wool museum...

...took a day trip to the national wool museum in the lovely small town of dre-fach felindre having once been in the heart of the wool industry of south west wales

on display were beautiful woven cloth
all weaved on traditional machinery circa 1880-1935
and all still in perfect working order

this is a finishing machine, filled with teasels to brush the nap of  wool cloth to make a fluffy soft feel, used for blankets 

a traditional spinning wheel needing one person to produce one ball of wool...

...to a spinning wheel that produced 400 balls of wool per 3 people to operate

we learned how the industrial revolution changed the lives of the community who had come to rely on the 24 mills in the town for their livelihoods

 and how the need for cheaper production lead to the decline of the industry altogether in the mid 20th century.

happily the mill is in business again as melin teifi and they produce wonderful traditional style wool cloth once again

all be it on a much smaller scale

i had a fabulous day gathering lots of info

and inspriration about the amazing natural fibre

that is

wool

xxx

look for wool products that are produced in UK and help our wool industry

join the campaign for wool