Sunday August 10th 2025
You know that picture of Stroud scarlet cloth
Stretched out on tenterhooks in Rodborough Fields,
The one in the museum,
The one on the information board at the canal at Wallbridge,
The one on the information leaflets used in this campaign by this group?
This cloth I have in my hands in almost the very spot depicted in that picture,
Went all around the world: traded with the Iroquois in Hudson Bay;
Used by the East India Company in its depredations;
Known as ‘Strouds’ by First Nations Peoples
Way out west beyond the Mississippi
Long before the wagon trains started to roll out way out west to California;
The colour that clothed the British Army as the map of the world turned red,
And the sun never set on the British Empire;
The colour favoured by many enslavers on the plantations in the West Indies,
To symbolise their control and authority and to deter resistance …
And so, this cloth I have in my hands doesn’t symbolise NIMBYism:
‘Not in My Backyard’,
Instead, it symbolises a site which links the local to the national
And the local to the global:
For where we stand here, is, as it were, and so to speak,
A hub of Britain’s history that for two hundred years coloured the globe red.
But now for one final piece of local history:
This summer, 200 years ago, saw the Stroudwater Riots,
When thousands of weavers combined together
To protect their standard of living,
For red not only symbolises the wealth and prosperity of this area,
It is also a symbol of resistance,
And we remember all of those traditions today as we stand here,
And we hope to protect them too
With the community ownership of these fields.
Thank you everyone for coming today.
Thank you to all who help and contribute in the future:
The future of Rodborough Fields is now in our hands.