Last year when we hired a boat and sailed to Manchester and back we spent a day in Macclesfield where we were disappointed to find that the Silk Museum was closed due to covid. From the write ups it looked really good and I always fancied going back so today we took a slightly indirect route from home to Settle to pay it a visit. This diversion also aided my keeping the final destination secret from Gill for a little while longer.
The museum is great although it was made even better by our guide, a chap called Daniel, who was incredibly enthusiastic and knowledgable. If you just visited the museum but did not take the tour you would miss out on a treat.
The mill was still weaving silk in 1981 at which point it closed but all the machinery was left intact. The building was bought by a local man who owns a successful double glazing company, he realised the importance of the machines and left them in situ on the top floor (that’s where the weavers worked as it was well lit). The other floors are offices. Silk comes from silk worms, the thread is imported from the middle and far east, is washed, spun and dyed before coming to the mill. The weaving machines use punched cards to select the right thread combinations to create the pattens but the skills required to manage perhaps 4,000 threads without making a horrid tangle are considerable.
Daniel, the guide, has mastered the basics but is in awe of the one or two surviving weavers who did it for a living.
He demonstrated the whole process from design, creating the punched cards, preparing the silk to the weaving itself.
One war time product was escape maps printed on silk - Jake has one printed with a map of Afghanistan, they still issue them to air crew!
The museum had a visit from an ex weaver a couple of years ago, Clifford Brown who is now in his 90's, he now advises the museum. In 1951 Clifford completed his City & Guilds exam and in the mill he spotted the punched cards he created as his final practical work, pictured. They can still produce his patten from the cards.
A very enjoyable afternoon, I would recommend everyone to go there but make sure you book a tour, it was well worth the detour.