We loved taking part in this year’s May Day Festival, in Earlsdon, Coventry. A busy day which saw our volunteers offering Tudor Games Nine Men’s Morris and Shove Ha’penny for passers by to have a go.
Thanks to everyone who stopped by for a chat or a go on the games!
It was a super-busy week as a few days later we had our Open Day – we were lucky to have a nice sunny day and lots of happy visitors. Our next free Open Day is in June with special guests The Sherbourne String Quartet.
We are thrilled to announce our guests for an Open Day that promises to transport audiences through the rich tapestry of English music history. On Saturday June 7th we will be joined by The Sherbourne String Quartet who will feature a selection of pieces that span several centuries from the Tudor era until the present day.
Selections from the following:
• Henry VIII – “Passetyme with Gude Companye” – (1548)
• English Folk Song – “Ladye Greene Sleves” (1580)
• J Banister – ”Bourrées from A Sett of Ayres in Four Parts” (1691)
• H Purcell – Selections from “The Fairy-Queen” 1692), incidental music written to accompany Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” & “Abdelazer Suite” (1695)
• GF Handel – Selections from “Water Music Suite” (1717), pieces from the Thames pageant, “Rejouissance – Fireworks Music” (1749) and “Sarabande in D-minor” (1733)
• C Wesley Jnr – “String Quartet No. 2” excerpt (1778)
• Cotswold Morris Tune – “Sherborne Waltz”
• J Haydn – Op 76 (1797) “Minuet and Trio”
• J Sayer – “The Mysterious Rose” (2023) a new composition in waltz time.
This music will be a backdrop to your visit, with approximately 45-60 minutes of music played multiple times throughout the day. Visitors will be able to soak up the atmosphere at their leisure as they enjoy the surroundings of The Weaver’s House and garden which will be open as usual.
We look forward to sharing this musical journey with you. Our thanks to our special guests The Sherbourne String Quartet.
Visitors of all ages enjoyed our special spring time trail with hand painted animals to find.
Some were harder to find than others!
As usual, our fantastic volunteer team were on hand to show people around the site, demonstrate traditional skills and of course, serve our wonderful homemade cakes!
Open Days at The Weaver’s House are always free admission. Our next day is on Saturday 10th May.
The Weaver’s House is currently seeking volunteers to help with the upcoming season and beyond.
Tina, the Volunteer Coordinator, emphasises the importance of volunteers in the success of the project: “The energy and enthusiasm provided by our volunteer team enhances this project and are fundamental to everything that we achieve. Whether time is given as a Trustee, a gardener, a guide or in some other way it all adds to protecting, developing and sharing this wonderful historic site. There is something for everyone here.”
Volunteering can involve anything from giving tours to making tea and coffee or gardening and if you are interested, please get in touch with Tina volunteers@theweavershouse.org
The Weaver’s House reopens in April with our first open days on Saturday April 5th and Saturday May 10th, both 10am until 4pm with admission remaining free.
Come and join us – step back in time and experience the life of John Croke, a narrow-loom weaver, and his family as they lived and worked in the 1540s. The rescued and restored historic building features a full-size replica of a medieval loom in the upstairs ‘solar’ room, offering visitors a rare insight into the weaving practices of the era.
Wander through the working medieval garden, and discover plants used for food, flavouring, medicine, and household purposes. Our volunteers give talks about the daily life of a weaver in medieval times and the fascinating history of the building through time. Visitors may also have the chance to witness weaving and spinning demonstrations during their visit. And of course there are our famous home-made cakes!
For families, the Weaver’s House offers a springtime activity during the April Open Day: the Wildlife I-Spy Trail. Children can pick up a trail and see how many hand-painted wooden animals they can spot.
Our Open Days take place once a month. They are free entry and you can see the house and garden during your visit. We have volunteer-led tours and a pop-up refreshment stall with tea, coffee and homemade cakes. You can find us very close to Coventry city centre, on Upper Spon Street. This is just outside the ringroad, so you can reach us from the city via a subway at the end of Spon Street or a bridge at the end of Hill Street. More details on how to find us.
Saturday 5 April
Saturday 10 May
Saturday 7 June
Saturday 12 July
Saturday 2 August
Saturday 13 & Sunday14 September (Heritage Open Days)*
All run from 10am until 4pm. We would suggest arriving no later than 3.30pm.
We look forward to welcoming you to The Weaver’s House!
*Due to high visitor numbers we do not open the upstairs room containing the replica loom during Heritage Open Days, so if you would like to see this please visit during the regular Open Days, or you might consider booking a private group visit.
In 2015 we developed a small area at the back of our Tudor garden in order to plant some old varieties of apple tree, which you can read about here. Nine years later and the trees are looking good and have become established enough to produce quite a few apples this year. As it’s Halloween, perhaps we might try the traditional game of apple-bobbing!
Thanks to all our volunteers who maintain our lovely garden.
The Weaver’s House were delighted to attend the recent Heritage Conference organised by The Coventry Society. The day-long event which took place at the Priory Visitor centre building, included presentations on Coventry’s cycling heritage, St Mary’s Guildhall Tapestry, the Sherbourne and much more. Local groups such as Coventry Family History Society and Earlsdon Research Group provided insights on their specialist knowledge.
Great to see this lovely building being used, and so much vibrant enthusiasm for Coventry’s history!
Visitors during 2024 may have noticed the development work at the top of the garden which has meant some reduced space at times. This area has been developed to reflect its previous incarnation as a ‘Coventry Court’ (accommodation) by marking out the area in bricks.
We were delighted to have this work complete for Heritage Open Days to allow more space in the garden and we set up the refreshment gazebo in this area. Our next plans are to include some interpretation to explain the meaning of this new brick area. Here is a little peek at this area when it had just been completed. Can you guess what the small area of bricks and loose gravel represents?
Here’s how the area looked at the start of the project. We think you can agree that’s an improvement!
The Weaver’s House volunteers have had a busy month taking part in an off-site event at Fargo Village in the form of the River Festival 2024 and an on-site event with Heritage Open Days.
The River Festival included guided walks, theatre, music and more and The Weaver’s House were joined by The Weavers’ Workshop and the Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers, to represent the link to the River Sherbourne and the traditional textile industries.
The river itself runs very close to The Weaver’s House house itself and can be seen just a few minutes’ walk away where it flows under the Spon Bridge at the top of Upper Spon Street. Which brings us to the theme of Heritage Open Days which for 2024 was ‘Routes’, appropriate for the little house which stands on one of the most historic streets in Coventry, a route into the city for hundreds of years, even though it is now cut in two by the ring road. Heritage Open Days was the final public opening this year and saw a steady stream of visitors enjoying cake, history and some sunshine!
