W - Weaver to witch stone
weaver n
A person who turns yarn into fabric
There are two wool mills... for weaving woollen cloth... which manufacture on their own adventure, considerable quantities of the coarser sorts of woollen cloth, and of yarn for stockings. The number of hands... employed is about 30...
Rev John Morison 1840 Parish of Old Dee.
![Plaid. A folded pieced of cloth, green with vertical white, brown, blue and red bands and horizontal white and brown bands. Plaid. A folded pieced of cloth, green with vertical white, brown, blue and red bands and horizontal white and brown bands.](https://exhibitions.abdn.ac.uk/university-collections/files/square_thumbnails/089a39206ccb7c0a4f77d8f5ed4cb500.jpg)
Length of woven woollen cloth showing the usual width of the cloth woven in the area, Moray (early 19th cent.)
ABDUA:17648
![Gartane leem. An open wooden box about the size of a shoebox, with a panel with a row of alternating long vertical gaps and holes projecting upwards from inside. On one end of the box is a crank which turns a bobbin wound with thread. Gartane leem. An open wooden box about the size of a shoebox, with a panel with a row of alternating long vertical gaps and holes projecting upwards from inside. On one end of the box is a crank which turns a bobbin wound with thread.](https://exhibitions.abdn.ac.uk/university-collections/files/square_thumbnails/546ba826ed072f6d36b65cd02a293562.jpg)
'Gartane leem', a small portable loom used for weaving narrow bands of cloth, Aberdeenshire (early - mid 19th cent.)
ABDUA:18991
![Lamp. A small metal lamp with a spout on either side. Lamp. A small metal lamp with a spout on either side.](https://exhibitions.abdn.ac.uk/university-collections/files/square_thumbnails/50a870a73596cc017e40f00fa79d8ac9.jpg)
Weaver's naptha lamp: the twin wicks enable the weaver to see the shuttle moving across the loom, Strathdon (mid 19th cent.)
ABDUA:18610
![Yarnet. A rectangular wooden box about a foot and a half lonf with a handle. Yarnet. A rectangular wooden box about a foot and a half lonf with a handle.](https://exhibitions.abdn.ac.uk/university-collections/files/square_thumbnails/5dd5a485b262ea3d9dc1129bdc038c5b.jpg)
Yarnet, a container for holding the prepared yarn prior to knitting or weaving, Strathdon (early 19th cent.)
ABDUA:18881
whale
n a cetaceous sea mammal.
v to catch whales.
-r n a whale boat, a whale man
-harpoon n a barbed dart used for killing whales.
-oil n oil obtained from the blubber of a whale.
The commencement of the Whaling industry at Aberdeen dates from 1752, when a company was formed, which fitted out and sent to Greenland... two vessels of 500 tons.
V.E. Clark 1921. The Port of Aberdeen.
witch-stone n
A type of amulet, an object with occult power, usually a perforated stone.
I ask anyone who has been in an air raid or series of air raids to answer honestly whether he or she didn't conjure up some image of luck to help him through: some object to touch or wear, some corner to be in, things of the utmost irrationality but yet they worked - that is to say the survivors who are the only people who can tell about them... but they won't so much as see a genuine fairy walking within a yard of them!
Naomi Mitchison 1947. The Bull Calves
![Panel. A wooden panel about twenty centimetres wide, carved with the face of a horned devil with pointy ears and teeth, with flowers and stems on either side. Panel. A wooden panel about twenty centimetres wide, carved with the face of a horned devil with pointy ears and teeth, with flowers and stems on either side.](https://exhibitions.abdn.ac.uk/university-collections/files/square_thumbnails/af70624acbb955f69709d78ca19cdf7e.jpg)
Wooden panel showing the 'face of corruption' from St. Nicholas Kirk, Aberdeen (probably 16th cent.)
ABDUA:18393
![Cruik. A piece of iron about a foot long, with a wide flat hook on one end a small pointed hook on the other from which it hangs on a chain of large flat iron rings. Cruik. A piece of iron about a foot long, with a wide flat hook on one end a small pointed hook on the other from which it hangs on a chain of large flat iron rings.](https://exhibitions.abdn.ac.uk/university-collections/files/square_thumbnails/e67debba6a4b67878f54d641dfb331b9.jpg)
Cruik marked XXX to protect food from witchcraft, Rayne, Aberdeenshire (late 18th cent.)
ABDUA:18786
![Axe head. A dark polished stone axe head about ten centimetres long, one end pointed and the other sharpened. Axe head. A dark polished stone axe head about ten centimetres long, one end pointed and the other sharpened.](https://exhibitions.abdn.ac.uk/university-collections/files/square_thumbnails/7e4c006ef9686535f7caa9ffc569cb5c.jpg)
Jadeite axe (thunner stane), Aberdeenshire (c3500BC).
ABDUA:18960
![Stone charms. Four charms, left to right: a polished brown and blue oval pebble, a round stone mace head, a flat disc, a miniature stone axe head. Stone charms. Four charms, left to right: a polished brown and blue oval pebble, a round stone mace head, a flat disc, a miniature stone axe head.](https://exhibitions.abdn.ac.uk/university-collections/files/square_thumbnails/c22f44ab2ae9bf672575040fbd90c819.jpg)
Stone charms. Left to right:
'Lucky stone' kept by a family at Inverurie until c1900.
ABDUA:16155
Neolithic mace head hung in byre to protect cattle at Stonehaven until 1876.
ABDUA:15593
Charm, Aberdeenshire (19th cent.)
ABDUA:16159
Sandstone 'charm' axe from a burial at Upper Boyndlie, Tyrie (c2000BC)
ABDUA:14777