Monk making silk, St Michael's Abbey, Farnborough, Hants

Monks make silk for the Queen's Coronation Robe. In a tiny cell on the fifth floor of St Michael's Abbey at Farnborough, Hants, monks are busy producing some of the silk which will be used in the Queen's Coronation Robes. They use spinning wheels and looms which have changed little in the course of years. The silk worms are raised at the Abbey and to feed them a mulberry plantation has been established in the grounds from seeds of the white fruited mulberry which friends on the continent have sent to the Abbey. Fine vestments and tapestries for use in Catholic churches throughout the country are made at the Abbey by Dom Edmund Fait and his assistant Dom Anscar Neilsen who comes from Denmark. Dom Edmund Fait draws the cocoons with their long loosened silks and threads from the bath after washing. In this fifth floor cell, some of the silk for the Queen's Coronation robe was made

Restrictions Only for United Kingdom

Changed Cocoons Continent Draws Established Fait Farnborough Feed Fruited Hants Looms Loosened Michaels Monks Mulberry Neilsen Plantation Producing Seeds Silks Spinning Tapestries Threads Throughout Tiny Vestments Worms

Features In These Collections

> Contributors > KEY