The Cause
The Mill is the last example in the country of a silk mill that is still producing silk using historic machines and training highly skilled weavers to use these pieces of living history. It is Britain’s oldest working silk mill, and each year, thousands of visitors visit it to discover our role in the nation’s industrial silk evolution.
Last year, Silk Ribbon Weaving was listed as a critically endangered craft and added to the Red List by the Heritage Craft Association. There are only four silk ribbon weavers left in the UK, with Whitchurch Silk Mill employing one of them and training another. In the past, ribbons woven at Whitchurch Silk Mill have been featured in many well-known films and television shows, including Sense & Sensibility, Titanic, and many more.
The Mill’s future relies on the skills and passion of the team that works here, who will pass on their skills to future generations of weavers, ensuring a resilient path forward over the next 200 years.
Whitchurch Silk Mill preserves traditional heritage silk weaving skills by weaving on looms dating back to the 1890s and maintaining a collection of historic machinery. Operating as a museum while still weaving silk for today’s market, our weavers are securing the future of the methods, skills, traditions, and knowledge that have existed at the Mill since 1815.
Our Aim
Our project, Weaving Futures, aims to restore and preserve our Victorian machinery, and so the money we raise will be used to conserve Loom 10. This loom was manufactured in 1960 and is a William Smith & Brothers frame with a Hattersley non-positive dobby mechanism.
- Loom 10 Shot blasting £750
- Dobby Vapour Blasting £250
- Paints and Primers £250
Completing this project will help secure the future of weaving at the Whitchurch Silk Mill for generations to come.
The Prize
By donating to Whitchurch Silk Mill, you will be entered into a prize draw to win a pair of wonderful, colourful crafted Minimocursor phunoiensis, a gift from the National Research Council of Thailand.
Scientists in North Eastern Thailand unearthed this newly discovered dinosaur. Like our weavers, this newly discovered species was abundant – 150 million years ago. Whilst now extinct, this pair of Minimocursor phunoiensis, made from cloth woven by the Hill Tribes of Thailand, could help us raise valuable funds to preserve living weaving heritage at the Mill.
Could they help stop the critically endangered craft of silk ribbon weaving from extinction? They could be yours!
How To Enter?
Entries start from £2. Choose your entry option: £2 for one entry, £5 for three, £10 for five, £25 for fifteen, £50 for thirty-five and £100 for 80. Or to enter for free, post your name and number or email address to the address provided:
28 Winchester Street, Whitchurch, RG28 7AL