After being woven, a piece of woollen cloth would be cleaned to remove traces of oil and dirt that had been present in the fleece. It would then be carefully dried outdoors, over a wooden frame known as a tenter. Tenterhooks were hooked nails, whose long shanks were driven into the wood all around the perimeter of the frame. The edges of the cloth would be fixed to the tenterhooks, so that the cloth would retain its shape and size as it dried.
© Haydn Thompson 2023