deepstoat
The House Of Lords....
Why the House of Lords smells of wee.
The favoured cloth for suits worn by the landed peerage in the House was Harris Tweed for two reasons:
1/. It was symbolic. Each great estate had its own tweed just as clans had tartans.
2/. It was very tough - ideal for shooting on ones estate - and hence a suit could last generations.
It's one drawback was the method of it's manufacture. Sheeps' wool does not hold dye well so requires a chemical MORDANT to fix it. In the Tweed manufacturing areas this was usually stale human urine. The cloth when it came off the loom was also loosely woven and needed to be 'fulled' to thicken it up and make it weather proof. This was also done using stale human urine. The process of kneeding and beating the urine soaked fabric was known as 'waulking'.
Whilst this made the life of the tweed weaver unappealing it had little effect on the wearer of the garments - unless that garment became wet, when the faint smell of stale human urine would rise off it.
Hence after a rain shower the House of Lords, or rather the hereditary peers in their old Tweeds, would smell of stale urine.
The House Of Lords....
Why the House of Lords smells of wee.
The favoured cloth for suits worn by the landed peerage in the House was Harris Tweed for two reasons:
1/. It was symbolic. Each great estate had its own tweed just as clans had tartans.
2/. It was very tough - ideal for shooting on ones estate - and hence a suit could last generations.
It's one drawback was the method of it's manufacture. Sheeps' wool does not hold dye well so requires a chemical MORDANT to fix it. In the Tweed manufacturing areas this was usually stale human urine. The cloth when it came off the loom was also loosely woven and needed to be 'fulled' to thicken it up and make it weather proof. This was also done using stale human urine. The process of kneeding and beating the urine soaked fabric was known as 'waulking'.
Whilst this made the life of the tweed weaver unappealing it had little effect on the wearer of the garments - unless that garment became wet, when the faint smell of stale human urine would rise off it.
Hence after a rain shower the House of Lords, or rather the hereditary peers in their old Tweeds, would smell of stale urine.