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January visitors at The Weaver’s House

January is a quiet time at The Weaver’s House – our Open Day season is still several months away and the garden is for the most part effectively dormant.

We were delighted to welcome a group of learners from the WEA (Workers Education Association) recently for a tour of the house. The small group was greeted by volunteers Adrian and Tina who provided mugs of vegetable soup as it was a particularly chilly day. Not a million miles from the potage that medieval residents of the house would have eaten…

Tina leading the tour in the Weaver’s House

The group comprised people from across the globe so there was an opportunity to compare historical life in different countries with the medieval life represented in the house.

The group were able to examine replica objects in the house as well as features from the house’s original construction.

Adrian demonstrating the replica loom

Although the day was cold, it followed some unseasonably mild weather so we had an additional and unexpected visitor to the garden in the form of a very early flowering Feverfew.

Feverfew in the garden

It won’t be long before the garden comes well and truly back to life and the gardening volunteers’ work will begin again. The apple trees planted the previous October have weathered the winter despite some extremely wet and windy days.

Find out how to organise a tour for your group.

January 24, 2016
Restoring Coventry: Local heritage restored

Another piece of Coventry history has been revived. The carefully restored Earlsdon Drinking Fountain was officially opened in October last year after rusting away for the previous forty years.

It was originally sited on Spon Street by St John’s Church in the nineteenth century so it is highly probable that former residents of Black Swan Terrace would have drunk from it.

The fountain is located on Earlsdon Avenue South close to the War Memorial Park. The water supply may be turned off during the winter for preservation reasons, so bear this in mind if you wish to try it.

January 20, 2016
Weaving toys past and present

Although it always seems as if some of the ancient skills are on the brink of being consigned to history, they do have a way of reinventing themselves. The recent Loom Band craze which peaked in 2014 and the Cra-Z-Knit are two of the latest iterations of the loom which you can currently buy.

Loom Bands were massively popular among both girls and boys however most marketing for modern loom toys is targeted almost exclusively at girls. What would our John Croke have made of this idea?

The Spear’s toy loom pictured here was made from the 1950s through to at least the 80s. Did you have one? Leave a comment below if you recall playing with a loom or other weaving toy.

Photo credit: Empire Antiques/Etsy

January 13, 2016
Guest blog: Visit to the battlefields of WW1

Clare Chamberlain shares her personal account of a visit to a site with a family connection to The Weaver’s House. (more…)

January 7, 2016
Other Places from the Past: Blakesley Hall

Volunteers at The Weaver’s House enjoy visiting other interesting places. In this guest post, volunteer Tina shares her visit to Blakesley Hall, a historical counterpoint to The Weaver’s House.

Blakesley Hall is part of the Birmingham museums and art galleries. Like The Weavers House it has Grade II* listing and is well worth the trip to Yardley to compare the lifestyle of a wealthier Tudor family with the Crokes of Upper Spon Street.
It was built in 1590 and is one of Birmingham’s oldest buildings. It also has a large garden. The house has a timber frame construction and many interesting features. The kitchen is full of fascinating equipment and contains an intriguing mouse trap – unless you happen to be a mouse! Due to the status of the owners it has many more rooms than in our little house and all reveal clues to a bygone lifestyle.

The “painted chamber” is a remarkable survivor from when the house was built and the gallery has a fabulous wonky floor. The site was open for a special Tudor weekend with all sorts of entertainments in the garden when I visited but would be good on any day. There is plenty of parking and a tea room.

Find out more.

Photo credit: Birmingham Museums.

January 4, 2016
Apple Trees are the fruit of volunteers’ labour

The Gardening group met on 31 October to plant some new additions to the garden – four apple trees. The apple trees are all English heritage varieties, at least one of which pre-dates the existence of the Weaver’s House itself:

Old Pearmain, which is the earliest recorded English apple, existing before 1200AD.
Wyken Pippen, which has been selected for its Coventry connection. It is thought that Lord Craven took a pip from an apple brought back from Holland or France and then planted it at Wyken.
Leathercoat Russet, this apple was once widely grown in Britain, and is referred to by Shakespeare in Henry IV.
English Codlin, a cooking apple which as its name suggests requires only gentle ‘coddling’ to soften.

The planting of these trees was the culmination of months of research and hard work led by gardening volunteer Margaret. It took place on a beautiful autumn morning, unseasonably warm and sunny for Halloween. There was a concern that the planting had hit a literal stumbling block with the discovery of a hefty piece of wood buried right along the bed earmarked for the trees. However this was quickly excavated and the trees were planted starting with the newest variety, Wyken Pippin and completed with Old Pearmain.

The fruit trees were supplied by Bernwode Fruit Trees.

Digging over the bed.

Sylvia plants the Wyken Pippen.

November 25, 2015