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Discover the spellbinding story of the Welsh woollen industry

Wool was historically the most important and widespread of Wales's industries. The picturesque village of Dre-fach Felindre in the beautiful Teifi valley was once the centre of a thriving woollen industry, earning the nickname 'The Huddersfield of Wales'.

The National Wool Museum is housed in the historic former Cambrian Mills which made shirts and shawls, blankets and bedcovers, woollen stockings and socks sold throughout the world. 

On your visit to the museum which holds the National Textile Collection, you can follow the process from Fleece to Fabric and visit the sympathetically restored listed mill buildings.

The Museum houses a wide variety of historic machinery used in the woollen mills of Wales including the electric powered Willower - the ‘willy’ or ‘devil’ - is used to disentangle wool with its large revolving drum, covered with rows of iron spikes, opening up the wool in preparation for carding.

The Carding Engine was invented in the 18th century. The carding engines comb the wool after it has been willowed, preparing the fibres for spinning. Cambrian Mills had four carding engines, 20 meters long and weighing 10 tons each. They were vital for mass production, because poorly carded wool would keep breaking when spun, wasting time and money, and reducing the quality of both the yarn and cloth woven from it.

A raised walkway in our newly re-opened Weaving Shed gives a unique view of textiles in production, while the Textile Gallery displays aspects of the National Flat Textile Collection.