Whitening pools

The canvas known as bretagnes are whitened in laundries, made up of pools, buildings with chimneys, and hanging and drying areas. The method also made use of beech ash and hot water. Canvas would probably have been soaked in tanks in a mixture of water and rye or buckwheat flour, before being rinsed in pools, and placed on drying lines, where dew and the sun would complete the process. Records reveal the existence of 225 separate sites, only two or three of which are still visible today.