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 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.
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!
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!
Join in with this year’s River Festival which will include guided walks, theatre, music and more. The Weaver’s House will be joining in the fun on Sunday, to represent the link to the River Sherbourne and the traditional textile industries.
The river itself runs very close to the house itself and can be seen just a few minutes walk away where it flows under the Spon Bridge.
Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond our control, the planned performance by the Sherbourne String Quartet will not go ahead next Saturday. We look forward to welcoming the group to one of our Open Days in 2025, and are sorry for any disappointment.
The rest of the Open Day will take place as usual with tours and refreshments. The last Open Day this year to visit the upper room containing the loom, as this room will not be open for Heritage Open Days.
The next Open Day is Saturday 10th August (10am – 4pm) when the Sherbourne String Quartet will be playing a selection of medieval and baroque music at various points throughout the day. The group’s performance will be alternated with Weaver’s House trustee Jennifer Waters playing music of the period on the recorder. This will be the final chance this year to see the ‘solar’ the upstairs part of the house containing the replica loom.
UPDATE: 3 August – the musical element of this Open Day has been postponed.
Our July Open Day saw an exciting new venture for us, for the first time ever we used the upper floor in the Visitor Centre for a temporary display of items, as Scott Duffin showcased his Coventry Collection. We have previously used the ground floor area, the garden and the Weaver’s House itself for various exhibitions including Spon Spun Arts & Heritage Trail, these wonderful patchworks, and art exhibits from Coventry Biennial. However this was the first time we had used the space which was previously our office, which was transformed into a mini-museum.
The display included a loan of items from shoe shop Charles Ager (pictured below) alongside Scott’s personal collection of Coventry-related objects such as bottles made in the city and unique pieces such as mouldings from Edgewick Swimming Pool.
And what a fantastic exhibition it was! Here are a few photographs.
Of special interest for us was this sign from a Coventry Court.
Not just any Coventry Court. This was the sign that belonged to the Court behind The Weaver’s House. It felt like it had used a homing instinct to make its way back!
We were also delighted that Scott was able to bring an archive collection from Charles Ager, the footwear retailer, and a Coventry business since 1840. Their shop is located about ten minutes from The Weaver’s House, on Corporation Street.
We had an extremely busy Open Day, the sun shone, and although we had some reduction in space in the garden due to our building works, we were still able to offer our homemade cakes thanks to a careful re-siting of the refreshments. We were delighted to be join by the Sketch Coventry group. You can see some of the artwork here.
A huge thank you to all involved for making this memorable day happen!
We are looking for a cleaner for a few hours a week:
If you are interested, please contact the trust via info @theweavershouse.org (please delete the space before the @ when emailing, we avoid using the full email address as we end up with spam.)