The Old Lace Factory, Olney High Street

Image: © David Dixon Taken: 21 Oct 2019

Prior to the twentieth century, Olney had a history as a lace-making centre. Continental lacemakers came to this area of North Buckinghamshire as a result of religious persecution in their own countries from the late 1500s through to the late 1600s. The lacemakers, particularly those from Lille and Mechlin, settled here in the small market town of Olney and taught the local women to make bobbin lace and thus began a cottage industry which lasted for over 300 years. However, with the beginnings of industrialisation in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the home-based industry began a general decline. In an attempt to revive lacemaking in the area, Harry Armstrong set up the Bucks Cottage Workers Agency at nearby Stoke Goldington in the early 20th century. Harry erected the Bucks Lace Factory in 1928 on this site in Olney’s High Street which had been vacant since a fire had destroyed the existing buildings in 1924. Being the time of the Great Depression, it was made mostly with second hand materials. The only new work was the carving on the façade, which originally included three huge carvings over the front door of a bobbin winder, candle-stool and a bobbin stand. Lace was never made in the Lace Factory. It was used as offices and as a warehouse, where lace was sewn onto garments or any article that Harry thought could be adorned with lace! It was then packed up into parcels which were sent out worldwide. The lace was still made by women in their homes and brought into the Lace Factory for sale or collected by agents in local villages. Harry died at the early age of 56 while on a business trip to Scotland in 1943. After that, lacemaking in Olney, as a business, was only carried on by a few older women who made lace for gifts. In the 1960s the building accommodated Schwinner’s lampshade factory. When this closed proposals were made to convert the premises into residential flats, but a reminder of the former craft may still be seen on the façade of the building, where a lace maker is represented with her traditional equipment – a wheel, pillow and globe. http://www.mkheritage.org.uk/odhs/full-list-of-elizabeth-knights-articles/my-introduction-to-the-lacemaking-pages/a-lace-walk-around-olney/ A Lace Walk around Olney (Olney & District Historical Society). http://www.mkheritage.co.uk/mkha/mkha/projects/jt/tw/docs/53.html The Way We Were (Milton Keynes Heritage)

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