The actual Thornbury Quilt on display in the Town Hall

We’re delighted that The Thornbury Quilt now has a permanent exhibition space in the town hall in Thornbury, a very appropriate place for it.

You can find the Quilt, together with an audio-visual display telling lots of stories from the Quilt, in the Exhibition Room upstairs in the Town Hall.  Everyone’s strongly encouraged to go and see it.  There’s no charge.  The Exhibition Room is open to the public for viewings of the Quilt on Wednesdays.  At other times, meetings might be taking place in the room.

If you are visiting Thornbury from elsewhere and unable to visit on a Wednesday, ask at the reception desk downstairs to find out whether there is a meeting going on in the room. If it’s free, you should be able to view the Quilt.

If you are a school and want to arrange a group visit to the Quilt, please email or phone the museum and make an appointment to view it.  Please go through the museum, rather than directly to the Town Hall.

The Quilt has a great story. Created to raise funds for the building of a new vicarage in Thornbury, the quilt lay, for many years, forgotten, packed away, almost discarded.

You can find out about the amazing accidental discovery of this beautiful, historically fascinating piece of work, made in 1900, and showcasing many of the local traders who operated in our market town at that time.

By sponsoring a square, the local shirtmaker or bicycle shop owner or commercial photographer could have their names embroidered on the quilt, along with a stitched emblem of their trade.

It’s a mine of wonderful information and local schoolchildren often research the people and businesses depicted in the different squares, using early 20th century censuses and town directories.  Now, that’s a fun way to learn history!

When you have some time to spare on a Wednesday, go along to the Town Hall, pull up some chairs, and listen to and watch the explanations of why the quilt was made and who made it, and discover some of the many tradespeople and businesses who were operating in Thornbury in 1900.  We think you’ll find out masses you didn’t know about the history of the town!