Well first of all, what a fun and interesting afternoon I've had. Entrance fee NIL and we paid £2.60 to have a personal tour of the factory part of the museum where our guide took us through the whole process of felt hat making, the types of fur used (beaver and rabbit) to the machinery used and so on.
BTW! My husband's family (on his grandmother's side) were milliners (Linney & Walker) and a very 'well to do' family I believe. I actually saw a couple of their advertisement boards on display in the museum. I really need to find out more from my father-in-law as they were quite an interesting lot. Simon has a couple of old ads but anyway, I'll have to come back to that story some other time.
Just to explain, the Hat Works museum is situated in Stockport, which is a market town a few miles from the city of Manchester in the north-west of England.
Stockport was at the centre of British hat manufacture throughout the 19th century. This makes sense since the industrial revolution began in Manchester and already hundreds of mills and local materials were available in the region. Our guide told us that hats showing a 'made in London' label would have been made in Stockport. However, they would note the label with 'London' simply because their head office would have been situated there and the address probably gave more kudos to the maker.
I've attached a few pictures and I'll explain a bit more further down!
This is where I visited today - the home of the Hat Works.
Ok, so hat manufacturing was the regions specialist trade and in particular, felt hatting that Stockport became renowned the world over.
Hat making had been a traditional craft throughout Cheshire and south east Lancashire since the 16th century. The areas of Denton (east Manchester) and Stockport were synonymous in terms of hatting. Denton excelled in the production of wool felts and Stockport hatters tended to concentrate on mens' hats made of high quality fur felt. Ladies hats were not traditionally the domain of the hatter but the milliner, and only became a significant product in the Stockport hat works from the later years of the 19th century.
Ultimately the region declined in importance when the hat became more a dispensable fashion accessory. Cheap mass-produced hats became available from the south of England and the Stockport and Denton industries slowly contracted. The last hat works in Stockport closed in 1997.
And so ends my history lesson of the day!
Just to add, there was a very lovely display of hats throughout the decades along with contemporary hats from Philip Treacy and Vivienne Westwood to name but a couple.
I would have loved to have taken photos but the lighting was very low in order to preserve the condition of the hats.
So sorry for the long post but I had to get all the information out of my head now before it disappears into the mass void that is my brain!!!!!
I think I'll write about this for my next VFG blog post.
