The Howgills Tapestry – Anna Wetherell

This handwoven tapestry celebrates our local sheep and their wool, translating a watercolour image of the view of the Howgill Fells from justbelow Farfeld Mill into textile art, using traditional tapestry weaving techniques, woven using locally sourced wool yarn.

This tapestry has a story to tell behind its handwoven image, being the result of truly local collaboration. The weft yarn comes from Laura’sLoom and Ali Sharman Handweaver, both based in Sedbergh – wool yarn from local sheep, commercially processed at mills in the north ofEngland. The watercolour image used for the design was commissioned by me and painted by Stuart Gray, one of the studio artists atFarfield Mill, based on a photograph I took of the Howgill Fells. It depicts the view from a few hundred yards below the Mill.
Sheep have been an important part of the local economy for centuries, grazing the local fields and fells to produce meat and wool. Thelandscape reflects this heritage, from the vegetation patterns across the fells, field management including the annual cycles of traditional haymeadows, and the presence of mills such as Farfield Mill. More recently, producing wool has become less commercially viable, it oftencosting more to shear the sheep than the farmers get from selling the fleeces. But Laura and Ali have worked with the farmers, bought fleeceat a fair price and used it to create wool yarn that they then use in their own, mainly woven, products.
So, a tapestry of a local view, the setting of the Mill itself, woven with local wool from local sheep, involving local artists for its inspiration andmaterials, and woven on one of the looms at the Mill. A very Howgill Tapestry.

Handwoven using traditional tapestry weaving techniques to create a weft faced fabric. 100% wool weft woven onto a cotton warp, the woolhaving a local provenance to Farfield Mill.