Shed....
The weaving of wool tweed started in the homes of the farmers and shepherds who looked to the sheep. The wool was shorn from the animals or collected from bushes and fences around the pasture. It was washed, carded on hand cards and then spun into yarn on a traditional drop spool or wooden spinning wheel. With use of water power the spinning process was automated in the 1700's and mills were built to house the machines. Eventually the wool tweed weaving moved from the cottages to be nearer the yarn making in the mills. No provision had been made in the design of the mills to incorporate the weavers and their looms so “lean to's” were added on the sides of the existing buildings. These were the first weaving “sheds” and the name became synonymous with all premise housing textile production machines.
