The Yorkshire Film Archive collects, preserves, and shows film made in, or about Yorkshire. Our collections are non-fiction, dating from the 1890s to the present day, and providing a rich and visually compelling record of all aspects of lives, cultures, landscape, industries, major events and everyday activities, many of which are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
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The Rug Maker
A simple film for the not so simple Yorkshire craft of making a rug, revealing how to “roll up yan side, push in frame ens wi aal holes, stretch tight and hod it wit end poles.”
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Overview
An old craft of making handmade rugs, in danger of dying out, is here demonstrated by a seasoned practitioner from Buckden, in Upper Wharfedale, in 1981. Mrs Beresford expertly takes us from the cutting of the pieces, through to the finished article, filmed in real time, and smoking a cigarette the whole while.
This film was made by George Younger and David Dean, and is one of a collection of films from Upper Wharfedale which feature local places and people, such as Jackie Beresford, the accordion player. Mrs Margaret Beresford, who lived at Rowan Cottage in Buckden, wrote down a poem titled ‘Rug Maker’ in a North Yorkshire dialect which nicely accompanies the film. The first verse is, “Me oud rug is worn oot, anither al mak; al git cracking wit shears, rip snip intav sack; neu it takes me a week to cut enough clips; opnin seams an all, an cutting lang strips”. The second starts, “Thars a bit au Jacks coit, an Pete an Herbs trews.”
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