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The town of Axminster recently celebrated 250 years of carpet making by honouring Axminsters two great carpet weavers, Thomas Whitty and Harry Dutfield.
The original Axminster Carpet Factory was founded by Thomas Whitty in 1755. Carpets from Axminster quickly became the undisputed choice for wealthy English country homes and town houses. Axminster Carpets were found in Chatsworth House and Brighton Pavillion as well as being bought by Kind George III and Queen Charlotte.
102 years later a carpet manufacturer called Harry Dutfield was on a train where he met a vicar with a heavy West Country accent. The vicar told him that carpets hadn’t been made in Axminster for a while due to a disastrous fire that had destroyed the original factory. The germ of an idea was born and in 1937 the decision was taken to relaunch carpet manufacturing in the town of Axminster.
This was the renaissance of ‘Axminsters from Axminster’. Axminster Carpets Ltd continues the proud tradition of making the finest carpets in the world. Carpets from Axminster can be found in royal residences, in some of the finest hotels in the world, in train carriages, on the aircraft of major global airlines and in thousands of descerning homes up and down the country.
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