Weavers Uprising
Bicentennial Committee
Weavers Uprising Bicentennial Committee (WUBC)
The Weavers Uprising Bicentennial Committee (WUBC) is registered charity working towards the remembrance of the handloom weavers uprising across Lancashire, 24th-27th April 1826.
The Weavers Uprising Bicentennial Committee (WUBC) is developing several projects and community activities from 2024-26. This will enable increased participative community involvement in the 199th & 200th Commemorative events, to be held in Chatterton in April 2025 and across Pennine Lancashire in 2026.
The WUBC charity aims to raise the profile of an important but overlooked historical event by providing commemorative events, artwork & other creative visual interpretations, music & singing, community talks and initiating research and developing educational resources.
We hope over the coming years to develop information leaflets, social media publicity and hold community meetings, to bring new volunteers together to define and establish community walking trails and gather together materials/artefacts and historical records to illuminate the story and hidden history of the Weavers Uprisings through a mobile exhibition & publications.
We welcome new members and volunteers to become involved in our work – please use our contact form on the website to get in touch with the Committee.
History of the WUBC
The ‘Founding Document’ of the WUBC was published on 24th April 2022. It details the vision, objects, aims and governance of the charity.
Our 30 aims fall into four distinct areas that will continue to be the focus of the registered charity in its work towards the 2026 bicentennial.
Educational Resources
Raising awareness and educating the wider community is a core focus of work for the WUBC. Since 2022 our members have carried out original research on the death rate in east Lancashire in the years preceding the uprising and those directly after, as well as transcription of all the local and national newspaper accounts and other materials from Home Office records. The WUBC is also working towards the development of bespoke educational resources for local schools, colleges and community groups and a touring mobile exhibition.
Commemorative Events
The WUBC has been holding an annual public commemorative event at Chatterton Peace Park since April 2022. This includes the carrying of a handmade coffin filled with bread (an authentic 1826 Lancashire weavers protest); readings from testimonies of weavers and mill owners; musical performance; naming of those who are known to have died and the laying of a wreath. The WUBC are also supporting the development of networked commemorative events and activities across Lancashire in 2025-2026, in collaboration with local museums, heritage site, libraries and other community stakeholders (including Lancashire County Council and Rossendale Borough Council) to host special events related to the Weavers Uprising in the bicentennial year.
Artistic Collaborations
The WUBC has initiated several artistic projects, including the creation of a ‘Rise Up’ Banner by well-known textile artist James Fox and the creation of hundreds of small wooden crosses, which will involve the participation of volunteers from the area. The WUBC and its partners are keen to commission new artworks and diverse artistic representations as a lasting monument – drawings, paintings, sculpture, poetry, prose, musical compositions and performance art, posters, billboards, banners – anything that can creatively represent the weavers of Pennine Lancashire in the 1820’s.
Sustainable Legacy
The WUBC will help to create new audio-visual and digital materials about the weavers uprising to establish a permanent historical record. The WUBC is also assisting in tracing the genealogy of the families of those killed at Chatterton, the 41 people given the death penalty at Lancashire Assize and others known to have been involved in the uprising, as a form of legacy.
