Building
Retting pond
A retting pond was a shallow pool or pit in which bundles of flax or hemp were weighted down underwater for two to three weeks, until the stems partly rotted and the fibres could be separated. The process fouled the water badly, and a law of 1541 required retting ponds to evaporate rather than drain into streams. Archaeological evidence for retting in pits, ditches and channels in Britain comes mainly from the Saxon and medieval periods.
Caveats (confidence: medium)
Direct 12th-century examples are rarely identified with certainty; process details come from later records.
Sources: cumbria-industries.org.uk · wessexarch.co.uk
Built from
- Retting pond
Made here
- Ret flax
- Ret hemp