The History of Wingham Wool

A family owned and operated business, Wingham Wool have been trading from our base in Wentworth, South Yorkshire for over 40 years. Today we offer one of the largest selections of materials and equipment for fibrecrafts in the world, supplying both retail and wholesale. With a wide range of manufacturing taking place on-site we're able to create a practically unlimited selection of blending and colour options in many different wool breeds.

Back when we first started, pre-internet days, Ruth Gough recognised that while there was plenty of yarn for knitting and crochet available, the UK market was lacking natural wools and fibres suitable for hand spinners. Never one to dilly-dally, Ruth went direct to the source: The industrial mills of West Yorkshire, once the global hub of industrial textile manufacturing.

Back then this was a pretty close-knit industry, and competition between the many merchants, traders and mills was high to ensure the best deals were struck. Ruth went straight in, and while it may have taken a little while to convince them, she was then able to deal with them direct and source the best fibres for the best price. Ruths husband Alan later came on-board fulltime and Wingham Wool was established as one of the leading fibre suppliers in the UK.

As Wingham grew over the years we expanded our range, stocking more breeds of natural wools and developing our own range of Dyed Merino with colours exclusive to us. We were able to expand our in-house manufacturing and established our own mill in Wentworth. From this point we could design and create our own blends, fulfilling orders from a few hundred grams to a few hundred kilos.

Today Ruth's son Tom and his partner Ellie have taken over the daily running of Wingham. Along with a fantastic team of office staff, parcel packers and machinists Wingham Wool aim to be keeping fibre-crafters around the world stocked up with all their favourite fibres for many years to come.