A Potted History of Carpet Making
The Wiltshire town of Wilton enjoys a rich heritage that dates back to the Middle Ages, when the lucrative wool trade, the basis for much of England’s wealth at the time, became established. This later gave way to the business of cloth-making so much so that by 1699 the Clothiers and Weavers of Wilton were granted a Charter of privileges by William III. Under the patronage of the 9th Earl of Pembroke, whose country seat was at Wilton House and who had taken an interest in the manufacture of carpets while travelling in Flanders and France, two Huguenot weavers were smuggled out of France, helping to establish carpet weaving in the town. The first Wilton carpet loom was patented in 1741, and Axminster weaving, first established in the Devon town of the same name, began on the present site in 1835.
Following a number of mergers and acquisitions in the ensuing decades, the Wilton Carpets you find today was founded in 1995. Since then, we’ve been committed to creating and making beautiful woven and tufted wool carpet for commercial environments, keeping our craft and the town of Wilton’s long carpet weaving heritage at our heart. To this very day, all of our woven carpets are made on the very same site where we were first established. We are one of few authentically British carpet manufacturers.
