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Axminster Carpets
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Axminster Carpets
Axminster Carpets Limited is an English manufacturer of carpets, particularly the eponymous Axminster carpets. The company is based in Axminster, Devon.
Whilst visiting Cheapside market in London, Devon-based weaver Thomas Whitty was impressed by a large Turkish carpet that he saw. Upon his return to Axminster, he used his weaving skills to work out how to produce a product of similar quality. After several months work, he completed his first carpet on midsummer's day in 1755.
Whitty's carpets, looking much like horizontal tapestries, became the benchmark for wealthy aristocrats to have in their country homes and town houses, between 1755 and 1835. The company produced Axminster carpets for: the music room of the Royal Pavilion, Brighton; Chatsworth House; Powderham Castle; Saltram House; and Warwick Castle. King George III and Queen Charlotte purchased Axminster carpets and also visited the factory.
In 1800, the company made a 74-by-52-foot (23 m × 16 m) carpet for Mahmud II, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, known today as the most famous Axminster Carpet of all. Depicting a blazing sun, moon and a whole constellation of stars, it cost £1000 (equivalent to £72,421 in 2025). Carried out of the factory by thirty men from the local Congregational Church, it was initially placed in the Topkapi Palace. It was then moved to the Defterdar Palace, where it became the property of Esma Sultan, the daughter of Sultan Mustapha III.
In 1828, a disastrous fire destroyed the weaving looms. In 1835, the company owner, Samuel Rampson Whitty, the founder's grandson, was declared bankrupt. Blackmores of Wilton, Wiltshire, near Salisbury, bought the remaining stock and looms and extended their business to include hand-knotted carpets, which were still called Axminsters.
In July 2012, Axminster Heritage Ltd bought the now Grade II listed former original carpet factory in which Thomas Whitty founded the company and wove the first carpets. It now houses the town's heritage centre, incorporating the town museum and the tourist information centre.
In 1929, Kidderminster-resident Scottish-born carpet manufacturer Harry Dutfield founded a new carpet company with his former schoolfriend Stephen Quayle. However, as the depression hit, the company became beset by Union problems. Setting off for the 1935 London Motor Show to buy his first Jaguar car, Dutfield met a vicar on the train from the West Country, who told him that carpets had not been made in the town of Axminster since the 1828 fire.
Returning home, Dutfield formulated a business plan to move his company to Axminster and relaunch Axminster Carpets Ltd. He persuaded the Southern Railway to extend its station at Axminster, and from 1937 lease him land on which to build a suitable factory.
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Axminster Carpets
Axminster Carpets Limited is an English manufacturer of carpets, particularly the eponymous Axminster carpets. The company is based in Axminster, Devon.
Whilst visiting Cheapside market in London, Devon-based weaver Thomas Whitty was impressed by a large Turkish carpet that he saw. Upon his return to Axminster, he used his weaving skills to work out how to produce a product of similar quality. After several months work, he completed his first carpet on midsummer's day in 1755.
Whitty's carpets, looking much like horizontal tapestries, became the benchmark for wealthy aristocrats to have in their country homes and town houses, between 1755 and 1835. The company produced Axminster carpets for: the music room of the Royal Pavilion, Brighton; Chatsworth House; Powderham Castle; Saltram House; and Warwick Castle. King George III and Queen Charlotte purchased Axminster carpets and also visited the factory.
In 1800, the company made a 74-by-52-foot (23 m × 16 m) carpet for Mahmud II, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, known today as the most famous Axminster Carpet of all. Depicting a blazing sun, moon and a whole constellation of stars, it cost £1000 (equivalent to £72,421 in 2025). Carried out of the factory by thirty men from the local Congregational Church, it was initially placed in the Topkapi Palace. It was then moved to the Defterdar Palace, where it became the property of Esma Sultan, the daughter of Sultan Mustapha III.
In 1828, a disastrous fire destroyed the weaving looms. In 1835, the company owner, Samuel Rampson Whitty, the founder's grandson, was declared bankrupt. Blackmores of Wilton, Wiltshire, near Salisbury, bought the remaining stock and looms and extended their business to include hand-knotted carpets, which were still called Axminsters.
In July 2012, Axminster Heritage Ltd bought the now Grade II listed former original carpet factory in which Thomas Whitty founded the company and wove the first carpets. It now houses the town's heritage centre, incorporating the town museum and the tourist information centre.
In 1929, Kidderminster-resident Scottish-born carpet manufacturer Harry Dutfield founded a new carpet company with his former schoolfriend Stephen Quayle. However, as the depression hit, the company became beset by Union problems. Setting off for the 1935 London Motor Show to buy his first Jaguar car, Dutfield met a vicar on the train from the West Country, who told him that carpets had not been made in the town of Axminster since the 1828 fire.
Returning home, Dutfield formulated a business plan to move his company to Axminster and relaunch Axminster Carpets Ltd. He persuaded the Southern Railway to extend its station at Axminster, and from 1937 lease him land on which to build a suitable factory.