Hessian

The internal walls of the house is lined with masonite (or brown board). We are slowly removing it all and replacing it with plasterboard. Today we found evidence that before the masonite, the walls were coated with hessian.

The practice used to be to stretch hessian along the walls, and nail it taut every 3-4 inches apart. Most articles I have read say the walls were then whitewashed, but I found an article that shows another method.