User:Laura Dolan/sandbox

Hello I am new to wikipedia editing and am keen to get more Scottish Women on Wikipedia #SWoW 

Templeton Carpet Factory
James Templeton & Sons began making carpets on this site in 1857. Expansion of the site and construction of the brick facade began in 1888, designed by William Leiper. The building is unique in terms of its design and construction, is characterised by multicoloured brickwork on the facade facing onto Glasgow Green and is inspired by the Doge's Palace in Venice. There was much resistance to extending the factory, by the wealthy citizens living in nearby Monteith Row, and, for this reason the building had to be spectacular and in keeping with such a prominent location in the city.

Templeton obtained a patent on the production technique for a Chenille carpet and went on to develop a hugely successful company, producing high quality Axminster carpets for places around the world including the West Wing of the Whitehouse, the Titanic, the Taj Mahal and the Houses of Parliament. At its peak, this factory employed 3,000 people.

Around 100 years later competition from cheaper tufted carpets led to a decline in demand and Templeton’s vacated the premises for a new site in 1978. The factory was converted in 1984 to the Templeton Business Centre. In 2006, the Victorian grandeur of the building attracted the WEST Brewing Company to build a community-oriented brewery, reminiscent of the breweries to be found in Germany. Like Templeton’s, the WEST brewery is building its success by combining cutting edge technology with Scottish ingenuity.

Women Workers at Templeton
The role of women within the Templeton building changed dramatically over a century. In the carpet factory women were employed in the weaving sheds. Previously, handloom weavers worked at their own pace, with their own tools, and within their own cottages. Factories, however, set long hours of work, and the machinery within them shaped the pace of work. The family structure itself was turned upside down as women's and children’s wages undercut men's, leading to an increase in employment of women and children. Factories, such as Templeton’s, flourished over cottage handloom weaving because they had more efficient production output per worker, thus lowering prices.

Worker Health and Safety regulations were non-existent. One consequence of this was the terrible accident that occurred on 1 November 1889 when part of a wall under construction collapsed following high winds, trapping over 100 women working in the weaving sheds; 29 were killed. The Templeton memorial gate which leads into the Green at the WEST brewery commemorates this event with an inscription carved in a section of stone beneath the base of the Gate. “On 1st November 1889 the partially built Carpet Factory collapsed, killing twenty nine women and girls. This gateway is dedicated to their memory.” A century later the women working within the WEST brewery obtain equal pay with men, and are employed by a woman, Petra Wetzel-Stewart, one of the co-founders of the brewery.