Milnsbridge cloth

This is really where our business began. Following a chance encounter with a woollen blanket made in Yorkshire, I managed to track it down to a man named Frank who, after a visit to his pub one very dark night, kindly introduced us to his weaver, Alan. Alan and his wife Jill we’re perhaps slightly bemused by us and our requests, certainly at the beginning - maybe even slightly entertained I don’t know – but they were always unfathomably kind and supportive. We persevered and with their help went onto weave what would become our Milnsbridge cloth.

Our initial few weaves were made using the stocks of yarn Frank kept at the mill. You’d find us climbing over piles of boxes, pulling out cones of thick woollen yarn in every colour – carefully boxing them up ready to weave. Alan a busy man, and perhaps with a knowing anticipation of what was to come gave our jobs to Trevor. Many laughs followed, grumbling about the extremes of heat of cold depending on the time of year, the ailing looms which needed a lot of attention, especially with the thick yarns we were using. We developed our own ways of working, jumping on and off the looms, changing colours as the cones ran out, trying not to let the ends run out – Trevor let us help out a lot. Using odd, old stocks of yarns has many challenges and it’s understandable why they become a bit impossible to use on a commercial scale.

We went onto do weave quite a lot of cloth with Alan and Jill over the years, they were always interested and supportive of our endeavours and patiently put up with us taking photographers and film makers round the mill when ever it came up. We were lucky enough to be featured in Uppercase magazine and were able to take the photographer India Hobson with us to the mill – I’ve used some of her beautiful photos here which capture the mill exactly how it was, decades of life and work all piled up together. 

At the time I don’t think I realised just how special this experience was, being able to be so hands-on, weaving comparatively small lengths of cloth in that setting, with all of the knowledge and support of those around us –I was just busy enjoying the whole thing.  Alan sadly passed away in November 2022 and understandably not wanting to continue without him, Jill shut up the mill.

So my own stocks of Milnsbridge cloth have taken on a new meaning, they were never really repeatable but especially not now. Without them our journey wouldn’t have been the same and I’m so grateful for the experience we had weaving our cloth and their friendship and I will continue to enjoy making with it until the last scrap has been used.

L-R Alan, Jill, Liz with a very young daughter! & Trevor