An Ideal Setting for a Village Industry

The location of the Peasant Arts movement in Haslemere, is best understood through the judgements of their peers.  An article by Mary Schenck Woolson in The Craftsman (‘Revival of English handicrafts: the Haslemere industries’, January 1902) provides an excellent overview.  Woolson was President of the Women’s Educational and Industrial Union, and Director of the Manhattan Trade School for Girls.

The Weaving House, Kings Road c.1902 - note the girl is holding a hoop and the tree in the middle of the road! - from The Craftsmen, January 1902

She describes the location of the Peasant Arts in Haslemere as “A more ideal setting for a village industry, whose avowed purpose is to make good hand-made materials under ideal conditions, could scarcely be found.  In the southwest corner of Surrey, in a deep valley between wooded cliffs, is the little town which straggles picturesquely in winding lanes like wandering vines up the steep slopes.  In summer, in the near distance, the eye traverses stretches yellow with gorse and broom, and purple with heather up to the hig, dark ridge of Hindhead.

The Devil's Punchbowl, Hindhead c.1900 from Trotter, The Hilltop Writers, The Book Guild, 2003

On the top stands high against the sky the cross which marks Gibbet Hill, where the execution of a sailor’s murderers once took place.  Below the cross is a romantic lonely hollow called the Devil’s Punch Bowl, around whose rim Smike and Nicholas Nickleby, as they were going from London to Portsmouth to seek their fortune, walked and read the description of the sailor’s murder.

Tennysons Lane c. 1897 from Wright, Hindhead or the English Switzerland, 1898

The atmosphere of Haslemere is artistic and literary.  Here George Eliot lived on the Shotter Mill way, Tyndall built high on Hindhead and Tennyson’s home looked out on the Blackdown.  Artists and writers still gather here. 

Hindhead Crossroads c.1900 from Winter, Tim, Around Haslemere, The History Press Limited,  2004

The village keeps its mediaeval appearance.  The cottages of the people are low, with slanting tiled roofs.  These ancient hand-made tiles of many varieties are well known to architects and antiquarians.  The lanes are often so steep that the sidewalk is only on one side, while a high, abrupt cliff rises on the other.

Haslemere High Street c.1894 from Trotter, The Hilltop Writers, The Book Guild, 2003

The sidewalk gradually ascends above the road way and the cottages open on the sidewalk with a steep staircase descending to the road.  This gives a curious and picturesque effect to the old stone cottages and the half timber houses with their overhanging stories.  The workers in the Haslemere Industries live in such homes as these, surrounded from birth with charming nature and the simple artistic handwork of man. 

Entrance to Kings Road from the station from Winter and Collyer, Around Haslemere and Hindhead in Old Photographs, Alan Sutton Publishing, 1991

….From the railroad station deep in the valley to the quaint little Weaving House modern factory conditions seem to struggle for a footing.  Foundry Road is a paved street with workshops, stores and working men’s houses crowding one another together.  When the road begins to rise out of the narrow valley, the Weaving House and its close companion, the Tapestry House, stand as if to utter a protest and block the way against the farther march of ugliness.  Beyond them the open valley stretches, the wooded hills show winding paths and the birds sing in meadow and copse. 

In front of the Industries the road slopes upward, so that the buildings are partly below the level.  Bridges swing across from the road to the second stories, and steps lead down to the ground floors of the buildings.

Inside The Weaving House, Kings Road from The Craftsmen, January 1902

From the open windows of the Weaving House the steady click and thud of the looms and the whirr of the wheels are heard by passers-by.  A sign hangs over the gate on the bridge bearing the name: “Haslemere Weaving Industry,” and below, a placard bids visitors welcome.”

“The cheerful, healthful workrooms, the mediaeval furniture of chests, presses, wheels, reels and looms, the bold fine colouring of the stuffs, the white aproned village workers, and the wide stretching meadows and steep hills of fair Surrey, as seen through the windows are a pleasant picture of labour under ideal conditions.”

'Miss Flora Synge at her spinning wheel at Kings Road, Haslemere in 1917' from  Janaway, John,  Surrey: A Photographic Record 1850-1920, Countryside Books, 1984

Whilst the picture in Janaway is annotated as Flora Synge, there is no such name recorded in the 1911 census.