A copy of the Bayeux Tapestry by Elizabeth Wardle and the Leek Embroidery Society, 1885
Details
The idea of making an accurate replica of the Bayeux Tapestry, ‘so that England should have a copy of its own’, was the brainchild of Elizabeth Wardle, an accomplished embroideress and the wife of the renowned Staffordshire silk-dyer Thomas Wardle.
Venue
The Reading Museum, Town Hall, Blagrave Street, Reading RG1 1QH
Event Organisers
Sarah Bowles and Philippa Barton
Cost
Cost of the visit is £40.00- plus Eventbrite booking fee
Programme
I.50 pm
Please meet in the Main Entrance of Reading Museum
2.00pm
Private guided visit to the Bayeux Gallery at Reading Museum
In 1885 thirty-five ladies of the Leek Embroidery Society, founded by Elizabeth Wardle, began work on the ‘tapestry’, painstakingly reproducing every detail of the Bayeux Tapestry, stitch by stitch, using specially dyed woollen yarns created by Thomas Wardle. They worked from tracings of hand-coloured photographs of the Bayeux Tapestry taken by the South Kensington Museum (now the V & A Museum). The work took a year, after which it toured Britain, the USA and Germany. In 1895 the tapestry was purchased by the philanthropist and former Mayor of Reading, Alderman Arthur Hill, who gifted it to the new Reading Museum.
3.15pm
Tea at the Pantry Cafe, Reading Museum
4.00pm
A brief visit to the ruins of Reading Abbey founded by Henry I in 1121.
PLEASE NOTE
Reading Museum is a four-minute walk from the railway station, which serves Main Line trains and Elizabeth Line.
Elizabeth Line travel to Reading is free with a Freedom Pass.
Suggested departure times from Paddington Station:
Elizabeth Line 11.47 am, arriving 12.41pm, allowing free time to visit Reading Museum’s other galleries. The Pantry Cafe serves refreshments.
Elizabeth Line 12.17 pm, arriving 1.12 pm.
Elizabeth Line return journey: 4.47pm, arriving Paddington Station at 5.41 pm