Blanket coverage

It was great to hear that plans have been submitted to turn Witney’s Grade II* listed Blanket Hall into a museum to showcase the town’s almost forgotten blanket-making heritage

Richard Martin, managing director of Cotswolds Woollen Weavers at Filkins, is leading the project. He said: “We want to explain what blankets meant to Witney. This is the first time members of the public would be able to come back into Blanket Hall for almost 40 years. The museum will give visitors the chance to reproduce some of the blankets that were made in Witney, such as the ones used by every sailor in Nelson’s Navy and blankets used by cowboys.”

The Blanket Hall, in High Street, was built in 1721. It was once the meeting place of the local weavers’ guild and, in the past saw many lively gatherings. A restored Blanket Hall could perhaps act as a hub for local spinners and weavers - and provide a home for the last remaining handloom used at Early’s, currently at the nearby Cogges Farm Museum.

In its heyday, Charles Early’s Witney blanket industry employed more than 3,000 people, and its blankets were recognised as the finest in England. The establishment of an overseas trade in the 18th century was a further boost to the industry, especially when the Hudson’s Bay Trading Company in North America began placing regular orders.

The Early family in Witney dates back to the late 17th century and there were several branches of the family running different businesses in and around the town, often as serious rivals. Charles Early rationalised these various operations, and by the end of the 19th century he had amalgamated all the Early firms into a single business.

Charle Early’s main rival was William Smith & Co, whose founder had, ironically, learned his skills from Edward Early in the 1820s. Smith was an orphan who was born in Witney and raised by his grandfather, Henry, a master tucker in the blanket industry.

The young William’s first job (he started work aged just eight) was as a bobbin winder, but it was not long before his potential was spotted by Edward Early, who offered him a job as an errand boy for the princely sum of four shillings a week. Before long he was in charge of the weighing and packaging of blankets.

Over the next few years Smith experimented in other trades, running first a mop-making business and then a brewery. Both businesses were successful, but by the 1850s he had sold off his assets from the brewery and returned to the blanket trade.

His firm was based at Bridge Street Mill, and was the first to use the steam engine in the manufacture of blankets. His business was particularly prosperous during the late 19th century, when he had regular orders from the Government to supply mops and blankets to the Royal Navy.

The 20th century saw the beginning of the blanket industry’s long decline, hastened to an untimely end by the growing popularity of the duvet, increased use of central heating and the closure of the railway in Witney in 1970. William Smith & Son underwent several mergers and takeovers from the 1920s onwards, but closed in 1975.

After the hall closed, it was used as a brewery, an office of birth, marriages and death and a mineral water business. It was converted into a house in 1976 and was the home of Brian Crawford, former managing director of Witney blanket makers Early’s, until his death in August 2011. In his will, Mr Crawford said he wanted to see Blanket Hall reconnected with the blanket industry.

After Mr Crawford’s death, the house was given to the Bartlett Taylor Trust, based in Church Green, Witney. The trust hopes to lease the hall to a new company called the Witney Blanket Hall Company, headed by Mr Martin. If planning permission is granted, it is hoped the museum will open next Easter.

A restored Blanket Hall may not bring a return to the wonderful sight of Witney blankets hanging on drying frames alongside the Windrush (pictured above) — but it would be fantastic to see spinning and weaving, an industry that shaped the local economy for hundreds of years return to this bustling Oxfordshire market town.

In the meantime, you could enjoy a ramble around the town’s Wool and Blanket trail, which takes in buildings associated with the wool business, including the Blanket Hall. Pick up a leaflet from the Visitor Information Centre in Welch Way, call 01993 775802 or e-mail witney.vic@westoxon.gov.uk