The Point Blanket Booklet: Witney & The Point Blanket

A full-colour illustrated booklet all about the original Hudson's Bay Point Blankets published by Witney Blanket Hall, former home of the Company of Witney Blanket Weavers and the principal public hall in the town.

Of the multitude of different Witney blankets, one of the most famous was ‘The Point Blanket’, of which the best known variant is an ecru ground with four bars of different colours at each end. There is one hanging in the group above the stairs. In the 18th century, these were made in huge quantities for the Hudson’s Bay Company, which traded them with native Canadians for beaver and other skins. They were often made into long coats called capotes, and there is an example of such a coat draped over the banisters. For 100 years, the production of point blankets was particularly welcome to the members of the Company and then the mills that succeeded them. For the points had to be shipped in the early summer to avoid iceflows in the northern waters, and thus provided work for the Witney looms during the slack winter months.