Because rag rugs are utilitarian objects, originally intended to be used until they were completely threadbare and then simply discarded, hardly any early examples have survived. In addition, rug making was regarded as a working class craft and therefore considered to be scarcely worthy of attention. It was also associated with poverty, and as people became more affluent they were often ashamed of their rugs and their associations, and so they threw them away.

There are people that can remember their parents and grandparents making rugs in…… Wales, Kent, Sussex, East Anglia, Worcester and the East End of London, making hand hooked rugs became especially popular in the North East of England. This was partly because there were many local mills and cloth factories, which meant that materials were easily available, and partly because of endemic poverty led to the re-use of old fabrics, including clothing.

The tools for making rugs – the hooks and frames, were usually made by men. The rug makers were usually women. The whole family would get involved, with the men setting up the frame, and sometimes marking out the design on the backing fabric with a charred stick taken from the fire. The children would be expected to cut up the old clothes gathered throughout the year. When the rug was completed, it would be placed in front of the fire in the best room, or parlour, while the older rugs would be rotated around the house. A well made hooked rug is reversible, rugs were often placed the wrong side up, only being turned over on special occasions. The traditional cleaning method would be beating the rug with a stick, when hanging over a branch.