Quote:
Originally Posted by Les-27
Was there such a thing as army surplus maybe doling old uniforms out during famine times in ireland and maybe removing buttons only a thought
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This is possible but as GTB mentioned I think the 'shoddy' explanation is the most likely.
From Wikipedia - "Shoddy is the name given to an inferior woollen yarn made by shredding scraps of woollen rags into fibres, grinding them and then mixing them with small amounts of new wool. The object was to manufacture a cheap cloth which could be made into products and clothes ....... The collection of the rags for this process started in streets all over Britain by rag dealers or rag and bone men as they became more commonly known. The rags were sorted, and any seams, or parts of the rag not suitable, were left to rot and then sold onto to farmers to manure crops.".
You either have the location of an old shoddy factory (or its dump perhaps) or a field where the residue was used as manure. A lot of old livery buttons have been found in places such as the hop farms in Kent where old uniforms were used in this way for years. It may seem odd to us but it was common practice to leave buttons on the uniforms when they were scrapped in this way.
Roger