Along the way one event that I should have mentioned was held on the site of Stainton Woollen Mill. Stella Adams Schofield an artist whose focus is the process itself has a rich knowledge of the textile processes from fleece to woven cloth. On a sunny day a group of interested people came and enjoyed the washing of fleece in the river, carding, spinning and the weaving of the yarn into cloth all accompanied by Stellas' interesting facts about processes and what the mill may have been like. All this took place in the field that the mill site now is, within the marked plan of the mill site which Stella and I had marked out the day before with bamboo canes and warning tape with the message 'The mills of God grind slowly'. Being on the actual site made the event much more meaningful.
Stella cards the washed fleece in the background is the former mill house. |