We were delighted to welcome social historian Lucy to our little Coventry museum recently.
Through Lucy’s Lens is a YouTube channel focussing on social history and especially the history of the working classes, including how people lived and worked. A perfect match for The Weaver’s House!
You can watch the video here:
Our May Open Day saw the launch of our new (old) tea room. Over the past few years we have been serving our homemade cakes from a gazebo outside to use this room for storage but we have moved back into the tea room inside for this year and beyond. It was a lot of work so thank you to our volunteers!
It also provided the chance to show off some of our newly acquired collection of traditional irons. These were kindly donated by the Vale of Evesham Historical Society who were dismantling their museum due to organisational changes. Thanks to Gerry Harte for facilitating.
It was a lovely sunny day so plenty of people took the opportunity to sit in the garden to enjoy the refreshments.
You can come and experience the cake for yourself on our next Open Day on Saturday June 6th. This is also the weekend of Motofest – in previous years people have enjoyed the opportunity to pop out from the city centre and along Spon Street to enjoy a contrast!
With the sunny days becoming more frequent, we took the opportunity to try out The Sherbourne Valley Project’s new River Ramble walks, exploring the Sherbourne river which runs right through the heart of the city (although mostly culverted underground in the city centre itself). It’s no coincidence that The Weaver’s House is close to the river as the proximity to water would have been a vital part of the textile trade.
The first trail we tried out was the Spon End History Trail which includes The Weaver’s House, and if you fancy trying this out on an Open Day, you can pick up a paper copy from us. Not to mention the opportunity for a look around the house and perhaps a pit stop for homemade cake!
This 1.8km route is a circular walk so you can begin at any one of the points on the trial, we began at the Spon End Bridge and followed the path along past the ruined Chapel. There are about 20 points of interest on the walk.
There are lots of interesting details pointed out as the trail heads past The Weaver’s House, under the ring road and into Spon Street until it reaches another one of Coventry’s treasures, St John’s Church (always worth a visit, check for opening times).
We followed the route which led back along Spon Street and under the ringroad, where it diverts to take in the old (resited) canal bridge, like the Weaver’s House, it is another piece of rescued history. I can say I had never noticed these marks before, their origin is revealed by the trail!
It’s definitely worth a pause in this area. It might not look like much but this area in redevelopment will soon be transformed beyond recognition.
We continued almost back to where we began, opposite the Old Dyer’s Arms. As it was such a lovely day we decided to enjoy another of the walks at Lake View. It’s about 1.2km to walk to Lake View through this pedestrian route which cuts through the allotments, if you want to do it on foot:
You will emerge close to the back of Morrisons (part of the Alvis Retail Park), head up along here to Four Pounds Ave, turn right to cross and then head past Morrisons to the traffic lights to cross the main road and come back to Lake View Road.
Then it’s time to start the ‘Stride with Pride’ walk at Lake View.
This walk takes you around some of the key points of interest at Lake View. The river runs all the way through this park. Grayswood Nature Reserve has been part of the site since the 1990s, when a large area of abandoned allotments was given over for this.
There’s lots to see around Lake View and we’ll definitely be heading back at different points of the year to look for more wildlife.
Our April Open Day kicked off the season on a Sunday – a bit of a change for us but an opportunity for people who can’t make it along to one of our usual Saturdays. Normal service will be resumed in May with the second Open Day of the year, on Saturday 9th May. Displays, tours and homemade refreshments abound!
In the meantime, our lovely garden is being prepared for the summer ahead. If you are interested in helping out in the garden, please see our Volunteers page for more info, we meet once a month during the growing season.
We couldn’t pass the opportunity to wish congratulations to the Sky Blues on promotion to the Premier League!
For the history of the colour blue and how it relates to textiles in Coventry, read more here.
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.
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).
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!
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.
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!
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.
