Textile team unfold a new masterpiece
East Ayrshire Leisure Collection Care staff, a range of volunteers and the Dean Castle Textile Team have been hard at work preparing for an exciting new free exhibition which opened at Kilmarnock’s Dick Institute on Wednesday, June 6.
Items from the collection normally housed at Dean Castle are being brought to the Dick Institute for display and safe-keeping while the Castle is closed to the public for extensive £5.2m restoration and refurbishment work, which is being funded by East Ayrshire Council, Heritage Lottery Fund, Historic Environment Scotland and East Ayrshire Leisure.
Among the items featured will be some of the castle’s recognised collection of internationally significant early musical instruments, as well as many fine examples of armoury which can be viewed in a specially-created open storage area.
One of the highlights of the exhibition will be the Gothic style suit of armour belonging to the 8th Lord Howard De Walden, which he had made around the turn of the last century and wore on a number occasions.
His original arming doublet, now too fragile to be displayed, has been replicated for the exhibition by Jonathan Allen, a postgraduate Dress and Textile Histories student from the University of Glasgow, who has been working with the Textile Team recently as part of a work placement.
Another major exhibit will be a 500-year-old tapestry featuring the bethrothal scene of King James IV and Margaret Tudor, elder sister of Henry VIII.
And as part of an educational project which will run alongside the new exhibition, the Textile Team now in its 12th year - has also created replicas of the costumes worn by the two main characters from the tapestry, allowing school children to dress up and re-enact the scene during their visit.
They have also produced another set of the costumes to be used as display pieces, with these taking a year and a half to complete, having been hand stitched as they would have been in the 1500s, including hats and shoes.
Admission to the Dean Castle collection exhibition is free.
For opening times, or for more information on the Dean Castle refurbishment works, visit www. eastayrshireleisure.com.