Axminster
Today Axminster Carpets is still a family run business based in the heart of the town, the Devon town that gave the carpets their name. The history of carpet making in the town dates back to 1755 when Thomas Whitty made carpets using what became known as the Axminster method of weaving.
Thomas Whitty began making Axminster method carpets in 1755. These original Axminster Carpets™ could be found in Chatsworth House and Brighton Pavilion as well as being bought by King George III and Queen Charlotte, who visited the factory.
182 years later a carpet manufacturer called Harry Dutfield was on a train where he met a vicar from the West Country who told him that carpets had not been made in the town for a while due to a disastrous fire that had destroyed the factory. The germ of an idea was born and in 1937 the decision was taken to re-launch carpet manufacturing in the town.
This was the renaissance of ‘Axminsters from Axminster’. They continue the proud tradition of making the finest carpets in the world. Their carpets 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 discerning homes up and down the country.