Opening Days 2013
The programme of open days for the Weaving Shed at Gigg Mill is now available, details of dates plus information about location etc can be found under Visit Us on the main menu, or use the link provided here
Dunkirk Mill Centre
The Dunkirk Mill Centre offers a wonderful opportunity to see a see a massive working water wheel directly powering a rare piece of historic textile machinery. The overshot wheel, twelve feet wide and thirteen feet in diameter, was installed in the mill in 1855
New Publication: Life in the Mill
This is one that failed to make it into the book: the very popular Ham Mill Ladies Band that toured village fetes in the 1930s
The Trust’s Chairman Anthony Burton has produced this succinct but informative little book in the Pitkin Guides series. The reason we are telling you about it is that it contains a number of photographs from Stroud area mills. Many of them are from our collection as well as including details from the superb local paintings displayed in the Stroud Museum in the Park. At last local images can be seen on an equal footing with… Continue reading
Stroud’s History Walks
The Trust organises walks deliberately aimed at revealing the history of the area. These are gentle walks through the beautiful landscape or around the towns. In 2013 besides the two associated with the Strachans exhibition we have arranged the following:
Strachan’s Victorian Origins
Courtesy Stroud Museum in the Park
Lodgemore Mills continues to produce high quality snooker and tennis ball cloth for competitions all over the world. Its origins reach deep into the past but in the 1800s its tradition of quality was established.
This exhibition, Towards Perfection: Strachan’s Victorian Origins is to be shown again at the Museum in the Park, Stroud from 4th to the 16th June. Opening times vary so please ring ahead (01453 763394). It will be closed on Monday 10th.
A Home for Hammers
On Saturday 23rd February historic fulling hammers saved by Stroud Museum many decades ago finally went on display. They have been loaned to the Textile Trust and volunteer Barry Harrison designed a cradle for them immaculately made by Ken Young. This was a real team effort as Jenny Tann raised the money with a generous grant from the Radcliffe Trust and other volunteers watched admiringly while Ken and his team inched the cumbersome frame into position then mounted the massive hammers. Continue reading
Teazles & Teazle Men
The late Terry Eldridge was expert in setting up our teazle raising gig and gently adjusting the cloth to ensure its smooth running. His expertise is sadly missed. I think he would have been sad to hear that our gig at Dunkirk is perhaps the last working in England, but also proud that his expertise & patience helped to make this possible.
This claim comes from Robert McMillan the author of a new book which provides readers with a thorough overview of the teazle trade over the last 250 years. It concentrates on the Yorkshire story but has drawn on information the Trust provided. As with so much else the trade moved north but in the 1820s and ‘30s teazle traders from the south west visited Leeds inns to supply them with much of their needs. By the next century Yorkshire traders had the Somerset growers under their thumb. Continue reading
Rivers of Cloth DVD
Now available for £10 our DVD - Rivers of Cloth
Using archive film and the recorded voices of those who worked in the industry it tells the story of the woollen mills of Stroud and the surrounding area. It is available in bookshops and tourist information centres in Stroud and Nailsworth, Museum in the Park, Stroud and at the shop in Chalford. It can be ordered direct by sending a cheque, payable to Stroudwater Textile Trust, to Anthony Burton, 31 Lansdown Stroud GL5 1BG. It is available for £8.50 to members of the Trust.