On April the 1st of this year, the English heritage launched Operation Clothes Moth. This was to raise awareness of the damage that cloth moths cause to many of our historical items in heritage sites across the country. The English heritage asked people to pick up free cloth moth traps, to help track levels of moths across the country. It may beg believe but the English heritage mothcounters have been keeping an eye on these levels since 1997 and as Amber Xavier-Rowe, (English Heritage’s Head of Collections Conservation), said: “They can eat through centuries-old carpets, tapestries and clothes in a matter of months. Clothes moths are a conservator’s worst nightmare and it’s an ongoing battle to keep them under control. The warmer weather has not helped and in the last five years the number of clothes moths we’ve captured on our traps has doubled. We want to know why numbers are rising so that we can continue to keep them under control.”
Remarkably enough the fight against cloth mouth isn’t a new idea, it is recorded that in 1590 eight men were employed for an entire day to beat the furs at Windsor Castle, while in 1598 it took six men four days to air the robes at the Tower of London on the behest of Queen Elizabeth 1st. So if you feel like helping please monitor your own levels of cloth moths by picking up our Demi Dimond cloth moth traps and posting your finding on the English Heritage website or, alternatively if cloth moths are causing you problems please take a look at our cloth mouth kits from Pest Expert today.