Education

Although we have put as much information as possible on the web site, we are often asked where people can find out more about wool, spinning, the textile industry and its history.

Going to the Spinning services section and clicking on Process will tell more about how we produce yarn, and the Meet the animals page has information on some of the 60 or so breeds of sheep in the UK.

The links section has some other useful leads. We particularly recommend visiting the web sites of the British Wool Marketing Board, Wikipedia, which has plenty of pages devoted to wool, natural fibre and textiles, the National Sheep Association which will give you a good overview of different sheep breeds, and the Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers who sometimes visit schools and show children how to spin and weave.

Look at YouTube. This link is about how to knit, but you can also be shown how to crochet and new items are being added daily.

Museums

These are scattered round the country, but are obviously in places where the wool industry used to be significant, but has now declined. Trowbridge Museum has a lot of information on its web site and we would particularly recommend the Bradford Industrial Museum pictured below.

Spartacus has some excellent material and can help with research into child labour or, more broadly, the Industrial Revolution. The following may also prove useful: Bath Fashion Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, which has a wonderful collection of textiles and fashion, the Fashion and Textile Museum also in London (this was inspired by the 1960s fashion icon Zandra Rhodes) and the Helmshore Textile Museum which as it is in Lancashire features cotton rather than wool.