KELMSCOTT.- A major conservation and restoration project at Kelmscott Manor, Oxfordshire is nearing completion as the “Threads of the Past” project works return to the Manor’s Tapestry Room on the 16 June 2026 for visitors to see the room in its historic splendour.

Once the creative heart of the home of William Morris, the Tapestry Room is being carefully restored to reflect the atmosphere that inspired Morris and his circle, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Morris famously regarded tapestry as the “noblest of all the weaving arts,” and it was here that his creativity flourished—shaping designs and writings that would influence generations.

At the centre of the project are the Manor’s rare 17th-century “Life of Samson” tapestries, which have hung in the room for around 300 years. Time, soot, and structural decay had left them fragile and faded. Specialist conservators have already begun the meticulous process of restoring these significant textiles, a task requiring more than 1,000 hours of work per tapestry. Treatments include careful cleaning, stabilisation, and the reweaving of damaged areas using hand-dyed threads to match the original colours.

Alongside the conservation work, lost architectural features within the Tapestry Room will be recreated, this includes the adjoining “Bachelor’s Bedroom,” a small but historically rich space so named by Rossetti. Used by him as a bedroom while the Tapestry Room served as his studio and sitting room, it later housed guests including artist Edmund Hort New. Drawing on surviving evidence, the room will be refurnished to reflect its 19th-century appearance, offering visitors a vivid insight into life at Kelmscott during Morris’s time.

With much of the work already completed, the project team is now seeking to raise a final £20,000 to complete the conservation of the remaining tapestries. Once finished, the restored Tapestry Room will allow visitors—for the first time in over a century—to experience the space as Morris and Rossetti did: rich in colour, texture, and atmosphere.

“This project is about more than conservation,” says Martin Levy FSA, who has been closely involved with the restoration of Kelmscott Manor. “It is about bringing one of Britain’s most evocative historic interiors back to life and reconnecting visitors with the artistic vision that shaped it.”

Donations will directly support the final stages of tapestry conservation, helping to secure the future of these remarkable works and the room they define.

This project is supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Historic Houses Foundation, Aldama Trust, Blavatnik Family Foundation, L.G.Harris Trust, Mercers’ Company, The Woolbeding Charity, the William Delafield Charitable Trust and Benefactors and Companions of Kelmscott Manor.