PARCHMENT MAKING.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19481, 30 November 1928, Page 3

PARCHMENT MAKING.

ANCIENT HAMPSHIRE INDUSTRY. A MAGIC SPRING. (FROM OUR OWK CORRESPOXDEXT.) LONDON, October 16. England has nearly done with parchment documents. Hardly anything but long lease agreements and conveyances ia put on parchment now, so that the home demand is small. With the growth of imports of frozen meat from Australia and New Zealand the supply of skins for the making of parchment has dwindled, too, and, owing to lack of raw material, few parchment factories can work full time. Yet there is a great and growing market for English parchment in America, and here, only eight miles from Portsmouth, better parchment than ever is being made by the same methods and the same tools that have served for centuries, and on a site where, according to local tradition, parchment has been made f'or 1000 years.

This industry has one modem piece of equipment—a steam-driven machine for splitting sheepskins —and one modern secret in a chemical formula for removing bloodstains from the parchment without damaging it. These are the only accretions which the indust.y has made in many centuries. All the other methods come down from the experience and the knowledge oE the past. The knives which arc used for scraping- off fat or for putting a smooth surface on the rough "back" of a pelt are made in the strange bow and half-moon shapes which long use has s' swn to be most suitable. The drying and stretching frames and the methods of using them are primitive and yet efficient. And, finally, the last dryin~ off of the • finished parchment must be done in the open air. This cannot be hurried, nor can any artificial process be substituted for it, so that there can be no rushing to meet unexpe id orders unless the weather is able. All through the industry there is the atmosphere of the medieval craft, qnd in the. persons who practise it, too,- there is the spirit that is typical of an ancient industry. Most of the workmen lie ;! followed their fathers, and several of them are being followed by their sons. A Record of 1000 years. There is a local belief that better parchment is not produced than ismacle here, and there is an equally confident belief that the reason for that is the spring alongside which the factory is built. This spring of hard water, which has percolated through the chalk of Portsdowu Hill and wliich bubbles up again through the chalk and gravel to s rve the parchment makers, is admitted to be the chief factor in the produce tion of that pearly whiteness which the best parchment attains. Much lime is u'pd in the processes, to remove grease from the skin at various stages oi its preparation, but only water of this particular chnlkiness can ensure the finest colour, and even water chemically compounded to imitate the water of 'his spring cannot give results such as it has produced steadily throughout the c ies. It is certain that there has been a skin-dressing establishment here, rr tannery of parchment factory, for. 1000 years, and all the honour f or that splendid record' and continuity 1 ' is attributed to the' spring.

Water goes to most of, the processes of preparation. It is mixed, in tho first place, with the lime applied to the sheepskins, to kill .the roots of the wool, so that it may be pulled out by hand, like plucking a fowl, only much easier. there is a whole series of. pits or, to use the local word, "pokes," contain:>ig graded solutions of lime thr> which the pelts are passed, beginning wit' the weakest and ending with the strongest. Later on they are sluiced more than one with hot water and aro pumiced after being moistened with warm water. It is doubtful, therefore, if the importance of the water can be over-estimated. Nearly all the processes go slowly. The liming of the I skins to loosen the wool lasts from four to ten 'ays The soaking of the pelts !in successive "pokes" of. lime-water j takes about three or four weeks. They are next laid out flat On top of each other, so the lime.may settle into tliein and ' c plump'* them, or fill them out, and then they are ready for the fleshing.

Medieval Occupation.. This is one of the typically medieval occupations carried out still, as it Has been for generations. The skin is draped over what might be a segment of a barrel, called a "beam." The Workman stands oh a little platform inside this and, leaning over, scrapes the skin with downward strokes, using a two-handled, bow-shaped knife with a blunt edge. The fat rolls off in long strips, and in skilled hands tho pelt is never damaged, unless piece of grit gets under the knife. Next, it goes to ''he splitting machine, in which a knife separates the outer skin from the inner. It is the inner which ultimately becames parchment. The outer, known as the "skiver," is tanned into light leather, and used for bookbinding or lining hats and shoes. It is only during the last 100 years that the "skiver' has been saved. Previously there was no splitting machine, and it was scraped away and wasted. The inner skin ''. us sc _ arated now lias a fresh la; of fat for removal, and for all its subse;""nt p .'ss i' is stretched tiglfc in wooden frame. Little balls made of skin scrapings •are placed round the edges of the skin to form knobs, or "pippins," over which slip-knots may be The strings are then tightened by winding the pegs !tt the edges to the frame to I which they are attached, and the | smooth, white skin is stretched as might l e on a drum. It i? treated with ; ho 1 water, and the fat if scraped o i with a hali-moon knife, with a hand e !on either side of it. Then the skin goes out into the open air to dry, after which it comes back for the smoothing of its £ iack" surface by the process f" shaving with a knife of the same shape, but wit*> a wire edge. There still remains some j,Tease to be extracted before the parchment will take ink properly. It is, therefore, coated with a paste ..f whiting and soda ash, and set to dry in a hot room called the "stove," unless the weather is warm enough for this to be done out ot 1 doors. Lastly, the whiting is sluiced off with warm water, a final polish is given to front and back with a halfmoon knife and a piece of pumice stone. Then the parchment must wait for a fine day for its drying and hardening in the open air.

Not Enough Skins. This firm of Messrs G. and A. Stallard is rarely working full tin»e, but 1 s troubles in this respect are no doubt common to the three or four other parchment factories in the country. The skins must be received fresh, before decomposition has begun to spoi their texture. This limits the area rom which skins may be drawn. This farm collects by motor-lor# within a radius

of 50 miles, and it has had skins from London, but these wero unsatisfactory. There is the difficulty, too, that skins in tho summer are less suitable, owing to the fact' that the sap which should riiii into the wool' does not get out. of tho' skin, and the result is speckled parchment. A- fairly constant supply comes all the ye • round from the Isle of Wight, owing to tho peculiar arrangements of lambing there, and this helps fo make the summer less slack. Nevertheless the supply of skins is rarely jial to the demand, especially now that so few sheep are killed at home in comparison with the number of frozen carcasses imported. Meanwhile the call, for parchment grows stronger in America. So.nxeti ,ie$ } according to e man ger of this firm, heavy orders have io be refused, and often the quotation of a high price is no deterrent to those who need parchment for university certificates and. diplomas, which might otherwise be lacking in impressiveness. Thus while homo conditions and the peculiar characteristics of the industry must continue to restrict its output, there is little danger of unemployment for the men who have practised the craft so long. The foreman has just retired after 73 years' service \vith the firm. To-day I saw. a. • workman who started work here 60- years ago, and, after working for a spell elsewhere, has returned to his first workshop. Another who ; s about to retire has worked here 58 years, and there are many S rc y heads bending over the skins m these old-fashioned works. They have the satisfaction of knowing that their product, bearing illuminated addresses^ lies in the archives of all the great cities of the world. A few months ago tliey SUDDlied the scroll on which the presentation of the freedom of Winchester to Mr Baldwin was recorded. And they are quite convinced that, as long ns their spring does not fail_ them, there will be a demand for their fine white parchment.