Untold Stories: Workers of the Wandle

Untold Stories was a £1 million fund to help communities test, develop, create and grow projects to share their stories of culture and heritage. Workers of the Wandle celebrated the people of Merton who produced amazing textiles along the River Wandle. We wanted to tell the stories of the young working-class men and women who worked in William Morris's Merton Abbey Works in the 1890s, and the disabled workers who were employed as tapestry weavers at the works after the first world war. 

We worked with people who live in Merton today to develop artwork to celebrate that forgotten legacy, and put shared creativity on show. We gave talks and ran workshops with Merton Youth Parliament and Merton CIL to create embroideries that were included in an interpretive display that was shown in Wimbledon and Morden libraries.