Building    From 1619  To 1703

Mortlake Tapestry Works

Categories: Craft / Design

Barnes History has a nice hand-drawn map with a pin showing the location of these Tapestry Works, and it gives the history of the site. John Dee (1527 -1608) lived in a house on this site (with a large and important library) from 1566 until his death by which time he was very poor. In 1619 the estate was purchased and repurposed as the Mortlake Tapestry Works which employed skilled Flemish weavers to produce highly valued products. This closed in the early 18th century.

Another excellent source is Panorama of the Thames. This has another image of the river front which makes clear that the Lower Dutch House is the pink building, shown in our image, to the left of the steps down to the river. Our image is centred on the adjacent Queen's Head pub. The picture source website has researched the 'J.Firmston' named in the picture and this dates it to 1871-8. So the Lower Dutch House was still standing then.The name suggests there was another, upper, 'Dutch House' possibly standing further back from the river. 'Dutch' presumably came from the language/culture of the people working there.

The tapestries were so successful that Mortlake became famous for this product. The Lady Lever Art Gallery holds a set of the tapestries.

(The pub was rebuilt in 1885, closed in the 1940s and, by 2011 was developed into the residential Tapestry Court.)

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Mortlake Tapestry Works

Commemorated ati

Mortlake Tapestry Works

Site of the Lower Dutch House, part of the Mortlake Tapestry Works, 1619 - 1703.

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Other Subjects

Janet James

Janet James

Mosaic/ceramic artist, active c. 2005.

Person, Craft / Design

1 memorial
Christopher Pinchbeck

Christopher Pinchbeck

Clock maker. Invented the alloy of copper and zinc which closely resembles gold.

Person, Craft / Design

1 memorial
Silvie Jacobi

Silvie Jacobi

Mosaic artist, teacher and administrator, working with Southbank Mosaics since 2007.

Person, Craft / Design

3 memorials
J. Starkie Gardner

J. Starkie Gardner

Sculptor of, and historian on, decorative ironwork. Also wrote on geology and botany and collected fossils. His company, based in Lambeth, did all the metal work at 2 Temple Place, inside and out, ...

Person, Craft / Design, History, Sculpture

1 memorial
Bazaar, Kings Road

Bazaar, Kings Road

The first Bazaar boutique was opened by Mary Quant at 138a Kings Road, in 1955. More information and photos at our Image Source, the magnificent Another Nickel in the Machine. Quant opened a second...

Group, Commerce, Craft / Design

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Arnold Bax

Arnold Bax

SW16, Pendennis Road, 13

The plaque is located at 13 Pendennis Road, Streatham, but the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography says he was born in Angles Road, w...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
George Harry Wyatt, VC

George Harry Wyatt, VC

Awarded the VC for his heroism on 25-26 August 1914, age 27, while serving in the Coldstream Guards. "Positioned in a farm yard, enemy fire ignited a straw stack. Under heavy fire he put out the bl...

Person, Armed Forces

War served, WW1
1 memorial
A. Yeatman & Sons

A. Yeatman & Sons

Funeral directors based in West Norwood mostly known for monumental masonry, taken over by Smiths of Southwark. The picture source website has an interesting page about the history of their busine...

Group, Benefactor, Commerce

1 memorial
850th anniversary

850th anniversary

EC1, Cloth Fair, St Bartholomew the Great graveyard

The millennium tree (in 2008 still a sapling) is in front of the half-timbered wall. The two yews commemorating the 850th anniversary are...

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators
Mel Morris Jones

Mel Morris Jones

The picture shows "Mel Morris Jones and Harry Brockway checking for level" but we don't know which is which, and we have to admit, it's not a good picture of either.

Person, Sculpture

1 memorial