Paradise Mill and Silk Museum, Macclesfield

Join us at the best (and only!) silk museum in the north! The museum houses a fabulous collection of textiles and industrial machinery at what was the original Macclesfield School of Art. Next door is Paradise Mill, designated by Historic England and home to the largest collection of silk Jacquard handlooms in Europe.

Visit to see how the Jacquard mechanism laid the foundations for our digital age.

Be inspired by their historic archive of pattern books, the largest collection in the north.

See how designs were created and then transformed onto silk using different printing methods.

Discover the stories of the people connected to the industry and how they led Macclesfield to become an international centre for design and silk manufacturing.

Find out how how silk stood for ambition, creativity and ingenuity.

We will meet around 10:40am at the tea room in the Silk Museum and shortly afterwards go to the nearby Paradise Mill site in time for their 11am tour. The tour will take an hour. When it is done we will have something to eat at their tea shop (or a nearby place if better) and then look around the Silk Museum.

The Paradise Mill tour costs £11.50 per adult (concessions available), but the Silk Museum is free. If you would rather skip the tour and meet up later at the museum that is fine, I'll update the event's comments section with where we are after the tour is done so we can meet up.

The Paradise Mill tour can be booked here: https://macclesfield-museums.arttickets.org.uk/paradise-mill/paradise-mill-1100am-tour-667548c089e87 . It is safest to book in advance to get a guaranteed place. Make sure you book the 11am tour on Saturday October 25th .

If you haven't paid for annual membership of this meetup group, please also give me a couple of quid on the day so i can afford to keep the group going. Thanks!