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!
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.
After a chilly and wet spring it was fantastic to see the garden at The Weaver’s House bathed in sunshine for the May Open Day. The old phrase “Cast ne’er a clout ’til May is out” is generally interpreted as advice to keep warm clothes on until May is over*, but winter clouts had certainly been discarded (for now) as visitors enjoyed the calm of the garden on a glorious day.
It was a busy day with a steady stream of visitors, including a fair number of people on their second (or third!) visit.
“Always great. Always something new” “Well worth the visit again” “Lovely walk through history. Volunteers doing a great job”
Thanks to everyone who visited and all our volunteers. Our next Open Day is Saturday 8th June.
*For more suggestions on the origin and use of this phrase, visit PhraseFinder.
“Yet more history to absorb and appreciate. The UK’s valuing of their heritage is to be admired” “What a super little place – I’m a Coventrian and didn’t know this place was here”
Just two of the reviews from the Visitors’ Book after our first Open Day of 2024 at The Weaver’s House. After all of the rain that has fallen in recent weeks we were relieved to have a mild and dry day! The day ran smoothly thanks to our volunteer guides, gardeners and bakers. Interested in getting involved? It’s not just about giving talks or welcoming guests, we have plenty of ‘back-of-house’ roles available too. Take a look at our volunteers page for more info.
Ahead of the first Open Day the volunteers will be getting stuck into the garden after the winter. The first Gardening Day of the year is Saturday 30 March.
We are currently seeking more gardening volunteers to join in with looking after our Tudor-style garden. If you are interested, please do make contact with Tina, who leads the volunteer team, via volunteers @ theweavershouse.org * ahead of the day itself (as we need to know how many people will be on site.)
No experience and no references are required – just straightforward details and a chat beforehand. Gardening days run throughout the year but there is no expectation that volunteers will attend all of them.
*(Please note, you will need to delete the spaces from the email address to get it to work, we insert the spaces to reduce spam emails).
A blazingly hot weekend for the start of Heritage Open Days in Coventry saw a surprising number of visitors heading to The Weaver’s House and surprisingly, the hot drinks were as popular as ever! One of the times when the coolness of the old buildings are particularly welcome.
Spinning demonstrations were running in the garden in the shade and some younger visitors even had a go at this very traditional craft. When you go through the process to spin your own bit of wool you realise how long it must have taken to produce cloth.
Volunteers decamped to the beautiful surroundings of Drapers’ Hall for the final day of the Heritage festival, to take part in an exhibition of local groups. It was a great opportunity to see other organisations from across the city gathered together to acknowledge all that is achieved to preserve and celebrate Coventry’s history, culture and heritage. Thanks to Coventry Society who organised it, and to Drapers’ Hall for the stunning surroundings.
Open Days are now finished for this year and will restart in the springtime. In the meantime, group tours can be booked subject to availability of volunteers. Full details are at https://theweavershouse.org/group-visits-and-talks
We have exciting plans to develop the site, to tell more of the stories of the people who have lived here and enable us to deliver a better visitor experience. You can read more about these plans here.
We are very grateful to Heart of England Community Foundation for facilitating the funding to get this project underway.
Pictured at top: family members of the Golby, Miles, Gutteridge and O’Neil families, descendants of the former residents of houses 119, 120, 121 and 122.
Following our lively May Open Day, The Weaver’s House received some special guests to celebrate the launch of our updated and much expanded book The Families of Black Swan Terrace.
As the house closed to the public, we welcomed in a number of guests whose families who had previously lived in Black Swan Terrace; members of the Golby family, the Miles family, the Gutteridge family and the O’Neil family. Eric Golby and Dawn McCarroll (Miles family) had both previously visited the terrace and told us about their connections to house 119. Eric’s dad and grandparents had lived there, and a number of years later, Dawn’s grandad had lived in 119. Eric and Dawn, and Dawn’s sister Laura, were delighted to meet each other for the very first time.
Several members of the O’Neil family managed to join us, all descendants of Eliza O’Neil from house 122 (The Weaver’s House itself), and covering three generations. And it was also the first time of meeting each other for some of them!
The star guest of the day had to be Betty Ecles (nee Gutteridge) who came with her daughter Jane. Betty was actually born in house 121 in 1923, and will be turning 100 years old in July. Betty’s parents and brother had previously lived in 120, and her uncles, aunts and cousins lived in the Courts behind the terrace. Sharp as a tack, Betty was happy to share some of her memories of the terrace with the other guests.
Betty as a child, photographed at the Terrace
Clare gave a short talk about the research for the book, and about how her own family history research had started, leading to the discovery of the O’Neil family at the terrace. The history of each of the families was touched on, and how they would have interacted.
It was really quite a special moment, to have the descendants of four families of residents, all sitting together in the very building their relatives had once lived, worked, played and been a part of each others lives so many years ago, and is now another wonderful piece of the terrace’s history.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the booklet. It is available from The Weaver’s House on our open days for £3.50. A bargain!
