Newtown Textile Museum

Our story

The Textile Museum in Newtown - just over the bridge into Commercial Street, (see the map) gives visitors a chance to see how the handloom weavers of the mid-19th century lived and worked.

The block which houses the Museum was built in the 1830s as a hand-loom weaving factory, the looms occupying the top two floors above three pairs of two storey back-to-back houses on the lower floors.

Newtown's development into a centre of industry is described through exhibits in the former cottages. On the top two floors the story of fleece to flannel is illustrated by looms and spinning wheels, alongside displays of related industries and influential local people such as Pryce Jones.

We also have exhibits of modern wool craft and demonstrations by experts in spinning, weaving and quilt making.

We hope you will find the Museum an interesting and enjoyable place to visit. We are now fully accredited. 

All year access

You can still enjoy some of the stories of our objects on our social media sites and our Collection page whenever our building is closed, and don't forget to try some of the jigsaws (with some new ones to test you as autumn comes along) Why not sign up to receive our newsletters so you can keep up to date.  

Thinking of JoiNING us

We are always keen on recruiting additional volunteers to join our friendly team of volunteer hosts for the summer season even though we are have closed for now. Hosts receive training and work in pairs to run the museum on the days it is open to the public. Now is a great time to get involved, there are are still jobs that need to be done over the winter.

We can arrange for you to visit the Museum so we can tell you about the ways you can share in telling our story. Email us at:

 volunteer@newtowntextilemuseum.co.uk