While the Bayeux Tapestry isn’t the earliest piece of English embroidery in existence, it is the most famous. Most of us can identify 1066 as one of the most important dates in the nation’s history and know about the tapestry which William’s half-brother, Bishop Odo, commissioned. At the time of the conquest there were, according to Messent, ten nunneries in England (not counting any double houses) – inevitably that particular thought has resulted in a list- Nunnaminster, or St Mary’s, at Winchester; Romsey, Shaftesbury, Wimborne and Wherwell in Dorset; Wilton and Amesbury in Wiltshire; Barking in Essex; Reading St Mary’s Abbey- the lands of which were granted by William the Conqueror to Battle Abbey in 1071; Bath Abbey. Leominster was closed in 1046 after Stein Godwinson kidnapped its abbess and there were none left in the north or in Kent thanks to the Vikings. Many of them were strongly associated with the royal family and in the aftermath of the conquest many Saxon aristocratic women found sanctuary behind their walls.

However, there is no proof that it was England’s nuns who created the tapestry in their workshops or who designed the work, certainly the embroidery wasn’t completed by anyone amateur. For instance the castles were all completed the same way. Outlines were stitched first, then blocks of colour filled in being stitched from left to right, then top to bottom. It has been suggested that there may have been a conveyor belt approach with different groups of women being responsible for the different elements described. This and the fact that the eight panels of ground fabric were embroidered before they were stitched together suggests that the workshops were highly organised. (Lester-Makin, Alexandra, ‘The making of the Bayeux Tapestry: who made it, how long did it take, and how has it survived?’, BBC History Extra (October 2019)).

Oh and just for purposes of comparison – There were 10 nunneries in 1070 but there were 138 by 1270…

So on to the joys of Bayeux Stitch – and the delights of Tanya Bentham’s book by the same name. The embroidery has to be formed on a frame as the first part of the stitch is too unstable not to use one. I managed to break my frame – I don’t know how and we aren’t going to discuss it! For the time being I’m using a frame composed of four adjustable stretcher bars and rather a lot of drawing pins to secure the fabric.

Part 1 – the laid work – the thread is laid over the ground in parallel rows taking account of the curves in the design. The aim is to avoid gaps between the rows. It looks like satin stitch but unlike satin stitch the embroiderer does not take the thread across the back of the work. It makes sense – the thread would have been expensive. Hiding it at the back of the embroidery where it can’t be seen is a waste of resources. There is only a small stitch running around the end of the infill.

part 2 – Couching. A thread is laid at right angles to the laid thread and then couched into place by using a series of neat stabbing stitches, or in French – les picots. Tanya helpfully provides diagrams for what happens if the couching is too far apart. It was a rooky error and I made it. As a result I over compensated and the first infill is far too dense. I would have been told off for wasting time and resources – definitely not a candidate for an Anglo Saxon embroidery workroom. Having said that I like the texture even if it hasn’t got much in the way of a pattern going on. Really the parallel rows should be about 4mm apart and the stab stitches should be staggered so that they don’t pushed the laid work aside – which sounds very straight forward, and ends up looking a bit like a pattern of bricks. It is a straightforward stitch, but only once I’d made all the errors that Tanya warned me against. Oh yes and friction causes wool thread to wear and break if you’re not careful…I knew that so I’m not quite sure why I ended up spending a good five minutes painstakingly having to thread my needle with a truncated end so that I could weave it in. Like I said, definitely not good medieval embroiderer material.

part 3 – The outline really should be worked first in stem stitch or split stitch but Tanya advises completing the outline for the dragon last in her wonderful pictorial instructions.

However despite my various ineptitudes when it comes to couched and laid stitch, I love Tanya Betham’s book and my swirly dragon which will become more proficiently embroidered with the passage of time but I don’t think I’ll be progressing to Opus Anglicanum silk threads quite just yet even though I do want to tackle the Steeple Aston cope angel and horse!

You will note in the first image that despite having a frame I have managed to wrinkle the ground fabric by pulling the laid stitches too tight but didn’t spot it until unpicking might have caused some very poor vocabulary choices.

Messent, Jan. The Bayeux Tapestry Embroiderers’ Story. (Search Press)