Witney Wool Trail.Indd

Witney Wool & Blanket Trail www.witneyblanketstory.org.uk On 19th July 2002 the Key: Woollen Trail looms fell silent for the Crossing requiring extra caution last time and the woollen Visitor Information Centre industry in Witney was P Parking WC Public conveniences consigned to history. 1 Market Place 2 Church Green The industry had lasted almost 3 Bishop’s Palace & Mount House a thousand years, dominating 4 Holloway’s Almshouses the economic and social life of 5 St Mary’s Church, Witney the town. For centuries Witney 6 The Buttercross was famous all over the world 7 Windrush for woollen cloth in general 8 St Mary’s Church, Cogges and good quality blankets in 9 Cogges Manor Farm 10 Langel Common particular, a product in which 11 Newland House the town began to specialise in 12 Townsend’s Almshouses the 17th century. The blanket 13 Old Farmhouse industry successfully survived 14 Woodgreen Blanket Factory many of the great changes of 15 Woodlands history – industrialisation, the 16 Woodgreen House introductions of steam and of 17 Springfield electricity - but in the early 18 Weavers Cottage 1970s finally met what was to 19 Bluecoat School prove its nemesis: the humble 20 Jolly Tucker duvet! 21 The Staple Hall Inn 22 The Captain’s Mill Unsurprisingly, such a long and 23 West End Blanket Factory illustrious history has left its 24 Upper Windrush marks… 25 Witney Mill 26 Cape Terrace 27 Witney & District Museum 28 Bridge Street Mill 29 The Blanket Hall 30 Methodist Church © Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. West Oxfordshire District Oxfordshire Council LA 100024316 2006 West All rights reserved. Copyright. © Crown 31 Corn Exchange Cr aw le y Ro N ad d a o R tt a Y w 17 e 16 W N es t En ll d i B4 H 0 en 22 22 e 18 gr 23 od ew o M W rs e 19 15 24 ill 14 M 20 13 25 12 d Road t Burfor ee tr S ge d 21 ri B e n a N L M e k ill S w c tree 11 la u t 28 nd P W N B 26 4 o e 0 o w 2 d la 2 n fo d r G d louce M ster W Pla i ce 29 ll a y 27 P WC Welc h Way 10 30 y P a W n High Street a t i e W Lan rch 1 hu 7 C P R WC iv e Co 31 r r n Street W 8 9 in angdale Gate d L ru s 6 h 2 Farm Mi 3 ll Lane 4 5 Trail Information Length Starting from the Market Place in the centre of Witney, the trail is a circular walk some 2¾ miles (4½ kms) long. The basic walk, looking only at the exterior of the buildings, should take approximately 1½ hours. A number of the buildings are open to the public, some requiring an admission fee, and visits to these will lengthen the time needed for the trail considerably. Accessibility The whole of the trail is tarmaced with one short exception, where for 50 yards the path follows an unsurfaced track with a fairly compact and even surface. Most of the trail is level with two short but sharp inclines on the sections up to and down from Woodgreen (references 12-13 and 18-20). There are three kissing gates on Langel Common* (10), which should be passable for most manual wheelchairs and single pushchairs. In a number of places the pavements/footpaths are narrow and not all the crossing points marked on the map have lowered kerbs, though there are alternative crossings close by. Wheelchair users may need assistance. *{These can be avoided by continuing straight on past Cogges Manor Farm Museum (9) up Church Lane and turning left onto Newland, rejoining the trail at the site of Newland House (11)} Refreshments In addition to the numerous possibilities available in Witney town centre, there are cafes open to the public at Cogges Manor Farm Museum (9) and at the District Council’s Elmfield offices just up the New Yatt Road from Springfield (17). Public Conveniences There are public conveniences at Langdale Gate and in the Welch Way car park: both have adapted toilets (entered via the use of a radar key) and baby changing facilities. Accessible facilities can also be found at the District Council offices and at Cogges Manor Farm Museum. Parking There are three town centre car parks in Witney (Welch Way, Witan Way and Woolgate Centre) and all of them have designated disabled parking bays. 1 Market Place & 2 Church Green Accessible all hours. Accessible all hours. Why did the wool trade develop and prosper in Witney? One major factor was the interest of the Bishops of Winchester, who owned large estates in the area. In the 13th century, Bishop Peter des Roches laid out a large wedge shaped market place and the house plots on either side – the whole area of the present Market Place and Church Green. From this time on, Witney had a weekly market and two annual fairs. Later on temporary stalls were erected on market days but during the Medieval period rows of permanent ‘shambles’ or shops were built here. Many of them for butchers – the wool trade used not only ‘fleece’ wool (shorn from live animals) but ‘fell’ wool (taken from the skins of butchered sheep). Indeed, in the late 17th century, Dr Plot noted that the Witney blanket makers used mainly fell wool and that the local fellmongers made the stripped skins into breeches and trousers, sold at nearby Bampton. Inns and taverns were often the place people met to do business and many of them, unsurprisingly, were sited around the market. Most no longer exist but you will still pass The Fleece on the east side of Church Green. Trail Description The trail starts in the centre of Witney, at the northern end of the Market Place(1), beside the entrance to a modern shopping centre, fittingly called The Woolgate. From here head down towards the church, over Langdale Gate at the zebra crossing and straight on along the edge of Church Green(2)... 3 Bishop’s Palace & Mount House For opening details call 01993 814114. The remains of the ‘Bishop’s Palace’ are situated in the grounds of Mount House, just east of St Mary’s Church. In reality the ‘palace’ was a manor house, one of the earliest and largest of its type, the working centre of the estates owned by the Bishops of Winchester. Archaeological excavations have revealed a series of stone buildings arranged around a courtyard and surrounded by a wall and moat. Bishops and royalty frequently visited the manor house in the early 13th century, with King John’s visit in 1208-9 even prompting the building of new garderobes (medieval toilets), but these visits gradually petered out. By 1453, the bishops had largely given up their interests in sheep farming allowing local farmers and merchants to enter the trade. Just as their earlier interest had stimulated the wool trade in Witney, it seems that their later disinterest may also have proved of long term benefit. Free from manorial control and the restrictive trade restrictions found in many other areas, many master weavers seem to have chosen to practice their business in Witney. The surviving medieval buildings of the Bishop’s Palace were demolished and replaced by a new house, probably just after 1757. This in turn was replaced by the existing Mount House, in about 1905, probably for J.F. Marriott, owner of the Mount Mills blanket factory which once stood behind the house. …turn left into Mount House’s drive, just after Farm Mill Lane. The canopy covering the remains of the Bishop’s Palace(3) is visible to the right of the house. Exiting the drive cross straight over towards the church… 4 Holloway’s Almshouses 5 St Mary’s Church, Witney Private property but can be seen from the road. Open in the day, check for services before entering. John Holloway, a wealthy cloth Standing at one end of Church Green, merchant, willed this row of almshouses the imposing 156ft spire and impressive to Witney town in 1723. The size of St Mary’s reflects the wealth and endowment was for six blanket makers’ importance of Witney in the Middle widows and each was to have ‘a lower Ages; much of this wealth came from the and an upper room, together with a wool trade. It is likely that the Bishops little garden, and other things necessary’. of Winchester were responsible for the founding of the current church some The following qualifications were time between 1070 and 1100, though required of the widows: ‘Such as are a Saxon church may have stood on the no busybodies, nor proud, nor idle site before this. persons…being of a good life and godly conversation…They shall keep sensible By the 18th and 19th Centuries many of hours and be of a loving, sober, and the blanket makers were non-conformist good behaviour’. but St Mary’s still contains the graves of many of those in the trade: some of the The almshouses that can be seen today headstones bear images of shuttles and are not the original ones but a rebuilt other symbols relating to cloth making. version, erected in their place, to a The church also incorporates the Gothic design by William Wilkinson in mortuary chapel of the Wenman family: 1868. brasses show Richard Wenman in a fur trimmed gown, a purse hanging from his belt, his two wives standing either side …the Holloway’s Almshouses(4) are on of him.

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