Women’s Town: The Volunteers Hunting Out Local History

Nestled deep in Macclesfield’s sole museum is a room that hosts an unassuming but vivacious team of volunteers every Thursday afternoon. The all-female History Hunters act like detectives, tracing hidden tales from the town’s past.

The archive room where they work blends past and present: glass cabinets hold antiquities on one side, while shelves of historical books line the other. In the centre stands a table where the volunteers pore over textiles, pattern books, and documents.

History Hunter Jane Vardy said, “I’m very proud it’s a group of women doing this work, and I think we bring a slightly different slant to what we’re researching.

“Facts and figures are really important, but I think we’ve very much got an eye on how people lived, how people worked, how they felt. We’re quite tenacious; if we’re looking for something or want something, we’ll go for it.”

Jane Vardy in front of her favourite item in the Silk Museum, ‘A Seat in the Park’ by Madel Layng. Credit: Hannah Cochrane

Jane has lived in Macclesfield all her life, with family roots stretching back several generations. Her mother’s side worked in the silk industry, while her father’s family arrived from Cumbria in the 1870s.

“One of my first memories as a little girl was in 1961, going to the pageant celebrating 700 years of Macclesfield’s charter, and it was so exciting,” Jane reminisced.

After retiring from teaching in 2018, Jane turned her attention to family history. When her friend Jo Bell told her about the History Hunters in 2022, she was eager to join.

“I wanted to do something different to teaching. It seemed I could use what I’d learned during my family history to inform things in the museum,” Jane said.

Much of the History Hunters’ work involves what Jane described as ‘almost being detectives’: tracing names, marriages and movements to piece together the lives of Macclesfield’s past residents. Through their efforts, the team curates vivid stories of people from history.

“The thing I enjoy most is finding out about the people whom we discover along the way who worked in the silk industry in Macclesfield,” she added.

The group’s first exhibition, People of Paradise, was a proud moment for Jane. For this project, the History Hunters trawled the museum’s archives for the names of Paradise Mill employees, traced records and interviewed people who worked in the mill or visited relatives there.

Yet the History Hunters struggled to find records of women. Women’s history is often obscured by name changes after marriage and male-dominated historical documents. This is true for Macclesfield, even though women formed the backbone of the town’s silk industry.

Infographic depicting reasons women disappear from the archives. Credit: Hannah Cochrane, created via Canva

So prevalent was the female labour force that Macclesfield was colloquially known as ‘Women’s Town’ in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

According to historian Jill Norris, in 1921, around 71% of Macclesfield women in paid employment worked in the town’s silk mills. Norris adds, ‘in Macclesfield, women and the silk industry were of great mutual importance. The industry depended on female labour’.

Infographic depicting proportions of women to men in Macclesfield. Sources: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429448683-10/well-fitted-females-women-macclesfield-silk-industry-jill-norris & https://propertistics.co.uk/stats/cheshire-east/macclesfield/demographics/ Credit: Hannah Cochrane, created via Canva

Jane said, “I’m very proud to have come from a town where women have played and continue to play an important part in its history going forward.

“Hopefully, women will continue to have a high presence in the town, and we can start learning about the many women who made and make Macclesfield the town it is.”

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Head Curator Kathryn Warburton said the group are ‘integral’ to the Silk Museum’s mission to preserve and share Macclesfield’s heritage.

Kathryn Warburton in the Silk Museum. Credit: Hannah Cochrane

“The History Hunters bring out stories that wouldn’t be uncovered without them. They’re the most skilful women imaginable,” Kathryn explained.

“They’re helping us reach wider audiences and make our collections much more engaging because we can now create personal connections to inanimate objects.”

Alongside the museum’s inaugural Women’s History Month programme of exhibitions, talks and workshops to highlight the lives of historic local women, the History Hunters curated ‘The Three Annies’ exhibition. This comprised a community cabinet display, the 01625 Gallery, and an online exhibition, which was particularly successful.

‘The Three Annies’ community cabinet and 01625 Gallery, with Jane and Linda in the top middle image. Credit: Hannah Cochrane

“Our online engagement went up dramatically from the month before, because the online exhibition gave audiences a reason to visit the website. It increased by 2,000 views from one month to another, which is really significant for us as a small organisation,” Kathryn said.

She added the History Hunters’ work is ‘invaluable’ to the museum’s ability to research and create exhibitions.

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While History Hunter Linda Leeson has only lived in Macclesfield for 27 years, she has a ‘keen interest’ in the town’s textile past.

“I’m from an area very close to Spitalfields, which has connections with Macclesfield and Macclesfield weavers,” Linda explained.

“My mum and dad were both in the rag trade. My dad was a tailor; my mum was a piece machinist at home. I’ve been brought up to use industrial sewing machines and make my own clothes.”

Linda Leeson in front of a 19th-century ribbon loom in the Silk Museum. Credit: Hannah Cochrane

Before retiring in 2016, Linda worked as a social worker, which shapes her historical research.

“What really interests me is social policy, the textile industry and the Victorian times, where you’ve got big social changes. I’m particularly interested in women,” Linda said.

“I’m fascinated by Victorian institutions, and the laws and social policy that changed Macclesfield from a rural society to an industrial town.”

Her fascination with Macclesfield women fuelled her involvement in the online exhibition ‘The Three Annies.’

“I felt very proud we were raising the profile of these women. I’m proud we take the museum out to people.”

Like Jane, Linda believes the group’s all-female composition benefits their archival research.

“I think what we offer as women is a wider perspective on the actual people. As women, we have that added perspective of asking, what was it actually like to work here? And additionally, as a female, what was it like to work here, raise a family, and so on,” Linda explained.

Alongside her History Hunter role, Linda is a member of Print Block’s steering committee, an all-female creative group in the town, which Linda believes is ‘complementary’ to her role at the Silk Museum.

“There’s this very strong connection with the textile industry because of print blocking and design. I think it’s an extension of the design and print blocking here at the Silk Museum, taken into another medium and extended.”

Macc History Tapestry, led by artists Ailsa Holland and Becca Smith (L-R, central image), saw over 100 participants. Credit: Hannah Cochrane

For Linda, the recent Macc History Tapestry project is a powerful demonstration of the strength of the town’s creative community.

“I really do think that project is the real illustration that people, mainly women, are hungry for this kind of stuff, and they want to be involved. I would love to see it moving forward.”