The Goods Wharf

1951

Reference Number:- Sprake Number:- Godden Number:-
obk 24  not listed recorded without number
 

View of The Goods Wharf Macclesfield, with a John Green canal boat called "Julia" and a lady at the tiller
 

Words:
Woven on silk:-   

WOVEN IN SILK

BROCKLEHURST-WHISTON

MACCLESFIELD

 
Printed at bottom of card mount:-
 
THE GOODS WHARF
  

Legend printed on inside cover of card mount:-
BARGE
The Macclesfield Canal was constructed in 1831 and until the opening of the railways, Brocklehurst Silks were shipped from the Goods Wharf, Brook Street, to all parts of the country.

N.B. The barge which features in this silk was owned by John Green (Carriers), Macclesfield. The name " Julia ", which appears on the barge, was the name of John Green's daughter.

Size:
Card mount:
18.2 cm deep by 23.9 cm wide

silk:
8.3 cm high by 14.8 cm wide

 
Technical Details supplied by Lewis Cowen:
First Sketch:    Mr Wm Hine
Design Draft:Mr Wm Hine
Card Cutter:Mr William Stubbs
Weavers:Mrs Annie Lowndes
Miss Elizabeth Hudson
Miss Annie Dean
Design No:Z.7991
Comments:
by Lewis Cowen:
In 1951, in time for the New Year, the next picture, THE GOODS WHARF, was available, and this was to be the last time a silk picture appeared in calendar form. In the early 1950s the company was informed by HM Customs and Excise that as the pictures had been produced as calendars they must attract Purchase Tax, and a sizeable amount was owed. This was totally unexpected and, of course, a blow to BWA. After settling the bill it was decided to alter the format. Pictures were mounted on either a brown or beige card, with a mask in front. These were not subject to Purchase Tax!

By this time the pictures were becoming much sought after, and after the distribution to customers, surplus pictures from the strictly limited edition were sold in cream coloured folders, with the appropriate legend incorporated.

Other comments:
Below is an image of the calendar version of this silk, together with a rear view.

The card mount is brown colour attached to a cream/beige backing, with the calendar hanging below on two brown ribbons. It is the coloured mounts which define the original issue of this silk picture. Several years later BWA realised their pictures were being bought as collectors items, and they seem to have reissued all the early ones mounted in a white card mount. It is probable however that the silks of these white reissued pictures came from the original weaving.

Brocklehurst-Whiston (BWA) silk image of The Goods Wharf as an original calendar
image of this silk as a calendar
Brocklehurst-Whiston (BWA) silk image of The Goods Wharf as an original calendar
image of the reverse of this silk as a calendar

 


Back to List of Brocklehurst silks
Back to List of Other Weavers

This page was created on 20 September 2008
calendar version image added 26 October 2011, and replaced 26 April 2018 © Peter Daws - Stevengraph-Silks