WEAVING HISTORY AT WHITCHURCH SILK MILL
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hitchurch Silk Mill is the oldest silk mill in the country and thought to be on the same site as one of the four mills recorded in the Domesday Book. Situated only a few miles south of Newbury, it is beside the River Test on a piece of land called Frog Island. Now a working museum, the Georgian mill is a reminder of Britain’s industrial heritage and continues to weave silk fabrics using 19th-century machines. It was built in 1815 by Henry Hayter, and initially focused on the ‘fulling’ process – cleansing woven materials in order to remove oils. After the Battle of Waterloo, the country’s economy declined. The mill went bankrupt and was sold in 1817, 1844 and again in 1846. By 1866, the mill passed into the ownership of James Hyde, a nephew of Thomas Burberry – founder of the clothing chain of the same name – and produced 22 different coloured serge linings for trench coats. In the 1890s, the mill was modernised; the waterwheel was widened to allow it to operate at 11 horsepower. The waterwheel was the sole power source of the looms until the 1920s, when the power source was converted to electricity. Hyde owned the mill until 1955, when it was bought by a silk weaver to preserve the Victorian machinery and looms. It was then sold to a company that made barristers’ robes and graduate gowns. In 1985, the building was on the market for housing development, but the Hampshire Buildings Preservation Trust stepped in to save it. The mill re-opened as a working museum, under the management of Whitchurch Silk
Mill Trust, to ensure the survival of winding and weaving using traditional technologies and methods. Today, the mill operates three looms built in the 1890s, and aims to preserve traditional weaving skills. Its output includes exclusive fabrics for the luxury market such as scarves and silk face masks, giftware and miscellaneous accessories made of pure silk, linen, worsted wool, taffeta, twill and more. But traditional production methods are not fast; delivery of a 150-meter order of silk can take up to 16 weeks to ensure the highest quality of production and preserve the historic machinery and traditional processes for the future. In 2019, two weavers collaborated on a project for The Clothworkers’ Company, producing 600 silk fish, filled with lavender, to be presented to guests of the Master and the Master’s Lady. The mill partners with The Weavers’ Company and art colleges to support four student placements each summer. However, beyond the commercial production, the mill welcomes in excess of 30,000 visitors each year, inviting them to learn more about the history of the mill and silk weaving in the UK. In 2020, Whitchurch Silk Mill won a TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Award and received an award (with £1,000) from Ecclesiastical’s ‘Movement for Good’ programme. In 2019, the Grade II listed mill earned two RIBA awards. You can find out more – including how to visit – through the website at whitchurchsilkmill.org.uk. Left: Working on a loom at Whitchurch Silk Mill. © HCC Architects. THE CLOTHWORKER | AUTUMN 2020
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