Description

A little known fact about Louth is that in the 19th century it was one of three centres in England making flat weave reversible carpets; the other two being Kidderminster and Barnard Castle. It all began with the ambitious Adam Eve, born in 1755, the son of a Scartho farmer. In 1781 he took over a woollen draper’s shop at No 1 Market Place in Louth, now Eve & Ranshaw Ltd department store, one of the oldest established shops in the county. He soon built reputation for quality, and established trade with America. Using Eve & Ranshaw archives and by research into the Eve family tree, into wool production in Lincolnshire, and using the surviving examples of Louth made carpets in Louth Museum, enjoy the life story of Adam Eve and the production of carpets in weaving rooms which still exist as dwellings in James Street, Louth. Using census and other records, it has been possible to list all the carpet weavers and where they came from, and all the apprentices who once lived over the Eve & Ranshaw shop, with a history of the shop. Together with the story of the Lincolnshire Stuff Ball, started in 1785 to promote the local use of Lincoln longwool, all is contained in the book.

The limited edition in hardback has 200 pages and a fold-out Eve family tree, and has been generously sponsored by Eve & Ranshaw Ltd and supported by Louth Town Council and The Textile Society, and is published by the Louth Naturalists’, Antiquarian and Literary Society to mark the Centenary of Louth Museum this year.

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