School
workshops

A group visit to one or both of our mills is the ideal introduction to the industrial heritage of the Stroud valleys, but we can also arrange for our expert practitioners to visit your school or other suitable venue.

Stroudwater Textile Trust offers a range of facilitated workshops relating to the cloth industry. A workshop might extend learning following a mill visit or launch a programme of study in school. We can visit your school with a variety of activities and illustrated talks that cover many aspects of the topic and fully engage the children.

Prices for workshops are around £4 per pupil, depending on what materials are needed.

Risk Assessments are provided for all sessions. Please contact Jane Ford first to discuss options and to arrange a tailor-made programme of activities. Email education@stroudtextiletrust.org.uk.

Outreach activities offered

(All are approximately one hour but can be adjusted according to need)

Dyeing

Hands-on workshops on natural dyeing (plant-based dyes). This session includes an introduction to the plants traditionally used to dye cloth and uses common kitchen-cupboard ingredients to explore how dyes react to different fibres.

This is a STEM workshop, suitable for Years 5/6 and 7/8. Sessions are led by STT volunteers who are experienced teachers; all materials are provided.

Facilities required: access to a sink and water (for washing equipment and rinsing dyed materials); power sockets (hot water from a kettle is needed for dye mixes).

Please note that the dye workshop is currently supported by a grant, while funds last.

Felt making

A practical session, working with expert practitioners, which explores the two common methods of making felt. We also help students (via the wet-felting process) to make felt themselves. All materials are provided.

Spinning

Pupils learn how to transform fleece into yarn by various hand-spinning methods. Both spinning wheels and drop spindles are demonstrated by textiles craftspeople, with pupils handling the materials and experimenting with distaff spinning with help from our tutors.

Weaving

Pupils learn how to transform fleece into yarn by various hand-spinning methods. Both spinning wheels and drop spindles are demonstrated by textiles craftspeople, with pupils handling the materials and experimenting with distaff spinning with help from our tutors.

Victorian families at the mill

This is a collection of photographs, census and baptism records which create a picture of two families: the mill-owner’s family and the family of one of his workers.

Resource boxes

(Available for hire from Museum in the Park)

The Stroudwater Textile Trust has created three themed Object Handling Boxes for remote learning. These boxes support studies on ‘Local history: cloth-making’ alongside practical sessions organised by the Museum in the Park in collaboration with the Stroudwater Textile Trust.

The Object Handling Boxes, for use in the classroom to reinforce learning, cover:

  1. Sheep, shearing, wool and spinning
  2. Weaving and cloth dyeing
  3. Fulling, raising and napping

Boxes are available for hire (there is a charge) from Museum in the Park, Stroud and must be booked well in advance of the date needed. For full details, contact the Museum’s Learning Officer: museum@stroud.gov.uk or 01453 763394.

Talks

We can arrange illustrated talks on almost any aspect of cloth production, from the medieval to the present day, and can tailor the length as appropriate. The following talks have been prepared by the Trust’s historian, Ian Mackintosh, but if you have a specific curriculum-related topic in mind, feel free to ask.

Cathedrals of cloth. The life and times of Ebley Mill, from early beginnings to the present day.

400 years of Stroudwater textiles. A focus on the development of mills along the valleys, including details about the cloth-making process.

Parallel fortunes: Ham and Longfords. Working at the mills; their success and decline. 

The growth of Stroud. Follow the development of the town from its earliest records via a ‘tour’ along the main streets, beginning at St Laurence’s Church. 

Wool and the changing Cotswolds. The development of the cloth trade through the centuries, starting in the Middle Ages.

A primary class enjoys experimenting with colours at one of our school-based workshops.
Stroudwater Textile Trust Education