Kidderminster Carpet Museum gets £1.9m grant

The Carpet Museum in Kidderminster has been awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant of just under £2m.

After two years in development, the project, which will see the creation of an exciting new museum in Stour Vale Mill in the world-famous carpet making town of Kidderminster, can now go ahead.

The award will enable the Carpet Museum Trust to restore the interior of the Grade II listed 19th-century Stour Vale Mill into a museum complete with a Carpet Archives Centre, Library and meeting rooms.

Carpet making heritage

The project will involve the community and offer opportunities to learn about the local carpet making heritage.

The display of the museums’ collection of machinery, artefacts, photographs, archives and libraries will spread over two floors in an area of 14,000 sq. feet at the mill – originally constructed for carpet making and until recently forming part of the premises of Woodward Grosvenor carpet manufacturers.

Forming the centrepiece of the museum will be a working power loom as part of a partnership with modern-day commercial carpet weaving business Grosvenor Wilton Ltd.

The Carpet Museum Trust was founded in 1981 with the aim of establishing a public museum for the exhibition of items connected with the manufacture of carpets and textiles.

Carpet museum

Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc have invested over £500,000 in refurbishing the exterior of the Stour Vale Mill, as part of the development of their new store in Kidderminster.

Acting as a springboard for conservation of the town’s industrial and architectural heritage, it is expected that the HLF funded museum works to the interior of the mill will take up to two years to complete.

Charles Talbot, Trustee and Honorary Secretary of The Carpet Museum Trust, said:

[pullquote]This award is the greatest compliment possible to the work of the volunteer team
Charles Talbot. Honorary Secretary of The Carpet Museum Trust[/pullquote]

“This award is the greatest compliment possible to the work of the volunteer team who have seen the project through over many years aided by excellent advisers.

The Stour Vale Mill is an historic building and its use as a museum is most appropriate.

We are very grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund for their continued support and to Morrison’s and all the Trusts, Foundations and individuals who have contributed to our success.”