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One of the furthest English towns from the sea today announced a potential lifeline for coastal communities suffering from the recent outbreak of shell and cap disease. Shell and Cap is a variant of Foot and Mouth disease that affects whelks and other molluscs with horny caps that seal them into their shells.

Before the whelk-healing properties of the blankets were discovered they were tested extensively on domestic animals including cows

Witney used to be the capital of Britain's blanket industry. Situated on the edge of the Cotswolds on the fast-flowing Windrush river it was ideally placed to process the huge amounts of wool that were produced in the area. As the British Empire grew it also processed imported wool from Australia and that. The rise in the twentieth century of artificial fibres and filthy foreign inventions like the Continental Quilt put paid to Witney's preeminence and the blanket mills have fallen into disuse.

But blanket making is not lost from West Oxfordshire altogether. A small unit in Clanfield continued the work, beating the foreign onslaught by innovating. Early efforts were not entirely successful - a competitor to the duvet made of 6 live sheep stapled together never really caught on outside Eynsham. But by researching the old techniques the Clanfield Blanket Corporation was able finally to come up with a winning solution.

But now researchers funded by the local government have come up with a new use for Clanfield's blankets. Properties unique to the Clanfield blankets have been found to destroy the virus that causes Shell and Cap disease. These properties, which have never before been observed in blankets or any other kind of bedding, are believed to stem from the unique chemical makeup of the water in the Clanfield brook, that runs alongside the A4095 as it passes through the village.

Extensive trials are due to begin before October and Whitby has been chosen as the site for the test. Research Director Frans Helmut Loebber explains:

"Whitby sounds a bit like Witney and they have whelks. This makes it the ideal candidate. If the tests prove successful, we will begin marketing whelk blankets around the whelk-growing world within 2 years."

Clanfield.info wishes the Clanfield Blanket Corporation well.