Rookhope Smelters Shawls

Rookhope Smelter Shawls was a community textile and walking project developed in response to the lead-smelting heritage of Rookhope in the North Pennines. Working with local participants, I explored how making together can become a way of connecting with place, memory and industrial history.

Participants each knitted a shawl inspired by the geological, industrial and social histories of the former smelt mill. While each shawl reflected an individual response, together they formed a collective expression of shared experience and belonging.

The project culminated in a walk from Rookhope Village Hall to Rookhope Arch, the site of the former smelt mill. Wearing the shawls transformed them from handmade objects into companions for walking, linking bodies, landscape and memory through a shared journey across the valley.

The project concluded with an exhibition at Bowlees Visitor Centre, where the shawls carried the traces of both making and walking. Bringing together textile practice, collective participation and movement through the landscape, Rookhope Smelter Shawls explored how creative practice can strengthen relationships between people, place and heritage.