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moments during the rest of the year. The men carded and the 

 women spun the wool yielded by the previous dipping. Almost 

 every household had its weaving shop, in which one or more 

 looms were kept ; and many of the dalesmen were able to weave 

 the cloth which served for their own wear, and for that of their 

 families. The linsey-woolsey dresses worn by the women were 

 homespun, and they also manufactured linen for the various 

 domestic purposes for which it was required. After a web of 

 woollen cloth was turned out of the loom, it was taken to the beck, 

 and soaked in the water ; it was then placed on a flat stone, called 

 the "battling stone," and well beaten with a wooden mallet. This 

 process was called milling — a primitive operation which had to 

 serve all the elaborate processes which woollen cloth now passes 

 through at the mill of the fuller. The inhabitants of the dales 

 manufactured more cloth and yarn than was sufficient to supply 

 their own wants, and the overplus was taken to market and sold 

 to traders from a distance. There is a tradition that when the 

 plague raged in Keswick, about the year 1665, and a few years 

 afterwards, as no market was held in the town, for fear of infection, 

 the people of the dales carried their webs and yarn to a large 

 stone, which is very conspicuous on one of the lower elevations of 

 Armboth Fell, and there periodically met and did business with 

 the traders. The stone still goes by the name of the "web-stone." 

 The application of machinery to the processes of carding and 

 spinning, had the effect of transferring these branches of industry 

 from the houses of the dalesmen (of whom the majority were 

 "statesmen") to the manufacturing towns — and this seems to have 

 been one of the chief causes of the decline of the " statesmen." 

 After losing their occupation, no other could be found so suitable 

 for filling up spare time. Sufficient employment for large families 

 was not to be found at home, and the sons and daughters of the 

 old "statesmen" were often thought too good to send to service. 

 The consequence was, that they were frequently brought up in 

 idleness. To use a local expression — the "heaf " was outstocked. 

 Debts accumulated, and thus the estates, one by one, have come 

 into the market, and passed into the hands of large proprietors 



