Discovery
walks

Walking the textile landscape

Stroud’s textile heritage is all around us if we can only learn how to recognise it. Guided walks can teach us what to look out for and are a wonderful way to appreciate the area – both landscapes and townscapes – to see what has changed (and by how much) and what remains as it was 500 years ago.

We have an excellent collection of published maps around Stroud and Nailsworth, as well as three linear walks from Stroud (to Chalford, Nailsworth and Stonehouse). Details are given below, and these maps are a good starting point for individuals or groups. Teachers can use them to organise independent, ‘self-led’ walks, but we may be able to provide volunteer guides to help school parties on their trail of discovery. Please contact us at education@stroudtextiletrust.org.uk.

The Trust publishes two walks around Nailsworth and three walks around Stroud as described below. To purchase via our online shop, click on the links in the description.

Nailsworth Mills 1: Streams of Cloth

A walk around the town and up the Horsley Brook. Pinpointing a succession of mills, it provides a background to the growth of the local woollen cloth industry and the town. (£2)

Nailsworth Mills 2: Weavers’ Yarns

This is a walk out of town and into the Shortwood valley. It uses mainly well-trodden footpaths and passes sites of mills and chapels, and quarries that provided stone for the rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament. (£2)

Stroud Town 1: Step into the Picture

This walk invites you to cover the ground depicted in the ‘Wallbridge’ painting (c. 1790) at the Museum in the Park and takes you into the hamlet of late 18th-century Wallbridge with its mills and fields. (£2)

Stroud Town 2: The Upp End of Stroud

A gentle walk through historic streets at the top end of Stroud which developed in the late 1600s. (£6; including a detailed, large-scale fold-out map)

Stroud Town 3: Royal Stroud

This is an easy walk from the centre of town along the restored canal to the Museum, pointing out connections to visits by royalty in the past. (£2)

We can also offer a guided tour within part of Ebley Mill, together with a study of the building from the outside. This is also suitable for school groups in Years 4, 5/6 and 7 and for whom we also provide a ‘trail sheet’..

Linear Mill Walks

Our three linear mill walks can be downloaded via the Visits and Events tab (choose Mill Walks from the drop-down). These beautiful hand-drawn, off-road routes guide you along two- or three-mile walks drawing attention to mill sites along the way. They print on an A4-sized page, enabling students to tick off each mill as it is passed.