Spindle & whorl

A spindle whorl was hung at the end of a strand or ball of wool, to act as a flywheel as it was spun into yarn using a spindle. This wooden spindle with sandstone whorl is from Orkney.

Spindle with a whorl of sandstone, from Orkney

Until the middle of the nineteenth century by far the greatest part of Scotland's population was occupied in either textile manufacture or in agriculture. Spinning and weaving were, for most people, the two most important tasks outside food production.

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