Weavers' windows are large horizontal

window A window is an opening in a wall, door, roof, or vehicle that allows the exchange of light and may also allow the passage of sound and sometimes air. Modern windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent ma ...

s on the top floor of a

weavers' cottage A weavers' cottage was (and to an extent still is) a type of house used by Weaver (occupation), weavers for cloth production in the putting-out system sometimes known as the domestic system. Weavers' cottages were common in Great Britain, often ...

that allowed the residents light to weave. Weavers' windows are associated with the

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

migration to Britain and Ireland.

Overview

Before the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

, weaving was carried out in the homes of weavers, and their looms were typically on the top floor of their dwellings, lit by "Weavers' windows", long windows that admitted the most sunlight. Weavers' windows were also called "lights".

Quote

In chapter 17 of '' A Child of the Jago'' Arthur Morrison wrote:

And the wreckers tore down the foul old houses, laying bare the secret dens of a century of infamy; lifting out the wide sashes of the old ‘weavers’ windows’— the one good feature in the structures letting light and air at last into the subterraneous basements where men and women had swarmed, and bred, and died, like wolves in their lairs.

References

Windows Weaving Architectural elements {{Architecturalelement-stub