Rookhope Smelters Shawls

Rookhope Smelter Shawls was a community-based textile and walking project developed in the North Pennines, responding to the lead-smelting history of Rookhope. Participants were invited to knit individual shawls inspired by the industrial, geological, and social histories of the former smelt mill site.

The project culminated in a collective walk from Rookhope Village Hall to Rookhope Arch, the site of the smelt mill. Participants wore their shawls during the walk, foregrounding bodily presence, movement, and shared attention to place. The act of walking connected making, landscape, and memory, transforming the shawls from objects into performative markers of collective experience.

The work concluded with a public exhibition at Bowlees Visitor Centre, situating the shawls within wider conversations around heritage, labour, and care. The project emphasised slow making, participation, and non-extractive engagement with landscape, allowing community knowledge and lived experience to shape the work