The Weaver's House, Spon End, Coventry

Image: © A J Paxton Taken: 15 Sep 2019

Detail of the Weaver's House, 121 Upper Spon Street, viewed from the courtyard at the rear. The house is one of a row of five built in the 15th century, which have survived war and redevelopment and stand in an otherwise mainly modern district of Coventry just beyond the inner ring road to the west of the city centre. The Weaver's House has been restored as a museum recreating the house of John Croke, a weaver who is known to have lived and worked there around 1540. Behind the house a garden has been planted demonstrating plants that were grown as food and for medicinal and household use. https://theweavershouse.org/ The plant that can be seen here is fuller's teazle, the spiny heads of which were drawn across the cloth by weavers to raise the nap, which was then trimmed with shears to ensure an even finish. William Langland wrote in the 14th century that cloth " …Is not comely to wear / Till it be fulled under fote, or in fulling stocks / Washen well with water, and with teasels scratched / Towked and teynted, and under talour’s hands." (Quoted by Mary Chisholm here https://www.exploringbuildinghistory.co.uk/the-teasel-in-the-english-woollen-cloth-industry/ ) A carving of a teazle head can be seen on one of the columns of the buildings of Coventry Precinct facing on to Broadgate, a symbol of the historic cloth trade of the city.

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