A Visit to Coldharbour Spinning and Weaving Mill

What better way to spend a rainy day in England than visit a local wool spinning and weaving mill. I've been living in Devon for more than eight months now but I found out only a couple of weeks ago - by sheer coincidence - that there is a working mill not far from where I live.

It's called the Coldharbour Mill and is a spinning and weaving mill that dates back to the late 18th century when it was founded by a Quaker family. Unfortunately, it had to be closed down in 1981 but reopened as a museum a year later and still produces a small quantity of worsted knitting yarns and local tartan fabric for sale in their museum shop.

Me and the machinery

The museum and working mill give an excellent impression of Victorian England, England's productive industrial age and, I suppose, also its ultimate decline. Hello corporate England!

On the ground floor we were led from one machine to another by an old man, who explained the whole process from fleece (which is bought in from somewhere else in England) to yarn, and eventually even fabric.

Colourful fleece to be spun into yarn

The wool goes through a process of stretching as each machine stretches ...

Stretching Machine

... and stretches it further until it becomes a robust thin strand, which is then twisted together with other strands to produce the final yarn.

and more stretching

In one section of the factory they also had a carpet weaving and two or three machines used for weaving local tartans. It was fascinating to see how quickly the shuttles (as they are called) are shot through in between the warp threads to create the weft.

Weaving Loom

As the old man explained, the loom uses punched cards for creating designs in the texture - exactly the same system which later influenced Charles Babbage to build the first mechanical computer. Isn't that fascinating?!

It was a great day out and I brought back two skeins of yarn to make myself a wintry hat. If you happen to live in the area or are planning to come here for your holidays, this museum should not be missed by textile enthusiasts.

In other news:

"A Year in Indie Patterns" is on Christmas Break. I will test a new pattern company in January. In the meantime, there is hopefully plenty of time, in between drinking mulled wine and eating biscuits, to finish my Nougat dress.

And if you hurry you can still enter the Nougat dress giveaway!