Women of The Outer Hebrides - Waulking Songs

Engraving of Scotswomen singing while waulking cloth, c. 1770

A selection of short films on waulking songs sung by women while finishing Harris tweed in the Outer Hebrides islands of Scotland. A beautiful tradition and time capsule of a long vanished era. Waulking songs were work songs, sung by a group of women as a way of keeping time whilst fulling (waulking) cloth. To read more about this tradition, click here.

and a modern recording for your listening pleasure: