Apricot & Cream checks.

A simply hand woven Welsh carthen from the Pencader district of Carmarthenshire.

One of the early weaving mills that operated around Pencader mid to late C19th. Enjoying a railway connection to South Wales some 25 years before the mills of the upper Teifi Valley, these small rural mills expanded & modernised at the turn of the C20th century. re building on the " Yorkshire pattern" & producing significant numbers of carthenni & blanceddi for a local domestic & expanding South Wales Market.

Heavy carthenni: fringed bedcovers designed to cover the whole bed. Fringes skimming the floor each side. Often woven in undyed yarns & incorporating plant dyes . By the late C19th this included an addition of early German analine dyes. But for the most part they remained fairly muted in colour : Chestnuts, Apricots, Greys & Madder Reds. Two ply hand spun yarns creating a standard two & two twill & with a ply in each colour . Candy cane fringes were often a frivolous addition.

The carthen symbolises tradition & hiraeth . Evoking strong connections with home for generations of Welsh famillies. Literally , it means cover. And many different types of quilt & blanket have been labelled as carthenni. Depending , of course, on what was on the bed in your childhood. But for most, the true Welsh carthen came from the South West, big fringed check blankets mostly woven.....in Pencader.

This pretty , understated carthen, typical of those early Pencader ones. Is hand woven. A herringbone twill in alternating checks of warm Apricot & Cream. Finished with fringes on two sides & machine finished warp ends.

Measures 74" x 68" ( 188cm x 174cm) plus the fringes