-arthur-1880-1942 Edward Arthur Lewis])<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lewis |first1=E. A. |title=The development of industry and commerce in Wales during the Middle Ages |journal=Transactions of the Royal Society |date=1904 |volume=New Series XVII |pages=121–173 |url=https://archive.org/details/TransactionsOfTheRoyalHistoricalSociety1904VolXVII2ndSeries/page/n197/mode/2up |access-date=13 August 2024}}</ref> observed:

:   'Fulling mills appear in Wales early in the reign of Edward II., just at the time when fulling mills were being introduced into Lancashire.'<ref>The author added the following footnote to their observation: 'Chetham Society Publications, xliii. 637. Cf the Pipe Roll of the Bishopric of Winchester, 1208-9. Introd. xxvii, as to the earliest recorded fulling mills in England.'</ref>
By the time of the [[Crusades]] in the late eleventh century, fulling mills were active throughout the medieval world.<ref name=woods>Thomas Woods (2005), "How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization", ''How the Monks Saved Civilization'' '''33'''</ref>

The mills beat the cloth with wooden hammers, known as fulling stocks or fulling hammers. Fulling stocks were of two kinds, falling stocks (operating vertically) that were used only for scouring, and driving or hanging stocks. In both cases the machinery was operated by [[Cam (mechanism)|cam]]s on the shaft of a [[waterwheel]] or on a [[tappet]] wheel, which lifted the hammer.

Driving stocks were pivoted so that the foot (the head of the hammer) struck the cloth almost horizontally. The stock had a tub holding the liquor and cloth. This was somewhat rounded on the side away from the hammer, so that the cloth gradually turned, ensuring that all parts of it were milled evenly. However, the cloth was taken out about every two hours to undo plaits and wrinkles. The 'foot' was approximately triangular in shape, with notches to assist the turning of the cloth.