Was Dundee once the jute capital of the world?
I don’t know about the world, but certainly in the UK Dundee was a major centre in the weaving of jute cloth. 50,000 dundonians were employed in the industry at it’s height in the 19th Century, including my Granny at Cox’s Camperdown Works… I don’t know if 5,000 worked in a single factory, but I guess it’s possible. she’s on the famous picture of the workers at the gates. The industry declined in the 20th Century due to competion from the Indian Jute market, and now there are no working mills… but there’s loads of flat conversions, so….
