Just across the main street, opposite the jute mill and former warehouses, there are these new apartments, built where the old workers' houses were once. They reproduce, but not copy exactly, the old houses, and the colors are typical of the old houses of the region. The canal passes under the street: it both fed the machines of the mill and was used to carry raw fibers and finished goods. As Madbat did, I also wondered about the connection between jute and whore houses. This is what I found. The word 'jute' meaning the plant fiber entered English in 1746-50, from Bengali jhuto, from Sanskrit juta-s, 'twisted hair,' related to jata 'braid of hair," of unknown origin, probably from a non-Indo-European language. In Chinese Mandarin slang jute means prostitute and is pronounced 'Jootah.' This word goes back to around the 18th century, when Meng Haoran, a well known Chinese poet used the word as a derogatory to prostitutes. For ex. there are jutes at every corner in town. It's also used for one who frequently subscribes to Afro-Eurasian prostitutes, according to the Urban Dictionary. Jute is also a Derryism (a slang word peculiar to the town of (London)Derry in N. Ireland) used to describe the female genitalia. Moreover, 'mill' is a slang term to mean a woman who is an absolute slut. Hence, my opinion is that the word was brought to Britain from China and India by British sailors, soldiers and traders. Whether the Chinese Mandarin slang term has something to do with the fact that jute braids reminded some hairdo of Chinese prostitutes, or jute was used as cheap silk, or was used(and still is) to fill cheap mattresses, I can't say. But the connection between women and jute in Britain is easier to see: often women working in factories were thought of as whores. Many had to add to their meager wages with a bit of prostitution, and whore houses were often close or inside the industrial districts. Jute had a glorious industrial history in Dundee, Scotland. Initially, due to its texture, it could only be processed by hand until it was discovered in that city that treating it with whale oil, it could be treated by machine. Most of the workers in the Dundee Jute Mills were women, many of them from Ireland. Possibly the Derryism is a relic of this past. I hope this story makes sense. Thanks for your kind comments.