[ad_1]
Published:
7:00 AM May 22, 2022
It was an industry which was famous across the world and provided employment for generations of skilled people.
They worked in buildings of all shapes and sizes spread across the Norwich which hide many secrets…not any more.
Inspired by the Costume & Textile Association’s Walk with the Warp trail and exhibition in 2007, a new downloadable Norwich Textiles Trail is one we can all enjoy and learn from.
It has been put together by Vanessa Trevelyan, director of Norfolk Museums Service from 1999 to 2013 and now President of the C&TA, with help from C&TA chair, Joy Evitt, and Norwich shawls specialist, Helen Hoyte.
Industrious City gallery showing a typical loom, Museum of Norwich at the Bridewell.
– Credit: ©Norfolk Museums Service
“The history of Norwich textiles seems to have been forgotten and I am really keen to raise awareness of this important part of our heritage,” said Vanessa.
She and her friends have now completed the wonderful self-guided trail for the Norwich Society and the C&TA, looking at various sites and buildings associated with textiles.
It is the perfect way to spend some time walking around the city of the 21st century…and discovering how we were in times gone by.
The whole trail takes about two hours and covers around three miles.
A route is suggested, and there are plenty of cafes and pubs along the way if you want to take your time. You can dip in and out whenever you like.
As Vanessa says, Norwich was a centre of weaving as early as 1174 and, by the 1670s, half of freemen were connected with the textile trade.
The Norwich worsted trade grew rapidly and the exports of worsted and Norwich stuffs captured a world market.
Towler’s Court off Elm Hill, home to weaving dynasty Towler and Campin
– Credit: Courtesy of Costume & Textiles Association
Weavers’ cottages in Lion and Castle Yard
– Credit: Courtesy of Costume & Textiles Association
In the late 18th and 19th centuries Norwich shawls became famous as a must-have fashion item.
Some years ago Helen wrote a brilliant book The Story of the Norwich Shawl and she said: “Those made in Norwich are some of the finest in the world and people should be enormously proud of them.”
“Until the 1870s a lady wasn’t a lady unless she had a shawl, and the very best was a Norwich shawl,” she said.
Sadly, by 1900 only about 2,000 people were engaged in the textile industry and in the 1901 census there were no worsted weavers at all in the city.
Now, thanks to this collaboration, between the Norwich Society and the C&TA you can find out more about this industry and discover the buildings and areas associated with the once booming textile trade.
It is a wonderful walk… and you can find it online at thenorwichsociety.org.uk/explore-norwich/norwich-textiles-trail
[ad_2]
Source link
