For many years women used the porch, from where the cottage gets its name, to weave and sew. In fact this Grade 2 Listed cottage dating from 1698 still retains the rights to wash linen in the River Greta which runs parallel to it.
John Ruskin brought hand spinning and weaving teacher Marian Twelves to Keswick from Langdale soon after the Keswick School of Industrial Arts was established in 1884. She quickly shared her expertise with local women and ‘Ruskin Lace’ was born.
Porch and Ruskin Cottages were purchased and operated as a weaving centre for the homespun linen. On the opposite side of the road, there were steps leading to the ‘Turn Hole’ where the flax was ‘retted’ to break down the cellulose coating and expose the fibres before spinning.
At exhibitions held over the next few years, KSIA output included linen and embroidery produced under the direction of Marian Twelves. Ruskin Lace involves cutting out squares or oblongs in lengths of linen and filing them in with geometrical designs or patterns. This little cottage industry grew successfully and soon exported all over the world!
Differences of opinion surfaced over the next few years and by 1894 Marian Twelves was ready to branch out on her own. She resigned from her position on the KSIA management committee and set up her own linen industry which became known as the Ruskin Linen Industry after John Ruskin agreed she could use his name. Marian Twelves continued her work for the rest of her life in Keswick.
The cottage is described as having a fine example of a ‘spinners’ porch in the book ‘The Ruskin Linen Industry of Keswick’ by Frederick A Benjamin. It was also the showroom, office and living quarters for the spinners. Next door, Ruskin Cottage was home to the weaving room and hand loom.
