DEVIL’S Bridge mart held a special auction last week, raising £2,000 for agricultural charity, Tir Glas.

This auction was the culmination of a year’s work by many local hands as part of Prosiect Brith (Speckle Project) - a community textiles and research project transforming local Welsh Hill Speckled Face Wool into a flock of unique, hyper-local hats.

The hat auction was held at Devil’s Bridge Mart on Wednesday 10 July and was attended by The Venerable Eileen Davies, who founded Tir Dewi in 2015.

Auctioneer Daniel Rees fostered a spirit of playful competition amongst the crowd and by the end of the day, 37 unique speckled hats were sold to a host of happy bidders, raising £2000 and counting, as donations continue to roll in!

The distinctive and striking ‘panda-eyed’ Welsh Hill Speckled Face Sheep was bred in Devil’s Bridge in the 19th Century to produce higher value wool on a hardy sheep suited to the Welsh uplands, but the market value of a speckled fleece is now less than it costs a farmer to shear.

As a way to reevaluate this ‘shear waste’, Prosiect Brith revives the old custom gwlana (wool-gathering) a practice of cymorth (mutual aid) that once supported rural people in hardship and formed an important connection between lowland communities and upland farmers: Through workshops, foraging walks, publications and events over the course of a year the project has been inviting community groups all along the river Rheidol to collaborate in making hats knitted in patterns and dye-colours gathered along the river watershed, with yarn handspun from local flocks of Welsh Hill Speckled Face Sheep.

At a time when upland livelihoods face such uncertainty, the project addresses the need to nurture and build networks of care and resilience as well as raise funds to support farmers facing hardship, through the work of Tir Dewi. The result of this year’s work is not only a flock of hats, but a network of connections between diverse communities along the river, forged through skill sharing, conversations and countless gestures of support.

Fleeces were gathered at shearing last July by project faciliator and artist-researcher Zoë Quick, from farmers who are regular attenders at Devil’s Bridge Mart.

The fleeces were then washed, carded and spun by Zoë in collaboration with The Ceredigion Guild of Weavers Spinners and Dyers, who have contributed a huge amount of time and skill to the project.

During the Autumn term, Year 6 pupils at Llwyn yr Eos school went on field trips organised in collaboration with community landscape co-design project Tir Canol, to gather patterns from nature in Coed Geufron and to gather acorns to use for dyeing yarn.

The children worked hard to make 60 hand-bound pattern books for the project.

Outdoor workshops were held with Llwyn yr Eos pupils whilst children at Ysgol Mynach researched the history.

Year 5 and 6 pupils interviewed farmers and in collaboration with singer-songwriter Worldwide Welshman [Liam Rickard], the children then composed a new ballad, which they performed on mart day as children from both schools modelled the flock of hats.