We had a fabulous time at the Norwich Castle Museum. (Norwich is not pronounced Nor – wich, but Nor – rich.) Norwich was a center of shawl making and may have designed the first paisley shawl. However, Paisley, a town in Scotland, just sold more of them; so the design became known as Paisley instead of Norwich. We saw many old shawls and then how shawls were repurposed as other types of clothing. There was one fabulous coat that had previously been a shawl.
And here is another one:
After looking at shawls, we went into the storage area and saw some wonderful pieces of needlework. A couple of pieces looked like they were done with pen and ink rather than needle and thread.
And the most impressive piece was a 12-foot long letter that had been embroidered by a woman who had been put in the asylum section of a work house. She didn't want to be there and didn't think she should be there; so she created several long letters that were embroidered. The letter was obviously made with bits and pieces of fabric. The writing was legible but tended to ramble on without any punctuation and didn't make a whole lot of sense. The letter we saw is one of three that exist, and the longest letter is 20-feet long. I don't know if the letters were ever delivered.
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