As part of Tetbury Wool Festival, Richard Martin of Cotswold Woollen Weavers will take you through the various aspects of sheep, wool, and weaving in The Cotswolds from the perspective of someone who cares for history and has made a lifetime’s living from wool.
As Richard says: “They used to say ‘Half the wealth of England rides on the back of a sheep.’ So does mine!”
Richard Martin has lived in the West Oxfordshire Cotswolds for 40 years and has been weaving woollen cloth for nearly 50.
He came to textiles in a roundaboutish way. He read Chemical Engineering and then Medieval and Modern History at UCL, followed by a few years teaching science and Latin in a prep school. But he has been involved in woollen textile making ever since.
He began by reviving a derelict Cardiganshire mill in 1976. Six years later, he moved to West Oxfordshire and established Cotswold Woollen Weavers, later re-opening the Blanket Hall in Witney to the public in 2015.
In the ‘90s, against the grain of gentle decline in the industry, he started a new woollen weaving factory in West Yorkshire!
Richard also has a very small stone banker masonry business in Filkins, and is very pleased to straddle wool and limestone – the two great materials that between them made the Cotswolds.
Event details
Licensed bar. Doors open at 7pm. Talk starts at 7:30pm.
Please note that on the door on the night tickets will cost £9.50 and £7.50 respectively
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Main photo credit: Roman Odintsov on Pexels