Nine of us today braved the record-breaking heat (38oC!) to find out about the importance of silk weaving in the Sudbury area. In fact, 95% of the country’s silk industry is centred around the town, the silk imported mainly from China. https://sudburysilkmills.co.uk/
We started at the Suffolk mill shop where employee Amanda told us about the history of silk weaving and how it had grown in the UK, starting with Huguenots arriving from France to avoid religious persecution. When Spitalfields in London became too expensive, weavers moved out to Essex and Suffolk.
The Walters company started in 1720 and moved to the current site in Sudbury in 1900, with now the 10th generation of the family in charge. The company originally used Dobby looms, but by the mid-1850s had acquired Jacquard looms, allowing two-sided material to be produced – the back being a negative of the front.
The Walters and Gainsborough silk companies have produced silk for wedding dresses for British royalty for generations, and recently wove some green Jacquard silk for the Princess of Wales when she visited. She had it made into a scarf by her seamstress and wore it in public within days. Photos went viral and resulted in lots of enquiries for the mill.
We saw a huge Jacquard loom in the shop.
The shop has lots of silk for sale at very reasonable prices per metre as well as bags, ties, cushions and craft packs. It’s open by appointment Wednesday to Friday, and Saturday mornings. They will be showing the loom operating soon and will send us details.
As our guided silk walk was deemed too much in 38oC we retired to the cafe at Gainsborough’s House for lunch – which would be a perfect spot on a cooler day!
The Mulberry tree in the garden is 400 years old…. 
We popped into the Tourist Information centre, where we were shown the Assembly Hall upstairs in the Town Hall. Now used for Council meetings and weddings, it had huge banners of silk from the various companies who have operated in Sudbury. Sadly, some of them have gone out of business.
Hopefully we can do the guided walk soon and learn something more about silk’s importance to the area.
Written by Janice J