NEW BOOK- BUCKED IN THE YARN: THE UNIQUE HERITAGE OF COKER CANVAS
Reading ‘Bucked in the Yarn’ is a revelation. It tells the fascinating story of East Coker, North Coker, and West Coker, three small Somerset villages that achieved global importance for their production of sailcloth of exceptional quality using locally grown flax and hemps. Made in the area from the Middle Ages onwards and reaching peak production in the late-nineteenth century, ‘Coker Canvas’ won an enviable international reputation for being the best sailcloth in the world. It was never the cheapest but was demonstrably stronger and more durable than its rivals. Its superiority led to its being adopted throughout the world by navies and merchant fleets, including those of Britain, luxury yachts, and, not least, competitors in the America’s Cup. The rich history and heritage of the Coker villages is little known, and its significance deserves greater recognition and appreciation. It is a story that is well worth telling and its resonances will undoubtedly be of interest to a wider audience.
This engaging and often thought-provoking manuscript tells this story very well, written as it is in a lively, accessible style and enlivened by flashes of humour and quotations from contemporary sources, poetry, and the memories of ordinary Coker people. ‘Bucked in the Yarn’ is an absorbing human-interest story, a tale of innovation, enterprise, fallibility, intrigue, controversy, and endurance, and of local pride and determination that among many other things led to successful efforts to record and preserve the history and create a heritage centre. The manuscript shows vividly how the wider world impacted on the Coker villages and their inhabitants -- in the form of wars and technological changes, for example -- and how, at the same time, this locality and its people made an impact on the wider world. It also conveys evocatively a strong sense of place of the three villages and explores absorbingly and enthusiastically the interplay between the local, the global and the individual, notably among the latter the explorer (among many other things) William Dampier and the poet T. S. Eliot.
Emeritus Professor of History Bill Jones
School of History, Archaeology and Religion
Cardiff University
“As we have come to expect from his previous work, Terry Stevens skilfully captures the essence of the Cokers. There is warmth and wisdom in his writing. He draws upon his deep intimate knowledge of the place of his birth and successfully merges this with numerous and varied historical sources. The story is told in sufficient detail, with a comprehensible tone, that will be accessible to specialist and lay readers alike. This is a much needed volume that tells a hitherto side-lined story. This publication includes everything you need to know about these remarkable villages and their global history; from pirates to poets. We are introduced to a plethora of fascinating, remarkable and ground-breaking characters. The Cokers are the fulcrum on which its notable inhabitants reached out to the world and to where many visitors arrived.”
Dr Alan Sandry, Senior Lecturer in Identities and Political Philosophy
School of Management, Swansea University
The book is now available from www.graffeg.com with all royalties going to support the work of the Coker Rope & Sail Trust and CIO.
If you would like invitations to the book launch events in Somerset on 20th July and on 29th August (one the eve of the America’s Cup) in Barcelona please email terry@stevensassoc.co.uk
