Rag Rug adds finishing touches

to Heatherslaw’s Victorian Parlour

Pictured are members of local rug making groups Lucker Matters, Clara Vale and the Wooler Rug Group who last summer and autumn spent their Wednesday afternoons at Heatherslaw Mill where they gave ‘proggy mat’ demonstrations, making a traditional rag rug mat.

They presented the finished mat to Mill Manager Julia Nolan, (front) on 28th April and it can now be seen in the Mill’s Victorian ‘home corner’ where visitors to the Mill can have a glimpse of what a worker’s home would have looked like during the 19th Century.

Julia said ‘ proggy mat making was a tradition that carried on well into the 20th Century, and when families come to the Mill children are fascinated to hear their grandparents stories of how life used to be when they were young. Many remember cutting the material for rag rugs or ‘progging’ the pieces in to make the mat’.

Heatherslaw Cornmill is open daily until 31st October this year, between 10am and 5pm.

| Back to news |