PROJECT IDEA 
 

The Gansey Gathering is bringing the gansey back to

Plymouth.  It's a bold statement but we like to think it's possible.  This project is part cultural reclamation, part art work and part craft course.  

 

Funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, The Box and Plymouth Sound National Marine Park, it is causing quite a stir in the gansey community locally, nationally and internationally.  People have been contacting us from all over the world and we are very grateful for your interest.

 

Firstly, a recap, this unique heritage garment is a fishing jumper worn in the 19th and early 20th century.  It has no seams and is knitted in the round with 5 Ply worsted wool. The Plymouth iteration of this jumper had been lost in time but now we have a prototype and a pattern.  

 

From researching archive images online, from the Fisher Collection and at The Box, we identified fishermen in Plymouth wearing a Gansey decorated with a moss stitch on front and back.   Whether there were alternative patterns, we do not know currently but we are in the process of finding supporting evidence of local designs worn by local fisherman. So, we have the genesis of the ‘Janner Gansey’, our first iteration of a local design.  

 

From there we thought....why not share this jumper with some of the amazing knitters who live in and around the city. 

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So we applied for funding and are now delivering a quality experience to sixty local knitters who are all learning to knit their very own gansey from scratch. 

 

The Gansey Gathering course is run from The Box and gansey instruction is provided by gansey artist Tina Barrett.  The project provides an inspiring and safe place for sixty people to learn to knit their very own gansey from a pattern we have produced whilst learning about the working class maritime heritage of Plymouth.

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We are running 2 courses, each one lasting 15 weeks. 

 

Not only does the project explore our local heritage but it also hopes to create environmental stewards of its

participants through exploring sustainable fashion like

knitting and ocean literacy.

 

You can find out how our knitters are doing on Facebook, instagram and ticktock.  We also aim to promote the gansey at pop-up exhibitions at venues around the city.

 

Finally we hope to accession a gansey and images of the project into the Box collection for future generations.

 

This project will also lay the foundations for The Conscious Sisters to support women who want to knit ganseys for money in the future, just like our sisters did 100 years ago.

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GET INVOLVED

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We are popping up!  Come and say hello and meet our knitters. 

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April 5th The Box -  Ocean Planet 'Super Saturday' 

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May 4th The Box -  Folklore celebration "May Day" 

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May  17th and 18th Pirate Weekend 

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For pop-up news follow us on Facebook.

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PROJECT FUNDERS

The National Lottery Heritage Fund

The Box, Plymouth

Plymouth Sound National Marine Park