Conference of the

Medieval Dress and Textile Society, MEDAT, on

"Making it: Textile Technologies in Medieval Europe"

at Weston Lecture Theatre, Museum of London, 150 London Wall EC2Y 5H

on Saturday 5th March 2011

Programme:

10.00: Doors open

10.30 – 10.45: Welcome: Hilary Davidson [MEDATS and Museum of London]

10.45 – 11.15: Professor Gale Owen-Crocker, University of Manchester,

‘Continuity and Change: an Overview of Medieval Textile Production’

11.15 – 11.45: Ruth Gilbert, Independent Scholar and Weaver, ‘Spinning technology in England in the Middle Ages (450 – 1500)’

11.45 – 12.15: Coffee, demonstrations and screening of DVD showing images of medieval cloth production from Semur-En-Auxois, in the Activity Room

12.15 – 12.45: Alan Raistrick, Independent Scholar, ‘Revelations and Calculations; developments in the spinning wheel during the Medieval Period’

12.45 – 13.15: Anna Nørgård, Weaver, author and demonstrator at the Viking Museum, Roskilde, Denmark, ‘The Early Medieval Warp-weighted Loom’

13.15 – 14.45: Lunch (not provided) and demonstrations in the Activity Room

14.45 – 15.15: Anton Reurink, Author, Historisch Openlucht Museum Eindhoven, The Netherlands, ‘The Medieval Process from Wool to ‘Lakense stof’ (Broadcloth)’

15.15 – 15.45: Kathrine Vestergård Brandstrup, Archaeologist, ‘The Development of the Loom, 1000 – 1500’

15.45 – 16.15: Tea and demonstrations in the Activity Room

16.15 – 16.45: Dr. Nat Alcock, Emeritus Reader in Chemistry, University of Warwick, and past President of the Vernacular Architecture Group, ‘Recreating the Medieval Weaver’s House and Loom’

16.45: Discussion

17.30: Close

Making it: Textile Technologies in Medieval Europe

Demonstrators:

Warp-weighted loom: Glenys Crocker, Vice-President of the Surrey Archaeological Society and member of the West & East Surrey Guilds of Spinners, Weavers & Dyers; great wheel: Ann Markwick, the East Sussex Guild of Spinners, Weavers, & Dyers; tablet weaving Jo Wexler, from the Cambridgeshire Guild of Spinners, Weavers,& Dyers.

The researches of some of our speakers demonstrate the contribution of practical experimentation to historical research and, in a museum context, ‘bring alive` many aspects of textile history. Kathrine Vestergård Brandstrupis the editor, with Marie-Louise Nosch, of The Medieval Broadcloth: Changing Trends in Fashions, Manufacturing and Consumption, Oxbow Books, Oxford, 2009. Anna Nørgård is the author, with Else Ostergard & Lilli Fransen, of Medieval Garments Reconstructed: Norse Clothing Patterns, Aarhus University Press, 2010.

What hand tools were used, how were they made, and what practical skills were needed – as well as what changes took place –will be discussed in relation to aspects of the historical and archaeological record. There will be demonstrations of some practical spinning and weaving technologies used in north-west Europe from approximately the fifth to the fifteenth centuries. It is hoped that a new light will be shed on the production of yarn and woollen cloth.

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BOOKING FORM: I wish to attend the meeting and request:

 ………. Ticket (s) for members at £25 each ………. Ticket (s) for non-members at £30 each (£5 off when booking with a              MEDATS member (£25)………. Ticket s) for students at £20 each ………. TOTAL Price includes tea and coffee, but excludes lunch. Name………………………………………………………………address…………………………………………………………Email / telephone………………………………………                        Please send a cheque and SAE to: MEDATS Ticketing Secretary – Bushy Westfallen, 146 Tilson House, Tilson Gardens, London SW2 4NA Booking enquiries to: bushy.frocks@btopenworld.comwww.medats.org.uk