Norwich Textiles Project Co-ordinators

Cathy Terry, Curator of Social History

Victoria Mitchell, Senior Lecturer, Norwich School of Art and Design

Norwich Textiles Project Partnership Team

Faye Kalloniatis, Learning Manager, Norfolk Museums & Archaelogy Service

Andrew Moore, Curator of Art, Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery

Martin Warren, Collections and Documentation Manager, Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service

Simon Willmoth, Director of Graduate Studies and Research, Norwich School of Art and Design

Carrow House Research Group

Volunteers at the Costume and Textiles Study Centre, Carrow House, generously contribute both time and their own research materials to the study of Norwich textiles.

Thelma Morris

Thelma Morris’s research underpins the material presented in this web-site. Her lifetime’s practical expertise in hand loom weaving and understanding of cloth types and structures informs the technical aspects of Norwich textiles history. She has worked to compare and analyse an immense range of original sources to chart its history by date, individual, process and place; an on-going project which already illuminates the stories of many thousands of Norwich worsted weavers, dornix weavers and other textile workers over the centuries. Thelma is an accomplished stitcher and maker of linens, curtains and household textiles as part of Strangers’ Hall historic needlework group, and her replica weavings undertaken for NMAS include Turkey-work, varieties of camlet etc.


Alan Morris

Alan’s wide ranging interest in history arose when as a lad in Great Yarmouth in the 1930’s he explored the rows and historic buildings of the town. His interests later widened into local archaeological research work in association with the late Rainbird Clarke, and he has a life-long interest in photographic recording. His ambitious survey of weaver’s windows and research from early maps and directories into the workshops and industrial buildings of the Norwich Textiles Industry has enabled some reconstruction of the heartland of ‘Norwich over the Water’.

As a volunteer at Carrow House, Alan has systematically photographed the Norwich pattern books so that they may be more easily viewed and appreciated. He has an extensive knowledge of hand looms, loom making and constructional aspects of historic woodwork.

Helen Hoyte

A degree in Art, specialising in textiles, from Edinburgh College of Art and a teaching diploma, took Helen into teaching art until she was engaged as a textile designer and colourist by the United Turkey Red. During her time with the company she was involved in roller and screen printing and the dyeing processes used for reproducing designs. Marketing and the printed fashion trends of the time were included.

Marriage followed and with older children, she returned to teaching in a large comprehensive school in Norfolk. For over 20 years she taught general art, including special courses in art appreciation, art history, costume and fashion as well as practical textile courses and also ran courses in art and textiles for Further Education classes.

The formation of the Costume and Textile Association in 1987 offered a focus for her textile interests and she began to work as a volunteer for Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service. The great tradition of Norfolk cloth-making and especially, the collection of Norwich shawls, became a compelling interest. For the fast 15 years Helen has researched and lectured widely to bring their beauty and the skill of the old craftsmen to public attention.


Pamela Clabburn MBE

For the duration of World War II, Pamela Clabburn served as an Army nurse, both in the UK and in Europe. Returning to her native Norfolk, she started her own dress‑making business until, in 1964, she was appointed Curator of Strangers' Hall Museum. During her curatorship, she researched and built up the present rich and unique collection of textiles and costume. Among her many interests, she revived public awareness of the historic Norwich shawls.

On retirement in 1974, Pamela started the Textile and Conservation Workroom at Blickling Hall, for the National Trust and during this period and more recently, she has written prolifically on textiles. She is the author of: The Needleworker's Dictionary, Samplers, Beadwork, Masterpieces of Embroidery, Shawls, Patchwork, The National Trust Book of Furnishing Textiles and to coincide with Norfolk Museums' exhibition in 1995 of their collection of Norwich shawls, in 1995, The Norwich Shawl.

Recognising that textile interests had no focus or outlet and there was a need for display facilities for the rich collection, Pamela founded and was the first Chairman of The Costume and Textile Society for Norfolk Museums, in 1987.
Pamela was awarded MBE in 1999.

Other contributors and credits

Nancy Ives

Nancy Ives has carried out extensive research into the history of the Stranger community in Norwich. Her work centres on interpretation of probate inventories and records of tax and population history, to which she has kindly provided access for this study. She has collaborated with Helen Hoyte to produce visual representations of individuals, featuring period clothing, drawn from some of the many detailed inventories which list clothing.


George and Jonathan Plunkett

The Plunkett's photographs of old Norwich
We are extremely grateful to George and Jonathan Plunckett for permission to include a number of images from their excellent archive.

This web site publishes an extensive photographic collection of twentieth century Norwich, created by local historian George Plunkett, published as a web-site created by his son Jonathan. The site encompasses 3,600 black and white pictures of buildings and streets in Norwich, from 1930 to the present day. These can be browsed alphabetically by street or by category, such as alms houses, bridges, the castle, industrial architecture, churches and the cathedral. The pictures are accompanied by excellent explanatory text The web-site include other local history resources including the Norwich air-raids in the Second World War, an 1873 map of the city and the street directory taken from the 1883 edition of White's Directory.

George Plunckett first took up photography as a hobby in 1931, having been given an Ensign box camera, to further his main interest in English architecture. He subsequently used a folding camera, a British-made Ensign Carbine No 7, which gave sterling service as it embodies both a rising and a cross front, essential when photographing tall buildings in a confined space, an F/4.5 lens and a shutter speed from one-hundredth of a second to a second. He started with no idea of making a comprehensive survey, but rather of getting together a number of different series on such subjects as the city wall, cathedral, castle, mediaeval churches, modern public buildings, river bridges and old doorways (non-ecclesiastical). Photographing the latter led him on to the greater task of recording the street facades of such houses as appeared to have been built prior to the mid-nineteenth century. Where other views were possible, for example from rear courtyards or alleyways, these were also included since original features such as dormers and old English pin-tiled roofs had often survived at the back even where a clean sweep had been made at the front.

While carrying out his survey George found it convenient to concentrate on one street at a time, recording his progress on a map by shading in each thoroughfare as it were dealt with, giving priority to those affected by slum clearance. He continued to record through the major remodelling of the city necessitated first by bomb damage sustained in World War II, then by the construction inner ring road and Anglia Square development.

The photographs today form an unrivalled portrait of Norwich as a textiles city, are especially valuable in preserving information on the textiles heartland of ‘Norwich over the Water’, where so many of the streets have altered beyond recognition.

East Anglian Film Archive (EAFA)

We are grateful to EAFA for assisting in tracing film of the last of the Norwich hand-loom weavers. Located at the Archive Centre, EAFA is a wonderful resource for the study of local history, particularly of the 20th century.


Norfolk Record Office (NRO)

The Archive Centre, County Hall, Martineau Lane, Norwich

Many thanks to the staff of NRO for advice and permission to use local inventories and other records.

The Norfolk Record Office collects and preserves records of historical significance for the county of Norfolk and makes them accessible to as wide a range of people as possible. It is a joint service of the County and District Councils of Norfolk. In 2005, the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) granted Designation status to the Record Office's entire collection.

norfrec@norfolk.gov.uk



Norfolk Heritage Centre

The Forum, Norwich, Norfolk Libraries and Information

Many thanks to Clare Agate and the staff of Norfolk Heritage Centre for help in locating early maps of Norwich.

The Norfolk Heritage Centre is the ideal place to research family or local history. It is an exciting new collaboration combining the Norfolk Studies Department with a duplicate Norfolk Record Office microfilm search room. The Centre provides access to key information sources such as National Census Returns, Births, Marriages and Deaths Index, International Genealogical Index, Parish Records, Electoral Registers, maps and photographs together with microfilm/fiche readers, study spaces, PCs and specialist staff on hand to help.