Stroudwater Textile Trust (STT) has celebrated 25 years of promoting the centuries-old history of cloth production in the Stroud Valleys.
The Trust’s origins go back even further to the 1980s, when members of the Stroud Museum Association, including Ian Mackintosh (a founding member of STT) agreed to rescue some textile machinery from a disused woollen mill in Wales.
This was a huge Ferrabee milling machine, requiring several journeys to transport it to its new home near Nailsworth. It was soon to be joined by other historically important pieces including a nap-raising gig and machines for carding, spinning and braiding.
Over the next few years, further items were acquired as more old, unwanted low-tech machinery was replaced by more efficient equipment. Nearby Longfords Mill donated its collection of sample books and Cam Mill sent photographs and descriptions of its diverse collection of textile machinery.
To keep the knowledge of Stroud’s textile industry alive for future generations, many who had worked in local mills put on demonstrations of carding and spinning of wool fleece to local schoolchildren. They gave talks to the public and arranged educational visits.
However, the group desperately needed a permanent home and funding to allow restoration of these heritage items to working order. As a first step, the Stroudwater Textile Trust was set up as an independent charity in 1999 and began to look for partners and premises.
Nailsworth Town Council came to the rescue, allowing the Trust to occupy the room at Dunkirk Mill housing a working waterwheel. This wheel drives some of the historic machinery and the accredited Dunkirk Mill Museum is now regularly open to visitors between April and September. The Trust also secured a lease on the Gigg Mill Weaving Shed in Nailsworth, where a range of weaving machinery – from handlooms to fast, complex power looms – is demonstrated, and visitors can try their hand at weaving.
The Stroudwater Textile Trust acts as a focal point for textiles past and present. It offers membership to all textile enthusiasts and entrepreneurs and provide a range of educational resources, undertake research, give lectures, publish books and maps, curate exhibitions and organise events.
New members and volunteers are welcome. For more details of membership, events, mill openings and the industrial history of the Stroud Valleys, please visit: www.stroudtextiletrust.org.uk
Pictures by Matt Bigwood
