Dawe's Twineworks

The Jurassic sandstone of our area was ideal for growing flax and hemp - the raw material for twine, rope, nets and sailcloth. These products were the basis of world exploration and trade.
Coker Canvas was the best quality sailcloth available, but when others copied the process and power looms were introduced elsewhere, our village of West Coker moved over to mass production of twine.
We demonstrate how twine was produced and children can make a piece of twine or rope and understand the difference.
Our twineworks began in 1851 but was rebuilt and mechanised by the Dawe family in 1898. It operated until 1968 but by 2000 was derelict and in danger of collapse. Local volunteers have raised money and rebuilt the whole site, and have installed a 1927 Shanks oil engine to replace the one sold by Mr Dawe to secure himself a pension. That engine powers 11 twisting and finishing machines on two floors of our 90m 'walk'.
Away from the cold and damp of the Victorian factory, our modern visitor centre offers a welcome, explanations, displays and, perhaps best of all, cake.
Dawe's is also the centre for our village's 'Everyday History' and our archive has the complete set of business records from 1880 to 1980 plus books, maps and other records back to the 1600s.
Somerset is 'cider county' and we have just restored our Victorian cider press.

Timings

Saturday 12 September:

10am to 4pm

Sunday 13 September:

10am to 4pm

Location & directions

94A High Street, West Coker, Yeovil, Somerset, BA22 9AU

Directions:

Blue sign with a ship. 70m west of the end of the 20mph zone.

Contact on day:

Ross Aitken

Telephone number:

+447930409887

Booking information

Pre-booking requirement:

Pre-booking not required

Accessibility details

Victorian factory with some rough floors and steep stairs to access upper floor (but there's lots on the ground floor) Outside is grass and gravel. Level access to the visitor centre and lower floor of the works. Audio description relates to our 'talking pens' which tell you about each of 12 locations around our site. We have versions for children and adults. However, these are NOT suitable for people without sufficient vision to find their way around the site.

Additional information

We will have cake!

Max number of people:

30

Estimated duration:

2 hour(s)

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