Bleachfield

A bleachfield or bleaching green was an open area used for spreading cloth on the ground to be purified and whitened by the action of the sunlight.

[1] Bleaching fields were usually found in and around mill towns in Great Britain and were an integral part of textile manufacture during the British Industrial Revolution.

When cloth-making was still a home-based occupation, the bleachfields could be found on Scottish crofts and English farm fields.

In the 18th century there were many linen bleachfields in Scotland, particularly in Perthshire, Renfrewshire, in the Scottish Lowlands, and the outskirts of Glasgow.

One of the stained glass windows made by Stephen Adam for the Maryhill Burgh Halls in 1878 shows linen bleachers at work.