Braveheart, Rob Roy, even Forrest Gump – the clothing worn in all these films has one thing in common: it was woven at the Woolen Mill on Islay.
“Islay decided to have me!” – in 1979, a businessman offered Gordon Covell the chance to take over a weaving mill on the island in the west of Scotland. What he found here was hardly ideal conditions: no one had woven anything here for twenty years, and the machines still dated back to the Victorian era.
And yet Covell moved from Wales to the island and took over the Islay Woolen Mill. Since 1981 he’s been producing tweeds and other fabrics here, using exactly the same old equipment he found on site. That’s what gives the Woolen Mill its charm.
Although the Islay Woolen Mill exports its goods all over the world, it also sells clothing in a shop right at the mill itself. Visitors to the shop are also allowed – and this is particularly exciting – to tour the production rooms. It’s well worth it.
Because behind the well-stocked shop, a small, wonderful, and slightly chaotic world opens up. A world full of bolts of fabric, old papers, and oily cast-iron machines.
Up a creaking staircase, you reach the attic, where threads are strung right across the air and books full of tartan patterns lie about.
Gordon Covell is already there too. He’s over 70 years old by now, yet talks about his woollen mill with undiminished enthusiasm. While leafing through the tartan books, he tells the story of how he first landed a job from the film industry – and has kept getting them ever since.
With quiet, sometimes wry humour, he explains the Woolen Mill, the weaving of fabrics, and the various machines.
At some point Covell leaves his visitors alone in the mill, and you can keep exploring a while longer.
Leaving the attic, from the staircase you get one more excellent view of the old weaving machines.
The short tour inevitably ends in the Islay Woolen Mill’s shop, where interesting products beckon. Alongside hats, coats and jackets, there are also cushions, handbags, and even sheepskins. And of course the famous flat caps.
Good to know: About the Islay Woolen Mill
The Islay Woolen Mill building has stood in its current form since 1883, and the machinery inside dates from between 1900 and 1910.
This site on the River Sorn, though, was already in use before that, also by weavers. Fabric is said to have been processed here as far back as around 1550 – though linen, at the time.
Getting there:
With sat nav: the postcode “PA44 7PG” gets you very close, then continue as below.
Without sat nav: the Islay Woolen Mill lies on the A846 between Bridgend and Ballygrant. From Bridgend it’s only about 2 kilometres, or just over a mile, before a green sign on the right marks the track to the mill. Coming from the Port Askaig ferry terminal, it’s about 11 kilometres, or roughly seven miles, before the sign appears on the left.
Follow the track, watching out for potholes, and finally park in the small car park in front of the mill.
