Fifteen years ago today The Weaver’s House was looking rather different (although it was well on the way to restoration). Here’s some photos from then and now.
Some more photos of the garden site before we added all the beds and the wooden shelter at the top of the garden, and the view in 2022.
Below, the garden as it appears today.
If you would like to come and see the transformed site for yourself, we have regular Open Days.
Anyone who has been following our updates for a while may recall that a number of years ago we featured the planting of some heritage variety apple trees at the site. This October 31st marks five years since the trees went in!
The apple trees are all English heritage varieties, at least one of which pre-dates the existence of the Weaver’s House itself:
Old Pearmain, the earliest recorded English apple, existing before 1200AD.
Wyken Pippen, which has a Coventry connection. It is thought that Lord Craven took a pip from an apple brought back from Holland or France and planted it at Wyken.
Leathercoat Russet, this apple was once widely grown and referred to by Shakespeare in Henry IV.
English Codlin, a cooking apple which as its name suggests requires only gentle ‘coddling’ to soften.
And since the original trees went in, we have added Lemon Pippin, a very old apple, thought to be English or Norman, in existence before 1685. It is an oval fruit, with lemon yellow skin and flesh often covering the stalk, giving it the same shape as a lemon. It has crisp, sweet flesh with a slight tang. It was dried as well as being cooked.
Apples trees take a few years to produce anything much of a crop, so it was exciting to see a good amount of fruit on the trees in early October. However – a mere few days later, all the apples were gone, and the single chomped fruit pictured was the only sign that there had been any at all!
Perhaps some New Year wassailing will bring everyone better fortunes in 2021.
“Gardening is a way of showing that you believe in tomorrow.” Anon
A strange year indeed, which has seen us open precisely zero times.
However, the garden does not know this and it has required the usual amount of work to keep it in order. It ran rather wild with all the sun and rain but thanks to volunteers including Tina and Kevin, it’s now looking in good shape.
Huge thanks to our volunteers for getting stuck in and doing a lot of hard work to get the garden sorted.
In this post Sara of the Weavers’ Workshop takes us through the process of rewarping our reproduction loom, a mammoth task!
The replica medieval floor loom is at last warped up following several wintry sessions in the freezing upstairs ‘solar’ of The Weaver’s House. We had no heating, but thankfully we had the benefit of electric lighting, so we cannot really claim to be replicating the task that faced John Croke in 1540, who would have only had a rush light with which to see by.
The warping up process was managed over several cold, lengthy sessions thanks to the technical expertise of Ian McClusky from the Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers and support from The Weavers’ Workshop (Margaret Annetts, Heidi Campbell and me). The Weaver’s House trustee, Peterson, assisted to get the technical elements of the loom working – so the shafts and foot pedals synchronised to create a workable ‘shed’ through which to pass the boat shuttle.
The loom is a faithful reproduction of the type of narrow floor loom used in medieval times to produce undyed cloth for the artisan workers in the area. It is hoped to demonstrate the weaving process as it would have been done at that time using a boat shuttle, but there is still work to do to find a suitable shuttle and master the technique. While weaving cloth seems straightforward enough in principle, setting up the loom and achieving a rhythmic approach to the weaving process requires great skill and it is amazing in these days of advanced technology, how the craftsmen of old achieved great things with what we regard now as relatively simple equipment.
You can see a full picture of the loom in the gallery.
If you are interested in traditional weaving, you may be interested in our post on weaving in Mexico, on a very similar loom.
Well, almost! It’s now August, and that’s Heritage Open Days Eve in our book!
We’ll be open for both weekends of the national festival, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Do you remember the early days of the festival, and the first venues you visited?
You can visit us on:
Saturday 14 September (on this day, we’ll also host the Arts Trail, see details if you are visiting)
Sunday 15 September
Saturday 21 September
Sunday 22 September
All opening times are 10am until 4pm, recommended last entry time 3.30pm. Admission is free!
Tea, coffee and homemade cakes are served on Open Days.
Find out how a Coventry narrow-loom weaver and his family would have lived and worked in the 1540s. Discover the history of this medieval building and how it was rescued from demolition by a group of local residents. Explore the working medieval garden showing the plants that would have been grown for food, flavouring, medicine and household use.
Please note there is no entry to the solar, the room containing the loom on Heritage Open Days. If you miss our August Open Day and therefore the last chance to see the loom, you could always book onto a private group tour.
“The rain it raineth every day”.
Oh and hasn’t it just? June has had a distinctly autumnal feel so far, although on the upside, the garden is looking fantastic! Medieval buildings are often pleasantly cool during the summer months but it certainly can be chilly when it’s cold.
We were therefore surprised, and pleased, to see so many visitors considering how dire the weather had been all week. Looking at the forecast we had resigned ourselves to the fact that we might just be on our own huddled around a vat of pease pottage in an effort to keep warm.
Speaking of the pottage, it went down incredibly well with most tasters saying that they enjoyed it… or that it wasn’t as bad as they had feared it would be! One visitor enjoyed it so much that, after several samples, he claimed to be off home to make some. If you were that visitor, we’d love to hear how it turned out!
We served the pease pottage on a traditional medieval trencher – basically a plate made of bread – in rather non medieval style mini-trenchers. Perhaps it will catch on and pease pottage vol-au-vents will be sweeping the nation by Christmas.
Of course, our usual delicious homemade cakes were available in the tea room for anyone who was not enamoured of the idea of pottage!
We also had an insight into the fascinating rules of Tudor table manners. Our volunteers set this up as a game, a taste of which is below.
A few comments from the visitors book illustrate the enthusiasm with which the day was received:
“So interesting and inspiring. Wonderful volunteers, wonderful cake!”
“Very well done especially the pease pudding and the strawberry chocolate
cake. An unexpected gem.”
“Very interesting. Have wondered about these buildings for years. Great to
hear some fascinating facts.”
It was very heartening to see that the rain did not stop play with other great events across Coventry, including a Wellbeing event at the Herbert, including the Weavers’ Workshop, and Positive Images Festival. Heritage and culture fans seems to be a hardy bunch!
Our next Open Day is in July when we’ll have all the usual tours and refreshments, and we’ll have some added archaeological interest thanks to CADAS (Coventry and District Archaeological Society). Do join us on Sunday 21 July from 11am until 4pm.
What did people eat in medieval times? Our upcoming Open Day on Saturday 15 June will include delving into the delicacies of the Tudor table. Delicious or disgusting? It’s time to find out!
We’ll also have our usual tours of the house, and the garden will be looking lovely. As ever, our fantastic volunteers will have been baking and there will be some homemade cakes to savour – these definitely fall into the delicious category.
So do pop along and find out what a trencher is, and all about pease pudding, made famous by the nursery rhyme.
We’ll be open from 11am until 4pm and admission is free.
Please note there are no spinning demonstrations this time, the spinners will return in August!
On Sunday 5 May The Weaver’s House came alive as special guests and visitors filled the house and garden. Locally based reenactor group Coventry Militia brought expertise, costumes and weaponry for an authentic historical experience.
Visitors were able to find out about many aspects of medieval life and specific information about the role Coventry played during this period. Plus, there was of course the chance to see some exciting medieval action! And though we may say it ourselves, it was a lot easier to see what was going on than in the Battle of Winterfell.
Our knowledgeable volunteers were kept busy with a stream of visitors enjoying the regular tours of the house, we squeezed in as many people as possible.
The day prompted some fantastic reviews:
“A very informative couple of hours, very interesting talk with the wool spinning ladies and our guide around the Weaver’s cottage was brilliant.”
“Excellent guides really bring the place to life. A hidden gem.”
All in all, the day was a huge success with over 180 visitors enjoying history, reenaction and of course our homemade cakes. We’re very much hoping to invite Coventry Militia back for a future event.
In the meantime, our next Open Day is on Saturday 15 June, when the focus will be on Medieval Meals. As usual, admission will be free, and we’ll be open from 11am until 4pm, with refreshments available.
Our next Open Day is Sunday 5 May. Usually our Open Days take place on a Saturday, so don’t miss the chance for a Sunday visit if that suits you better!
Special guest reenactor group Coventry Militia will bring history to life on site, demonstrating arms and armour of the War of the Roses.
There will also be some late medieval tabletop games to try, and as this was the period when the royal court was held in Coventry, visitors can find out about the importance of the city during this period.
The event is free to visit and runs from 11am until 4pm.
Refreshments will be available.
Image: Coventry Militia in action at a previous event.
Thursday 7 March 2019 is World Book Day, and to celebrate we at The Weaver’s House have had a think about a few of our favourite medieval themed books:
Gatty’s Tale by Kevin Crossley-Holland
This book is a follow up to the award-winning Arthur trilogy (which are also fantastic books!) aimed at readers about 10 and up. What is really striking about Gatty’s Tale is the depiction of everyday medieval life in all its joy and hardships, as well as being a gripping tale.
The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
This one isn’t set in medieval times, it’s actually set in mid 20th century, concerning the efforts of a convalescing detective to solve the mystery of the Princes in the Tower. A compelling and thrilling read!
How to be a Tudor by Ruth Goodman
This sets out to be a dawn-to-dusk guide to how ordinary people lived, which is a perfect match for The Weaver’s House. We loved the fact that Ruth lived as a Tudor, it’s an inspirational read for anyone interested in this period.
We’d love to hear about your favourite historical books and would be interested in your recommendations!