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Lady Llanover - Heroine of the Welsh Woollen Industry

Mark Lucas, 11 May 2020

Augusta Hall, Lady Llanover (21 March 1802 – 17 January 1896) was a strong advocate and supporter of the Welsh Woollen Industry and Welsh traditions. At the National Eisteddfod in 1834 she submitted an essay titled `The Advantages Resulting from the Preservation of the Welsh Language and the National Costume winning first prize. She took the bardic name "Gwenynen Gwent" 'the bee of Gwent'.

Harpist's Costume from the Llanover Estate

In 1865 she commissioned the building of Gwenffrwd Woollen Mill on the Llanover estate near Abergavenny. The mill carried out all operations for woollen production and produced heavy flannel cloth that was made into clothes for the house and estate workers to wear.

Harpist's Costume from the Llanover Estate

Material from the mill was also made into clothes for lady Llanover and her friends styled on her own ideas of Welsh traditional Costume. The mill continued in production until the 1950s using equipment installed by Lady Llanover.

Worker at Gwenffrwd Woollen Mill

Tagged with

National Wool Museum  Textiles 

Comments (2)

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Anwen Ddu
27 March 2021, 10:29
is it possible for a message to be passed to Adrian Lang re history Gwenffrwd Mill if we could please make contact for research purposes .Diolch yn fawr Anwen
Adrian Lang
9 March 2021, 19:13
Today I visited the now very dilapidated old woolen mill with the last person to be born in it in 1962.
His father ran the farm from the mill. The milling machinery was in situ until 1968 when the looms were taken away. The family thought the dealer was giving them to a museum but any info is lost in the mists of time.

The mill race is full of stones and soil and trees now grow inside. One or two old specimens are left in what was the front orchard.

Great shame such a unique piece of history was abandoned by Llanover Estate particularly given the fact it had been commissioned by lady Llanover.