Reading’s Bayeux Tapestry
Embroidered in 1885-1886, Reading’s version of the famous Bayeux Tapestry is a faithful, full-length replica of the original except in a few beguiling details. True to the principles of the Arts and Crafts movement, its Victorian makers matched their materials, colours and techniques to those of the eleventh century nuns thought to have created the original. The result is an extraordinarily vibrant reproduction, important in its own right and on permanent display in a purpose-built gallery in Reading Museum.
Scene-by-scene, read through the story of the succession to the English throne by first Harold and then William the Conqueror. Find out why the Duke of Normandy had a claim to be King of England, what the original purpose of the tapestry may have been, how Victorian society shaped the replica and how it came to be in Reading.