The Great British Story - Spinning at Hall Place

On Saturday I took part in an event which was linked to the BBC series The Great British Story - A People's History. The series is about the everyday lives of ordinary people in Britain through history. 

To accompany the series there are events being held around the country to help people discover more about their past. The event I took part in was at Hall Place, a Tudor House in Bexley, Kent. I went with my friends Viv and Della - from Wye Community Farm, and Della's daughter Cat. We represented the Kent Guild of Spinners, Dyers and Weavers.  

It was an unusual brief. Normally we rock up with our wheels and things we have made and take the day as it comes. The usual 'script' is about the process of spinning wool. This time the brief was different. We were there to give people a peek into the past. Now I consider myself to be a 21st century spinner, I don't particularly spin to recreate history, I spin in the here and now. Could I manage to talk all day about the lives of women in the past? I really wasn't sure if I knew enough about the history of spinning. 

Then there was the matter of deciding what to take for display. As it was an event with a history focus I asked my fellow Guild members to loan items which would fit in with the historical theme - nothing mill spun, nothing chemically dyed, nothing modern in design. That limited our choice of display materials but on the day we could honestly say that everything was handspun and either undyed or dyed with historic natural dyes. 

Yarns naturally dyed by Guild members

 The display looked good and showed people what could be achieved with ancient techniques. Guild members even lent a replica great wheel and a genuine antique flax wheel - which fell apart at every opportunity. 

The Great Wheel

People were fascinated to see us spinning. One person was convinced spinning wheels today were 'only made for demonstration' and 'didn't really work'! No I did not spend the best part of £450 on a wheel just to look pretty. 

We met members of the Guild of One-Name Studies, they research surnames and had seen many occupations related to wool in the census returns but were not sure what those occupations would have involved. It was exciting swopping knowledge to gain a better picture of the lives of textile workers in the past.

Taking part in this event has made me think about those forgotten women across thousands of years who spun every inch of yarn the world needed. Now I feel inspired to find out more about the history of wool and handspinning. Do you know of any good books or websites?

The TV programme, presented by Michael Wood, airs on BBC2 on Fridays at 9:00pm. 

 Thanks to Cat Newman for the photographs.

An impromptu sheep dog demonstration

As a member of the Kent Guild of Spinners, Dyers and Weavers, I did a spinning demonstration for Kent Wildlife Trust at their Queendown Warren Nature Reserve yesterday.  It was a perfect day, lovely sunny weather, a beautiful setting and once we were set up, I was sat in a field under a gazebo spinning and watching the sheep.  What could be better?  

There were due to be a couple of sheep dog demonstrations during the day but the staff assured me the sheep would not be used for the demo as they aren’t used to being worked with a dog.  Instead the sheep dog would drive a few ducks around the obstacle course.  

Kent Wildlife Trust use Hebridean and Herdwick sheep for conservation grazing. 

 

The black sheep on the left with horns is a Hebridean ewe, the dark lamb on the right is a Herdwick

 

A Herdwick ewe

Conservation grazing is where a hardy primitive breed of sheep, cattle or ponies are used to manage a landscape.  In this case the Queendown Warren Reserve is chalk grassland.  The sheep’s job is munch any scrub which might try to grow.   Conservation grazing has its downside, the main concern being that the animals get enough food.  The primitive breeds used are well adapted to living on poor grazing but in their home environment they would probably range over a mountain or two whereas with conservation grazing the animals are often fenced into a relatively small area, limiting their food supply.  I was pleased to see these sheep had plenty of grass and were in good condition. 

Meet the sheep

The Herdwick lambs were pure bred but the Hebridean ewes had been put to a Southdown ram.  Yes, I know, I’m talking about Southdowns again.  I think the breed is stalking me.  Everywhere I turn I see a round woolly face looking at me!  The Hebridean cross Southdown lambs were lovely and chunky, most of them were white with brown faces and white head wool. 

 

Here is a pure Hebridean ewe with her Southdown cross lamb

The staff told me the Southdown nature has come through in the lambs.  Southdowns are notoriously difficult to move, some people describe them as docile, I’m not sure that’s the word I would use.  You can be jumping up and down waving your arms in the air and whooping and a Southdown will just stand there and look at you where a normal sheep would have had a panic attack and jumped out of the pen.  The staff told me when they are moving the sheep the Hebridean ewes run off but their crossbred lambs stay put so the ewes have to come back for their lambs.  When the Hebrideans had pure bred lambs the lambs would run with their mothers.  The ewes must be puzzled by their strange offspring.

Anyway, I was in full flow describing some detail of the spinning process when I heard an unusual amount of baaing.  I looked up and saw the sheep were charging up the hill shouting to each other.  Then I saw a group of excited Herdwicks my side of the fence.  No doubt all the baaing would translate as ‘Have you heard?  The gate’s open.  Let’s go next door girls!’  Sheep are flock animals, if one takes the lead the whole flock will follow.  I really didn’t fancy spending the rest of the day chasing semi wild sheep around Kent.

The sheep flocking up the Warren

Salvation came in the shape of the sheep dog demonstrator.  In the demonstration, the dog had moved a few ducks around a course with the trainer close by.  Now the dog shot off out of sight over the brow of the hill while the trainer stayed where he was, controlling the dog with a whistle.  He looked perfectly calm.  I wondered if the dog could actually do the job, moving a bunch of large stubborn ewes is very different from moving ducks.  Some sheep dogs are afraid of sheep.  They just aren’t assertive enough.  I’ve seen a single ewe chase a young sheep dog round and round a trailer.

However, after a few moments a tightly bunched group of Herdwicks appeared, heading in the right direction.  The dog was well back from the sheep and working beautifully.  ‘Let’s see if he can get them through the gate.’  I thought.  But the bunch of runaways trotted straight through the gateway and the dog came streaking back tail wagging to a round of applause.  An impressive impromptu demonstration.