Date: 1895
In some of the secluded hamlets in the Howe of Fife the shuttle of the hand-loom may still be heard ; but the weavers of the olden time are unable to compete with the gigantic machinery of the present day, and this form of industry is rapidly disappearing.  The cottage of the weaver of other days always contained one apartment for the " loom-shop," and some of these primitive machines are still kept employed in out-of-the-way districts ; but the proprietors of the large mills have made hand-loom weaving a branch of their industry, and the class of linen formerly manufactured by the weaver in his cottage is now produced from the factory.  Kirkcaldy has long been the chief seat of the linen manufacture in Fife, and Dunfermline has been renowned especially for the production of table-linen, holding the foremost place in the world for this branch of manufacture.