Taking silk

Having begun the weekend with pictures of the silk banners in Winchester Cathedral - and it being the sort of washout day it's been - went to the wonderful silk mill at Whitchurch to get an idea how the fabric is spun and woven.

Whitchurch Silk Mill is water-powered and has been producing silk for 200 years. These days it makes specialist silks for stately homes and TV series' and things like that. If you ask, as I did, whether they also wove the banners for the Cathedral - well, no, they didn't and it clearly still rankles, expecially as their order book is far from full. I believe they had the order and the silk organza was bought, but there was some unhappiness about whether it would be ready for last year's Easter ceremonies. So the order was taken back and given to someone else.

Seems a shame, not supporting such a local and specialised industry. The Dean and Chapter at their slightly less good, I feel, though I don't know the facts. But we enjoyed our visit and I took lots of pictures including this one. It doesn't show as much of the looms as some of the others, but I rather like the formality, the strong horizontals and verticals and the way at the top of the picture the silk is wrinkling under the strain of the weaving while at the bottom you still see the tufty ends of the thread.

Have a peaceful Sunday night. Monday tomorrow. Ah, well!