Weaving history: Behind our St. David’s Cross pattern

We have been weaving our St. David’s Cross pattern at Melin Tregwynt since it was first introduced in the 1980s.  

Over the years our St. David’s Cross blankets have been spotted on-screen, including shows like Celebrity Big Brother, and appeared in the spotlight, with a custom cape created for Welsh musician, Lucy J Morgan who has worked with Dexys Midnight Runners, Lionel Richie, Dame Shirley Bassey and Jools Holland.  

More recently, we have created custom colourways for TOAST and Gladstone / Hellen,  British lifestyle brands. 

A Shift in Style: 1980s Preference Moves Toward Simpler, Contemporary Patterns 

The St. David’s Cross pattern was created by Howard Griffiths, the second-generation owner of Melin Tregwynt and the design is actually an adaptation of one of our earlier tapestry designs, now known as Vintage Star. 

Although our traditional tapestry patterns have become highly popular again in recent years, the 1980s marked a shift in our customer’s preferences towards simpler, more contemporary patterns, rather than the traditional weaves. This prompted us to focus on creating more modern double cloth weaves, like Mondo and Madison, and to transform the Vintage Star pattern into the simpler St. David’s Cross, influenced by early 18th century Shaker weaving. 

Early Shaker weaves embodied the community’s dedication to simplicity and utility, resulting in creations that conveyed functional beauty. The pared-down St. David’s Cross pattern reflected these principles initially, designed in a small range of two-tone colourways, celebrating both the pattern and its reversible nature. 

A Timeless Pattern Evolving Through the years 

The new St. David’s Cross pattern proved a popular one and has remained in our range ever-since its introduction, evolving over the years with new colour combinations, using two, three, or four yarn shades, creating different visual effects. 

Our recently introduced Hen Llys design carries forward this journey of pattern evolution. Hen Llys draws inspiration from a striking vintage tapestry blanket of unknown origin we have in our archive, but the pattern is developed from our St. David’s Cross design. If you compare the two, you can spot the cross motif of St. David’s Cross within the Hen Llys checkerboard design. The name of the pattern also connects to St. David’s Cross. Hen Llys means ‘old court’ in Welsh, which we chose in celebration of St. David’s Bishop’s Palace, located down the road from our mill, renowned for its spectacular checkerboard stonework. Beauty in simplicity.