The Bayeux Tapestry has been a significant feature in Reading since 1885 when 35 skilled Victorian women created the only known replica of the famous French tapestry.
The tapestry depicts the events leading up to and including the battle of Hastings, chronicling the legendary tale of the Norman conquest of England when William the Conqueror invaded and defeated King Harold Godwinson.
It was decided that the women of Reading would recreate this fine piece of tapestry so that the people of Britain could enjoy the painstakingly beautiful work.
Today, Reading Museum has created an entire room for the tapestry to hang in and is named the Bayeux Gallery.
The original tapestry is a unique artefact created in the 11th century and is a 70 metres long piece of embroidery. It is located in the Bayeux tapestry in Paris.
Although the Reading tapestry is an exact replica, it is slightly higher than the original 11th century artifact.
The piece of artwork created in the 19th century contains an extra blue border at the bottom where the 35 women who made the British copy recorded their names under each section they sewed.
The actual idea for the British replica came from Elizabeth Wardle, an accomplished embroideress and wife of Staffordshire silk-dryer Thomas Wardle.
In 1885 they organised the members of the Leek Embroidery Society to create the full-size copy so ‘Britain should have a copy of its own’.
It took a year for the 35 women to complete and has been shown all over the world before returning to Reading.
They went to great efforts to make it as accurate as possible - but there are a few uniquely Victorian additions. In the borders there are several naked men but in the Reading copy their modesty has been protected with pants!
The women of Leek were not responsible for these additions as is often repeated - they had simply copied them from a set of photographs that had been ‘cleaned-up’ by the male staff at the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A).
The tapestry was purchased for the town by Artur Hill, a former mayor and a great benefactor to his adopted town.
When the Museum’s new Art Gallery was opened in 1897, the replica Bayeux tapestry was one of the first exhibits.
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