Sheringham to see the Ganseys

We had a day out last Wednesday, it felt something akin to normality. We had booked a morning session at Sheringham Museum. Sheringham is on the superb North  Norfolk coast and the sat nav tells me is 48 miles from our house. 

We had booked to go to see the display of  40 Children’s Ganseys and I was also particularly interested in the Michael Harvey collection recently acquired by the museum, as well of course as to see the Sheringham Ganseys. Currently going to a museum means booking in advance and we knew there would  be a smallish number of people and we would be able to be there from 11.00 to 13.00. The Museum would then be closed and sanitised etc ready for a fresh set of people in the afternoon. In terms of textiles, Sheringham is famous for the knitted Ganseys of the fishermen. The Sheringham ones used particularly  fine needles (‘old size’  16 or even 17) and 3 ply worsted wool. There is an important  collection of these Ganseys in the museum. As in Shetland nowadays the needles used were  called wires being double pointed and the Gansey was knit ‘in the round’.

Sheringham Fishermen wearing Ganseys and some knitting tools

A link with Shetland, the herring lassies

The museum itself is a ‘new’ building (opened here in 2010) and the room upstairs used to display the knitwear is very light and has a good view out to sea. On a  good day a large wind farm can be seen on the horizon ( the exception being when a sea mist prevents this as it did on Thursday morning. We had a very enjoyable time there and if you can get there  this summer, I would highly recommend it. 

The local Ganseys  are well documented and the  museum ‘textile team’ are analysing the patterns and from my understanding their work in forming a recording template has been shared with other Gansey knitting communities, such as the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther (Fife). The glossary, also developed in this project is very useful too (1) 

The additional Ganseys to the local  ones this year have been put together by Stella Ruhe. I first heard Stella talk about Dutch knitting Ganseys at wool week some time ago, 2014 I think and since then she has continued her study of them and has now published 3 books. (3) I think it was in 2017 when I visited Sheringham museum to see the Ganseys in the Moray Firth Project

As I mentioned I was particularly interested in the Michael Harvey collection. I knew he had been a collector of Knitting Sheaths. I find it difficult knitting without using a knitting belt now, thanks to workshops during my time at Shetland wool week’s  with Hazel Tindall and also with Amanda Pottinger and Janet Irvine in Whalsay. It was great to see so many knitting sheaths , some very local and some from further afield. Norfolk was an important knitting area in the past (2) and having learnt to use a knitting belt I imagined that local knitters would have used a belt or the equivalent to increase their efficiency. I think my favourite was a cut down chair leg which had a drilled hole down the fatter end, making a tube for the end of a knitting needle. (4) it was good to see some leather knitting belts too.

A few of the Knitting Sheaths

The Michael Harvey collection contains many more items that this. He was the son of a lady who ran a knitting shop, I think initially further south  in Great Yarmouth. As trade increased she had shops in other towns and even developed a brand of knitting wool. Michael himself has co-authored and written knitting books of his own. He promoted machine knitting and taught  Machine Knitting and Advanced  Machine Knitting in the county from 1950s. Some knitted items of his mother  and of his machine knitting were in the exhibition. Being an avid machine knitter myself it is very good to see Machine Knitting being valued. There is much more that I hope to investigate in this collection. 

Knitting from Michael Harvey collection, by Olive his mother

Machine Knitting from Michael Harvey collection, by Michael

Also in the exhibition room was case devoted to John Craske  and a chance to see some of his insightful needlework. (5)

What a great morning this was and it has opened up other branches of local textile history to explore further. It is worth more than one visit.

I will write another post more about the town (and it’s neighbour Cromer). Sheringham was in its heyday, in terms of tourists, when the railway first brought holiday makers from the Midlands in the late 19th century. Many of the buildings and shops come from  the late 19C / early 20 C period. 

Notes:

1. Do take a look at the Museum website, under the Textile section. Here you will find a link to the glossary mentioned above as a short video about the Michael Harvey collection and information on the Craske Collection. https://www.sheringhammuseum.co.uk.  There is also a great booklet available from the Museum. It is researched and written by the museum textile group, this includes a chapter on pattern analysis and some patterns - Sheringham Ganseys Rita Taylor, Lesley Lougher, Jan Hillier, Ken Holloway and Martin Warren. 
2. Certainly from the late 16th Century. 
3. Books  of Ganseys from Stella Ruhe: Dutch Traditional Ganseys: Sweaters from 40 villages; Traditional Dutch Ganseys for Children: over 40 sweaters to knot from 30 fishing villages; More traditional Dutch Ganseys: 65 Classic Sweaters from 55 fishing villages.
4. Having learnt to knit with a knitting belt, I am surprised that more people do not use them for knitting nowadays. Knitting with one is very efficient and even more so if a Rapein  string  is used which helps stabilise the left needle too. (see ‘knitting belt’ under labels in the blog for more discussion of using a knitting belt and rapein  string and also  under hand knitting and heritage on my website
5. John  Craske.... There is a book devoted to John Craske- Threads: The Delicate Life of John Craske