Tarras Community
The community of Langholm has a deep and longstanding connection to the surrounding landscape of the Tarras Valley and Langholm Moor. When it was announced in 2019 that 25,000 acres of Langholm Moor were up for sale, the Langholm Initiative led an ambitious two-year campaign to raise more than £6 million to bring 10,500 acres into community ownership. In doing so, the community secured a landscape of upland moorland, ancient woodland, river meadows and internationally important peatlands, creating the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve.
Textiles have long formed part of Langholm's identity, and the town once housed over a dozen working mills producing tweeds and wool fabrics. These connections inspired the Tarras Valley Textile. Created in 2024 as part of ‘Where we Stand’, a national project marking 100 years of community land ownership, this project was led locally by The Langholm Initiative in partnership with Creation Mill, and supported by Creative Scotland.
Emma Duncan from Creation Mill worked alongside artists Ann Smith and Helen Walsh and a dedicated team of volunteers to bring the piece to life. Through shared making and collaboration, the community transformed remnants of local cloth into a symbol of identity, resilience and belonging.
The Tarras Community Textile
The Tarras Valley Textile is a richly textured, collaborative map of the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve, celebrating the landscape, wildlife and communities that make the area special. Created by local artists Ann Smith and Helen Walsh with volunteers from across Langholm, the piece brings together embroidery, needle felting and stitching to depict key species and places within the reserve.
The textile was made using remnants of locally woven fabrics, giving new life to materials that might otherwise have gone to waste. Each contribution adds to a vibrant landscape filled with colour, texture and detail, reflecting the vally's biodiversity and the strong sense of connection between the community and the land.