Staying Alive

Riverside MillJubilee GalleryExhibition

27 Dec

Written By Laura Wasley

Endangered crafts of the Southwest of England, co-curated by the Heritage Crafts Association

Image credit: Jon Cardwell

This exhibition shines a light on some of the Southwest’s most endangered crafts.

Fifteen master makers share their skills, tools, and stories, showing how traditions shaped by the region’s land and sea still have relevance and beauty today. From boatbuilding and ropemaking to hedging, basketmaking, and tanning, these crafts connect past and present, keeping centuries of knowledge alive in the modern world. 

The distinctive geography and location of the Southwest have greatly influenced the region’s traditional industries and heritage crafts. Its extensive, rugged coastline and proximity to the Atlantic have long supported a thriving fishing industry, which gave rise to related trades such as boatbuilding, sailmaking, ropemaking, and lobster pot making - many of which still survive today in some form. Inland, agriculture has played a key role, particularly sheep farming, which led to wool-based crafts like spinning, dyeing, and knitting. The area’s rich natural resources also supported industries such as stone quarrying and carving, along with metal mining and processing. Moreover, the Southwest’s relative isolation has helped preserve its unique regional identities, dialects, and longstanding traditions, including thatching, dry stone walling, and hedge laying.