Thaxted - the story of the blanket

The fourth blanket in my quintet is named after the small North Essex town of Thaxted. Situated on an old Roman road, Thaxted was originally a Saxon settlement. Its name is derived from the Old English hoec or þæc combined with stede, being a …place where thatching materials are got… (A Dictionary of British Place Names, Anthony David Mils, 2003)

During the fourteenth century, Thaxted became an important centre for the cutlery trade and the town crest still sports a pair of crossed swords. The impressive jettied timber-framed Guildhall below was partly funded through the wealth of the Guild of Cutlers, and dates to the fifteenth century.

Perhaps you can see an echo of the beautiful limewash and timber facade, punctuated by leaded windows in my blanket? Or perhaps you see the timber boards reflected in the scored lines of the weave?

My first introduction to Thaxted was via the Fry Gallery in Saffron Walden. The gallery holds a wonderful collection of art from the area, focusing largely on the artistic community of nearby Great Bardfield.  Amongst the collection is a waistcoat designed by weaver Marianne Straub for the celebrated Thaxted Morris troop. For more on Straub and the Thaxted Morrismen please see my earlier post here.

In the early twentieth century Thaxted was home to the composer Gustav Holst. His handsome house (below left) stands on the central Town Street – long pre-dating the streams of traffic and the flightpath of nearby Stansted airport. Holst was a great walker, and I like to think of him striding across the fields of North Essex.

Holst was close friends with Conrad Noel (above right) – the celebrated Red Vicar of Thaxted and their shared musical legacy remains an important one in Thaxted.  Noel - a socialist and sympathizer with the cause of Irish Independence -  is seen in the portrait above which hangs in the Guildhall. His dress here reflects an interest in the Middle Ages which was shared by other luminaries of the Arts and Crafts period. Noel was cousin to Lord Noel Buxton, and he, along with Gustav and Imogen Holst were frequent guest at Paycockes in Coggeshall – the inspiration behind the third blanket in my Quintet.

In the image below – taken out walking in the surrounding fields after the harvest this year - you see the spire of St John’s at Thaxted, and beside it the beautiful brick windmill. Windmills such as this, and the one at Finchingfield would once have been common to every large village.

You can catch a glimpse of the windmill working in a short film about Thaxted called Ripe Earth – made in 1938 by brothers John and Roy Boulting. It’s a beautifully shot piece about the harvest, and I see many of the themes that have caught my own interest drawn together here – there is even footage of the Morris troop (pre-waistcoat), and of Conrad Noel conducting the harvest festival. The film is in the East Anglian Film archive here.

To shop the Thaxted blanket please see here.