Rawthey Blanket

Description

This beautiful blanket, named for a river but inspired by a bridge, has arrived just in time “for fells’ late spring” (Basil Bunting).

With its subtle graphic design and gentle blushes of colour, more ephemeral where the tones are close, bold where the colours contrast, the Rawthey Blanket is a blend of hard-wearing but softly finished mountain and lowland wools, including Hebridean, Texel and Shetland.  The blankets have a beautiful sheen to them and I find it quite fascinating how different details appear and disappear according to the angle of the light.

The old iron bridge with its steel girders and solid stone parapets, which spans the River Rawthey near the small hamlet of Brigflatts on the outskirts of Sedbergh, is a reminder of a time when railways connected almost every town in the land.

Brigflatts itself is where you will find the oldest Quaker Meeting house in the north of England, still active, and was the inspiration for one of the great poems of the 20th Century — Briggflatts by Basil Bunting.  Bunting spent some of his youth in the house which I am fortunate indeed to call home.  This house in its calm and peaceful setting has nurtured me, my family and my business for the last 20 years.

All of the wool in this blanket was sourced directly from farms within a 30 mile radius of Brigflatts.

The names I have chosen for the different colours evoke the elements of the bridge — stone, iron, steel, rock, copper, shadow — as well as the surrounding plants — flowering gorse, last winter’s hawthorn berries, spring field grass — and the colour of a blue sky reflected in a brown river, something which never fails to captivate me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Colours are very hard to depict accurately on screen.  If you’re unsure please ask for a colour swatch.

 

 

 

 

 

Good to know:

• 100% wool, sourced from farms in the Yorkshire Dales and Cumbria
• wool scoured and spun in West Yorkshire and dyed in the Scottish Borders
• blankets woven and finished in the Scottish Borders
• approximate size:  160cm x 260cm (63″ x 100″) plus short fringe
• recommended care:  shake once in a while and hang outside to freshen.  Can be machine washed in a gentle wool cycle at 30C.  Hang to dry.  Remove creases with a warm iron.
• Storage:  make sure blankets are dry and clean before storing out of the sun with a natural moth repellant.