Monks 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 now 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. Photo shows Dom Edmund Fait watching Dom Anscar Neilsen, a Danish monk, at work at the spinning wheel on which was spun the silk for the Queen's Coronation robe, at the Priory at Farnborough

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Changed Continent Established Fait Farnborough Feed Fruited Hants Looms Monks Mulberry Neilsen Plantation Priory Producing Seeds Spinning Spun Tapestries Throughout Tiny Vestments Worms

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