FARFIELD MILL

This former Victorian Woollen Mill has gallery spaces, artists’ studios, and weaving looms is the perfect free to visit attraction. The Mill exhibits and sells a range of contemporary art and traditional craft made and designed by artists from Cumbria, the Yorkshire Dales and beyond.

Craft Gallery and Mill Shop

Arriving at the Mill you enter on level 3 where you find the Mill shop, Craft Gallery, and some of the resident artists studios. The Craft Gallery stocks a wide range of handcrafted items from local and regional artists and makers. It is a perfect place to find unique gifts and original pieces. The Mill shop stocks quirky and interesting things to treat yourself or others, including handcrafted jewellery, leather items, metal work, wood turning, ceramics, glassware, and a range of textiles.

Exhibitions at Farfield Mill

Wander down to level 2 and discover gallery spaces showing a changing programme of exhibitions. Being an old textile mill many of these exhibitions focus on textile art, but they also exhibit local and regional artists including work from our own Farfield Resident Artists. More information about the current exhibitions can be found online as well as information about past exhibits.

https://www.farfieldmill.org/whats-on/exhibitions/

www.lancmag.com

Above: Farfield Mill Workers 1911 ©Sedbergh and district history society

The heritage display tells the story of some of the workers at the Mill, shows examples of the processes involved in producing woollen cloth and the social history associated with the Mill. Included within the exhibition is a 300-year-old Witney blanket loom.

Many visitors appreciate the rugged stone exterior. Like many other buildings in the Yorkshire Dales and Lake District it echoes a lifestyle now lost.

As you head down to level 1 you will find the 1896 Gilkes Turbine in the old water wheel pit, the source for all the Mill’s power before being replaced by a now missing Lancashire boiler. This power was for the textile machinery of which an old Dobcross Loom survives and has been joined by a more modern Somet loom.

The Dobcross loom was built in 1936 by Hutchinson & Hollingworth of Diggle, Saddleworth, Yorkshire who were one of the makers of the Dobcross loom between 1861-1970. This lovely old loom still produces fabric for commissions and throws which are sold in the Mill shop. The Somet loom is an AC2 from Italy and was bought in 2016 from a mill in the Borders of Scotland. It was bought to work alongside the Dobcross Loom and increase speed of production.

Finally, no trip to Farfield Mill is complete without a visit to the Tea Room for some of their delicious homemade cakes or scones. The Tea Room is next to the river with fantastic views of the Howgill fells and Garsdale bridge. The outdoor seating is perfect on a hot day but there is shelter if the rain starts to fall.

History of the Mill

The first mill at Farfield was built in 1837, the year Queen Victoria came to the throne, by Joseph Dover. Joseph was originally a merchant from Keswick, but for many years he worked as manager of Hebblethwaite Mill in the valley of the Rawthey. This was one of five mills that ran in Sedbergh during the 19th century. His ambition in life was to own his own mill. In 1836 he bought 9 acres of land for £490 on a bend of the River Clough and the town’s labourers suddenly found there was work aplenty, carting stone from a local quarry, building a dam and constructing a huge wooden waterwheel. Two years later he died, but his two sons James and John carried on the business which stayed in the family for 100 years. The family eventually owned a great deal of land, building themselves two pleasant houses close to the factory. Farmland was paid for in fleeces which were delivered straight to the mill. Although spinning and weaving was done in the factory, for a long time the cottage industry carried on. Handloom woven goods made in the farmers’ back parlour, using Farfield wool, continued into the 20th century. Wool spun at Farfield went out to knitters from Dent to Howgill.

Resident artists

Farfield Mill provides affordable studios for artists and makers.

There are 18 Studios at the Mill which are home to a community of artists and makers who live in the local area. Their work ranges from contemporary craft of weaving, knitting, quilting and rag rugging to fine art. They are happy to chat to visitors when they are in their workshops, and you can see how they create their work.

September Exhibitions Farfield Mill hosts a range exhibitions throughout the year, they exhibit exciting group collaborations as well as solo exhibitions.

Secrets of The Sea - Ruth Clayton 19 August to 24 October (Water colour and mixed media exhibition by resident Artist Ruth Clayton) Energy, Movement and Light I’m passionate about the sea. Not a calm sea, however, but the energy of the sea with its movement and reaction to light. The sea never stays the same and the colours, shapes and patterns change from the palest turquoise to the deepest blue in seconds. “The sea, once it’s cast its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever” Jacques Cousteau’ Ruth paints the sea for people who want to bring the ocean into their own home. Can you smell the salt? Ruth Clayton Ruth qualified as a Graphic Designer at Leeds Metropolitan University, specialising in illustration, in 1986. She then gained a teaching qualification at Manchester University. She shares a studio with her partner Stuart Gray at Farfield Mill in Sedbergh, Cumbria where they work and sell their paintings.

Above: Textilia3 - Jo Valentine muted (Textile art Exhibition from contemporary Textile group Textilia III based in the North of England) The landscape in which we live, meet and work is a northern landscape largely shaped by cloth. Distinctive weavers cottages line the canals and perch on hillsides, tall mill chimneys dominate the valleys. We meet in a grand and richly furnished manor house created by mill owners, exhibit and seek inspiration and materials at converted mills in Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Cumbria. Some of us have mill workers in our ancestry, weaving in our memories and in our blood.

We are drawing on this rich history to create a series of exhibitions in 2019/20, exploring the thread that runs through our stories, landscapes, and work, creating a body of work that weaves together mill workers and owners, beauty created, and price paid, the heritage we live and take forward.

The artists in Textilia 3 use many diverse techniques, including hand and machine stitch, felt, appliqué, mixed media and painting, ceramics, dyeing and resists, print and manipulated fabrics and fibres. Abstract, figurative, and decorative pieces, wall art, 3D and wearable art are all included as well as a wide range of smaller textile items and cards.

Textilia 3 is a well-established group of 16 contemporary textile artists, based in the North of England, who have exhibited widely in Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Cumbria over the last 25 years. We have built up a popular following of loyal visitors who regularly travel to see our work.

(Textile art Exhibition from contemporary textile group Nolitex based in Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire) NOLITEX, (Notts. Lincs. Textile Artists) is a group of artists which promotes textile and mixed media art through regular exhibitions The group has exhibited in the UK and Ireland in a range of venues including art galleries, cathedral chapter houses, museums and at the NEC Birmingham, as well as in more challenging spaces such as outdoors in Easton Walled Gardens and at Papplewick Victorian Pumping Station. At each venue the work is curated to take on a different character.

In 2020 Nolitex met the challenge of galleries being closed due to covid19 regulations by moving online to showcase its exhibition ‘Rooted in the Wood’ on FaceBook and Instagram. This was followed by another virtual exhibition of work inspired by members’ reflections on lockdown, ‘Looking Out, Looking In’, and the group continues to maintain its online presence by sharing images of work in progress. Nolitex is delighted to be returning to exhibiting ‘in the real world’ at Farfield Mill in autumn 2021 where the twelve members of Nolitex will explore their own lines of thought, from the prosaic to the fanciful, in textiles and mixed media.

Above: Nolitex Exhibition - Walks with my Dog a r t c r a f t h e r i t a g e f r e e e n t r y

Art Exhibitions - Artists' Studios - Heritage Workshops - Craft Gallery - Tea Room w w w . f a r f i e l d m i l l . o r g

O p e n 1 0 . 3 0 a m - 4 . 0 0 p m W e d n e s d a y t o S u n d a y G a r s d a l e R o a d S e d b e r g h C u m b r i a L A 1 0 5 L W

Opening Times: Wednesday-Sunday, 10:30am-4pm - FREE ENTRY N 015396 21958 E reception@farfieldmill.org M Garsdale Road, Sedbergh, Cumbria LA10 5LW www.lancmag.com