Hastings Embroidery
At 243 ft. long, the embroidery was commissioned by Group Captain Ralph Ward to mark the 900th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings. It shows 81 of the great events of British history since William the Conqueror’s time. The embroidery was shown to the public, first in the Town Hall, then in The Triodome on Hastings Pier in 1966 with a quarter of a million people reported to have visited the exhibition.[1] Consisting of 27 panels, each 9 ft × 3 ft (2.7 m × 0.9 m), it took 22 embroiderers 10 months to finish.
During 1976, there was a proposal for twelve of the panels to be displayed in the Washington department store Wannamaker's as part of the celebrations for the 200th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independance. This would have necessitated early closure of the display in the Sussex Room[2].
It subsequently was displayed for a period around 1976 in the Sussex Room at the White Rock Pavilion, then went into storage for a number of years, however was recently exhibited in Rye during 2019. A video showing the embroidery can be seen on Youtube.
Images
- Images
Henry Welcoming King of France
Chaucer & Canterbury Tales
William being Crowned King
References & Notes
- ↑ British Newspaper Archive Kent & Sussex Courier 23 June 1967 Pg. 0004
- ↑ British Newspaper Archive Hastings & St. Leonards Observer 27 March 1976 Pg. 0013
