A weaver named Willie

At Weaver’s Cottage in Kilbarchan, there are many reminders of the men and women who once made handloom weaving their trade. One of the best remembered is Willie Meikle. Willie was one of the last weavers in the village of Kilbarchan. Although the handloom trade eventually collapsed in the face of industrialisation, he turned his skill to good account.

The tradition of handloom weaving in Kilbarchan goes back several centuries. In the early years, linen was woven in the village on a fairly small scale. After that, cotton and silk goods were produced, and then woollen cloth. The trade reached its heyday during the reign of Queen Victoria when tartan was fashionable and the high-quality cloth produced by the handloom weavers was in demand. However, this success was unfortunately followed by terminal decline.

This was the world into which Willie Meikle was born. At the time of his birth in 1879, handloom weaving was still going strong in Kilbarchan and, like many children, he automatically followed his parents and grandparents in learning the trade. By the age of 12 he was already an apprentice weaver. Willie’s father, mother and siblings were all weavers too. His great-grandfather, whose loom he inherited (which is now on display at Weaver’s Cottage), was a soldier at the Battle of Waterloo.

The loom (and Willie!) became well travelled. Although the handloom weaving trade steadily died out during Willie’s adult years, Willie found his niche for a while in touring British industry fairs and promoting the heritage of his craft. In 1935 he showcased weaving at the British Industries Fair, followed the year after by demonstrations at British Home Industries House in London. In 1937 he set up at the Highland Show on the stand of the Highland Home Industries and in 1951 travelled to Toronto to demonstrate weaving to the crowds at the Canadian International Trade Fair. Willie’s wife, Maggie, travelled with him. Although less well known, she too demonstrated weaving at these events, as well as winding thread onto pirns to keep the shuttles flying.

Willie’s willingness to travel and to promote his work helped cement his identity. His skill as a handloom weaver was valued as something rare, where once it had been common in many textile producing areas of Britain.

During the 1920s and 1930s he was one of several ageing weavers in Kilbarchan – men and women – who, though less well known, doggedly continued in the trade they had learned in their youth. Some were helped by occasional patronage by members of the Royal family, who commissioned cloth for Highland wear as well as unique double-sided travel rugs. When asked how he could weave these, Willie said ‘My eye’s on the Maclean, and my mind’s on the Grant’.

Willie Meikle’s promotion of handloom weaving was a last gasp. It coincided with a national mourning for the passing of traditional skills and old trades that had once contributed to the wealth of the west of Scotland. By the 1930s they seemed quaint and curious, inspiring newspaper reports lamenting their loss.

Samples of the many tartans woven by Willie are now preserved at Weaver’s Cottage. All of them have been labelled by hand and some bear his personal notes of when they were woven.

The importance of Willie as one of the last Scottish handloom weavers of his generation is recognised in the loan of some of his cloth to TARTAN, a new exhibition at V&A Dundee this year. Find out more about Willie there, or visit us at Weaver’s Cottage in Kilbarchan to see the many colourful textiles woven by Willie and the other weavers who once lived and worked in the village.