When having style required a hat – those were the times for an industry whose centre was Stockport, just outside of Manchester. There was a time when nearly 50 factories made hats that were sold all over the world.

Nowadays, a handful are left. Bracher’s makes sweatbands and other parts for hat makers abroad, while Failsworth Hats, a manufacturer and wholesaler, does not even seem to own a website.

The hat industry started in the 17th century and enjoyed its heyday in the late 19th centurty. Its story is told in the Hat Works museum, housed in an impressive mill building in the centre of Stockport.

Our highly knowledgeable and entertaining guide explained how rabbits’ underfur was prepared, made into a fine fluff, blown to form a triangular-shaped hood, baked, boiled and squeezed to felt the fur, before being stretched into its final shape on a wooden block.

She described a laborious, expensive process that seemed to depend on two elements to be profitable – cheap labour and a disregard for the health of the workers.

The saying ‘mad as a hatter’ is connected with the use of mercury in the production process, as prolonged exposure to mercury vapours affects the nervous system and slowly poisons staff.

The museum contains the machinery that was developed to mechanise many of the processes. As a child in the 1950s, our guide used to visit her parents in the hat mill. She said she could hardly see them across the factory floor because of the dust and fur in the air working amidst the deafening noise of the machinery.

I highly recommed a visit and urge you to make use of the tour guide. I am planning to return and attend one of the millinery courses that are offered from time to time. Maybe make a gambler or a beret with quill  or a top hat?