Cornish Ganseys & Knitfrocks

Circa 2000, I was living in Cornwall, working as a Freelance Knit and Crochet designer. Whilst in Liskeard Library, I discovered a small book with black and white photos called Cornish Guernseys & Knitfrocks by Mary Wright. A documentation of Cornish social history, oral stories, hand-drawn motif charts and a couple of basic gansey patterns at the back. I took it home and read it cover to cover. Immediately, I designed a child's gansey, sourced 5ply yarn and needles and knitted my first Polperro Seeds and Bars. The pattern was published in one of the UK knitting magazines and I was hooked. I subsequently went on to make every rookie mistake in the book trying to be 'authentic'. Many ganseys' later, I love how my pupils are so anxious to 'get it right'. However, we must remember that these women knit with whatever they had and with whatever they knew at the time. Most were illiterate and patterns were in their heads, passed down through the matrilineal line and added to (or stolen from) other knitters or Herring Girls who brought a different/more attractive? motif into view. So 'authentic' and 'right' are subjective. When I got to know Mary Wright and presented her with my own Ganseys, I waited with baited breath for her reply when I asked her if they were 'right'. She asked, 'Do you like them?' and 'Do they fit?' I replied with the affirmative whereby she nodded and said, 'Then they are right.' And this simple answer has stayed with me ever since and I urge you to take this advice on board when knitting your own Gansey. It comes straight from the horses mouth!

Click on the links above and you will find a concise history of Cornish Ganseys and Knitfrocks, much of which have been learnt from the pages of Mary's Book, from my own experience and investigation and by being lucky enough to have met Mary and discussed her own path of learning and understanding around this humble sweater. I would really urge you to read further and buy the book as it has more detail than this small page. Mary herself never took a penny in royalties and donated everything to the RNLI. She passed away in 2025 but her book remains a wonderful and enduring legacy to this piece of social history. I would also like to thank Jerry Rowett Johns of Polperro Press who gave kind permission for me to publish photos from the book on my website. If you would like to purchase any of the books mentioned, then click here.