My Carpet - A History of Templeton's

Who'd have thought that that charity shop carpet I bought many years ago would turn out to be a Templeton's carpet, made by James Templeton & Company in Glasgow. At a cost of just £12, certainly not me. The story of Templeton's starts in Paisley, where in 1829 James Templeton started making Paisley shawls. But the fashion for shawls changed in the 1850s and Templeton transferred part of the process for weaving shawls to the weaving of carpets. He moved to the East End of Glasgow, and the rest is, as they say, history. Certainly the company is history, as it no longer exists. But throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Templeton's suffered any number of setbacks and tragedies - like the 1889 building collapse that saw 29 workers killed - yet managed to grow and expand to the extent that they supplied carpets all over the world. It was Templeton's carpets that covered floors in the Titanic, in the House of Commons, Windsor Castle, the Whitehouse, and in every Royal Coronation from 1911 to 1937 and 1953. Templeton's was an iconic Scottish company that made world-class carpets. The video finishes inside Templeton's old carpet factory, now the West Brewery, on the edge of Glasgow Green.
Please note that a few images of the carpet-making process dating to 1927 and bearing the text, 'John Templeton & Co, 1927' are incorrect and should read 'James Templeton & Co, 1927'.