Our Story Told by Roger Plested
Year 1994
This is the original Winchester Furniture workshop film, recorded in 1994.
A rare, unfiltered look at our craftsmen, our methods, and the principles that shaped our company.
Established in the Chesterfield Tradition Since 1773
THE WINCHESTER LEGACY
A custodian of a 250‑year tradition
A heritage of craftsmanship, provenance, and enduring value For over half a century, Winchester has built furniture with the same principles that guided traditional British workshops: honest materials, skilled hands, and a commitment to creating pieces that last a lifetime. Our work is not mass‑produced. It is crafted, shaped, stitched, and finished by makers who understand the value of time‑honoured techniques.
​​Winchester furniture has lived in homes across generations, and many of our earlier pieces have been collected, traded, and sold through auction houses across Europe. This quiet circulation speaks to something deeper than branding. It reflects the enduring quality, provenance, and long‑term value of true craftsmanship.​
​​Every Winchester piece carries this legacy forward.
​​Every frame, every stitch, every detail is built with the same care and integrity that has defined our workshop for decades.
​​Winchester is not a trend.
​​Winchester is a lineage, a continuation of British craft, preserved and passed on through the furniture we make.
British best know iconic design the Chesterfield
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Winchester Furniture
Manufacturing Clips From 1994
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Winchester Furniture began with a simple belief: that British craftsmanship still matters. Long before the brand carried its name, the people behind it were building furniture the traditional way, by hand, with patience, with pride, and with an understanding that a well‑made piece becomes part of a family’s life.
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In the early years, Winchester operated from a modest workshop on Grove Lane in Padiham. It was here that the company first established its reputation for honest materials, traditional methods, and the unmistakable character of handmade British furniture. As demand grew, not just across the UK, but in Europe, Russia, Japan, and the United States, the Grove Lane workshop could no longer contain the scale of production.
This growth led Winchester to expand into a larger space.
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In the early 1990s, Winchester opened a combined retail and trade showroom inside Britannia Mill on Lune Street in Padiham, a historic textile site dating back to the mid‑19th century. Overlooking the former Kwik Save supermarket, the showroom became a focal point for customers and stockists alike, and later appeared in Winchester’s 1994 manufacturing film, which documented the brand’s commitment to traditional British furniture making.
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​Britannia Mill, constructed between 1854 and 1856 by Elizabeth Hargreaves, had once housed over 650 looms and was known for producing specialty fabrics like shirting’s and jaconnettes. Its preserved north-light weaving shed, original power transmission shafts, and landmark 30-metre chimney made it one of Padiham’s most architecturally significant industrial sites.
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Winchester’s presence in Britannia Mill marked a turning point, a moment when the brand’s identity began to crystallize. The mill’s industrial soul, its cast-iron columns and sandstone walls, became the backdrop for a new kind of craft: not textiles, but leather, timber, and the enduring silhouette of the British Chesterfield.
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As demand grew, not just across the UK, but in Europe, Russia, Japan, and the United States, Winchester outgrew the Britannia showroom. The company sought a larger home, one worthy of its expanding world markets.
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In 1995, Winchester moved into Clover Croft Mill on Higham Hall Road, another Victorian weaving shed, built in 1852. For nearly a decade, this mill became the centre of Winchester’s operations. Inside its long roofline and stone walls, the brand refined its craft: solid frames, hand‑tied springs, real hides, and the quiet discipline of makers who understood that quality is not a feature, it’s a promise.
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When Clover Croft Mill was demolished in 2006, the building disappeared, but the craft did not. Winchester continued, carrying forward the same workshop values that defined those years: honesty in materials, dignity in workmanship, and a belief that furniture should be made to last, not made to sell.
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SHAPED BY LANCASHIRE
We don’t imitate heritage. We are heritage.
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Winchester’s story is inseparable from the landscape and working spirit of East Lancashire. The mills, workshops and industrial communities of the region shaped the way we build, the way we think, and the standards we hold ourselves to.
But it wasn’t just the place that shaped us, it was the people.
For generations, Lancashire has been home to men and women whose skills were forged through hard work, shared knowledge and a deep pride in their craft. Many of the techniques we use today were passed down through conversations in workshops, guidance from experienced hands, and the quiet generosity of local makers who believed in helping one another.
The community around us has always played a part in Winchester’s journey.
From the upholsterers and machinists who shared their expertise, to the suppliers, small workshops and local families who supported the trade, Lancashire has given us more than a location, it has given us a foundation.
This region has been good to us.
It gave us our craft, our people, and our purpose.
Every piece we make carries a little of that spirit, honest, resilient, and built to last.
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Today, Winchester stands as a continuation of that lineage, not a brand invented for the internet age, but a craft house shaped by real places, real people, and real history. The tools have changed, the world has changed, but the principles remain the same.
