Our Open Days for this year are:
Sunday 12th April
Saturdays on 9th May, 6th June, 11th July, 8th August.
The July event will feature a textile display and Coventry Woodcarvers.
Heritage Open Days** Sat 12th and Sun 13th September.
Tag: heritage
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The Weaver’s House Open Days 2026
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We are looking for new trustees to join us!
The Weaver’s House is seeking committed Trustees to help guide the future of this unique medieval heritage site, run entirely by volunteers.
As a Trustee, you’ll support the preservation of the site including the other buildings in Black Swan Terrace, strengthen community engagement, and help shape our goals. We’re looking for someone who brings enthusiasm, good judgement, and a willingness to work collaboratively. We currently open the site to the public for 7 days per year and meet as trustees quarterly, so it is not an onerous role.
Experience in finance, legal, fundraising, maintenance or residential/commercial lettings are particularly welcome but not essential. If you’re passionate about local history and want to make a meaningful impact, we’d love to hear from you.
If you are interested please contact Jess via publicityandmedia @theweavershouse.org
(delete space when emailing, this has been removed to avoid spam).
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Coventry Society’s 5th Annual Heritage Conference
We attended this event which took place at The Herbert Art Gallery in October. An inspiring day, we heard updates from Ian Harrabin of Historic Coventry Trust, Marcus Lynch on Coventry Heritage Strategy and Charlotte Booth, Strategic Programme Manager who revealed some of the plans for the former IKEA building.
Coventry City Council has picked up the building to turn it into a lively cultural hub, teaming up with the Arts Council, British Council, and Culture Coventry Trust. Coventry University will have the top two floors, while the lower levels are getting a makeover for cultural and commercial spaces. Construction should finish in 2026, with doors opening in 2027. Thanks to £5 million in “levelling up” funding, this project is set to bring some fantastic cultural perks to the community which is very close to our location, so extra exciting!
The rest of the day featured updates including Coventry Archives, Irish Coventry Heritage and Kenilworth Road Trees Project amongst others.
Exciting times for the city’s heritage!
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Wordcraft and Woodcraft
During our August Open Day we were delighted to host special guests author Sarah Thornton and Coventry Woodcarvers. We were also visited by the Lord Mayor Cllr Rachel Lancaster and her daughter daughter Meridith in the role of Lord Mayor’s Consort, which made the day even more special.
The Lord Mayor delivered a generous speech of appreciation for our wonderful volunteer Gill Yardley for her years of service to the city. A dedicated volunteer (to various other organisations in addition to The Weaver’s House) Gill is stepping away from volunteering duties, as we come to the end of our open day season. Both Gill and her famous cakes will be much missed on Open Days. The Lord Mayor spent time looking around the site and also met our guest author Sarah Thornton, coincidentally they both have family connections to the silk weaving industry.
Sarah Thornton kindly gave a special talk just for us; Steam, Strife, and Survival: The Coventry Weavers’ Riot of 1831.
Sarah’s great great great grandfather was silk weaver, Thomas Burbury, accused of being the ringleader in the great riot of 1831. Thomas lived in Spon End about half a mile from where the riot took place, somewhere close to where The Weaver’s House stands. Sarah’s gripping talk shone a light on this less-known chapter of Coventry’s history.
The woodcarvers and some of their incredible creations.
We welcomed visitors from Australia, Portugal, Hong Kong, Italy, the USA and Greece.
Our final Open Days are part of the Heritage Open Day 2025 festival on Saturday 13 & Sunday 14 September. The full details for all Coventry venues taking part can be found here.
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Medieval tunes in June
The Weaver’s House hosted special guests for an Open Day that whisked audiences back in time via English music history. The Sherbourne String Quartet featured a selection of pieces that spanned several centuries from the Tudor era until the present day. This music was a backdrop to the usual Open Day activities, with the opportunity for people to sit and listen inside, or hear the music as they enjoyed the garden.
The next Open Day is on Saturday 12th July when Coventry Woodcarvers will be on site to show off their skills. As usual admission is free, and the site will be open from 10am until 4pm. Following that the house will be open for only three more days this year!
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We joined in at the Earlsdon Festival
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.
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2025 Weaver’s House Open Days
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.
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Coventry Heritage Conference 2024
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!
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A busy September rounds off 2024’s Open Days
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!
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Walk across the West Midlands
Walk Midlands creator Josh Allen is currently writing a book about walking across the West Midlands county, from Binley Woods on the eastern edge of Coventry, to Moseley Old Hall on the north western fringe of Wolverhampton. Along the way, he is spending time discovering some of the region’s people, places, and projects and this includes our Chairperson and Volunteer Co-ordinator Tina, who was interviewed by Josh at The Weaver’s House recently. You can read more about the project here and catch a taster of the book at this event in Birmingham on 20th June.
