Jersey Bayeux Tapestry

In this episode, we're sewing together a remarkable story of art, history, and the women whose work has too often been left in the margins. 

The Bayeux Tapestry is there is a lack of women. There are lots of men, there are lots of horses, there are lots of axes and spears and dogs, but there are only three women in the entire 70 meters of the tapestry.  The Jersey Bayeux Tapestry is an extraordinary modern retelling of the story of the Norman Conquest and the women who told the story, who were these women?  And why does their contribution matter? 

To help us unpick this narrative, our hosts are joined by Vic Tanner-Davy, head of programs at Jersey Heritage. Vic has researched the social history behind the tapestry, uncovering the stories of women who made it and revealing how their work connects to a wider question.

The tapestry is part of Jersey Heritage's 2027 campaign celebrating the Year of the Normans,  which is a thousand years since William the Conqueror's birth. The tapestry tells Jersey's story and how that fits with the 1066 historical narrative.

The tapestry is being stitched by volunteers during 2026 and will be on display in 2027/8.

Support our outreach work and leave a legacy to Jersey Heritage in your Will.  Find out how you can leave a gift to protect Our Island's Story.

Transcript

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Jersey Heritage Podcast – The Small Island, Big Story Sessions

The Jersey Bayeux Tapestry with Vic Tanner 

Perry (00:03):

Welcome to the Jersey Heritage Podcast.

Mel (00:05):

The small island big story sessions.

Perry (00:08):

You're listening to Mel and Perry.

Mel (00:11):

In this episode, we're sewing together a remarkable story of art, history, and the women whose work has too often been left in the margins.

Perry (00:21):

The Jersey Bayeux Tapestry is an extraordinary modern retelling of the Norman conquest and the women who brought it to life. Who were these women? Why does their contribution matter?

Mel (00:31):

To help us unpick this narrative, we're joined by Vic Tanner-Davy, head of programs at Jersey Heritage. Vic has researched the social history behind the tapestry, uncovering the stories of women who made it and revealing how their work connects to a wider question. Thank you for joining us today, Vic. Lovely to have you back on the podcast. , So today we're gonna be talking about something that's really, really interesting, especially from an outreach point of view, because we, , have been working together on the Jersey Bayeux Tapestry. So can you please tell us a little bit about the concept around what we're doing and why we're doing this?

Vic (01:12):

So in 2027, we are celebrating Year of the Normans, , which is a thousand years since William the Conqueror's birth. And we were tasked as a department with coming up with some projects that would help with that celebration. And this was one of the projects that we came up with, , in terms of it relates to the 1066 story, but it's also about our story.

Mel (01:37):

So what has, what's, what's some of the research that you've done around this brought up for you?

Vic (01:42):

, Well, one of the things that I did was I went and saw the Bayeux Tapestry in Bayeux and one of the things that you will immediately notice about the Bayeux Tapestry is there is a lack of women. So there are lots of men, there are lots of horses, there are lots of axes and spears and dogs, but there are only three women in the entire 70 meters of the tapestry. And I though, well, that's a glaring omission. What were the women doing, , whilst all this was happening? , And I thought, well, we need to rectify this. , But it would be nice to rectify it in a way that tells our Jersey story and how that fits in with the 1066 story.

Mel (02:22):

Amazing. Well, I think that's absolutely essential work. , So where does your research start? How did you, what was your process like in terms of researching the stories of the women of this time period?

Vic (02:34):

Well, I started with our Jersey story. So I started with the kind of the timeline of 933 when, , Jersey's acquired by William Longsword, Duke of Normandy. , And through to 1259 when the Treaty of Paris is signed and we become a crown dependency. So I took that period, 1066 sits right in the centre of that. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>. And just took the, the basic timeline, the sort of timeline that you're told at school, which is all about the men. You know, this is what the men did. , And then I asked the question, well, what were the women in the background behind those men doing? So these are really powerful men talking about Jukes of Normandy, Kings of England, Kings of France. Who were the women, you know, that, that, that supported those men? So that's where I started. , And then of course what you end up with is you end up with some quite powerful women, , who are sitting behind these men.

Vic (03:29):

But the problem that you've got is you don't have the stories of the ordinary women. The women who weren't wealthy and weren't married to power. , So including their stories as well was really important and that's more difficult.

Mel (03:45):

Yeah. I guess there's not enough material to kind of evidence what they're up to, but we have to kind of leave that to our imagination, right?

Vic (03:52):

Well, there's a, there's a certain amount of evidence, , in the kind of illuminated manuscripts, , of the time. So that's, because it's a very visual piece, because it's a tapestry, going back to the artworks of the time, , seeing what evidence we've got in, in those was really helpful in terms of getting that colour in of, of what the ordinary women were doing at the time. So I went back to a lot of the, the medieval manuscripts and the illuminated drawings that you get in, in those. And that gave us, you know, some quite colourful, you know, renditions of, of women, , working in the fields, bringing up children, working in the home, , sewing, cobbling, brewing, baking, you know, all of those sort of trades, , that women were involved with. So we've managed to get them into the tapestry as well.

Mel (04:36):

Of course. Well, they're essential in terms of, , keeping society going at the time.

Vic (04:41):

Yeah. I mean, that's, that's the thing. And, and the idea that women were just sort of confined to the home and, and not, not seen outside those four walls. The, the illustrations within the, the man- manuscripts, you know, demonstrate that there was more to life than, than just that. , And that actually they were major players, you know, in society just as, as women are now. Yeah. , It's just that the history isn't recorded.

Mel (05:06):

So basically what I think is really amazing about your process is the, the way that you've kind of created these, , drawings to showcase this history and to highlight these stories. So, , I though it might be really lovely if you could go through your panels because this tapestry is going to compose of nine panels and each panel tells a specific part of the story and highlights various different women. And I thought it'd be really lovely if you could go through briefly some of the kind of highlighted stories that you've decided and chosen to, to display through your drawings.

Vic (05:42):

Yeah. I mean, it was a difficult process because so much of the history is, is just male focused. So it was very difficult to tell the story without referencing some of the men. , I couldn't tell the story completely from the women's point of view Because you need those male reference points - Yeah, of course. For people to understand what's going on because they're not familiar with the, the women. , So we start in 933. , The first panel shows William Longsword, , acquiring the, the Channel Islands, , from, , King Rudolph of, of West Francia. And then we move on to 1002. , And this is our first kind of woman of significance. This is Emma of Normandy. , She's granddaughter of William Longsword. , And at this point she's Queen of England. , And she's married to King Aethelred, the unready. And they have a son, Edward, who will be the confessor.

Vic (06:31):

So quite important in the 1066 story. And we show her in this panel as, , using the sort of Madonna and child type imagery that is quite common within medieval, , illustrations. , The second panel, , we move on to 1015 and the point at which Cnut, King Cnut invades England. , And Emma at this point holds out in London and, , keeps that for, for the Anglo-Saxons until she gets a proposal of marriage from Cnut. <Laugh> At which point she just says, "Right, that's it. Okay. , I will marry Knute." , and 1017 they're married and Queen Emma is now not only Queen of England, but she's also Queen of Normandy and Denmark as well. , So she's now married to, she has had marriages now to two kings. , And with Cnut, she has half a Cnut who also becomes King of England. , So she's King, she's also Queen to, she, she's also Queen Mother to two Kings of England as well.

Vic (07:36):

So very powerful woman, very powerful player, very politically savvy, , moving a lot of pieces around the chessboard, , as it were to make sure that she holds onto that power, , through her, her marriages and her children.

Perry (07:49):

And there is a bit of a Jersey connection with Emma. Yeah. In the sense that once she'd married Knute and her sons Edward, who would be the confessor eventually and Alfred, they were in Normandy, , for Robert I. And then when they, they went back with a Norman force with Robert I to sort of reinvade England and sort of gain back their inheritance. But they got caught in a storm and they got stuck in Jersey for a long period of time. And as Wais, the jerseyman says, , they got stuck in Jersey and they wanted to leave, but God would not let them. <Laugh> So, , after a while of being stuck in Jersey, they decided to invade Brittany instead. Yeah. So they didn't waste their, their time. But that's sort of an interesting thing that happens because Emma marries Cnut and how that sort of changes all of these other things and sort of somehow brings Jersey into it.

Vic (08:46):

Yes. Yeah. That, that story about being sort of blown off course and, and ending up in Jersey. I, I really wanted to include it, but it was very difficult to include, , because it's kind of tangential. - Yeah.

Perry (08:56):

And it's, you wanna keep the women focused, you

Vic (08:59):

Know? Yes. And, and because it involves Robert, you've then gotta explain who Robert is. Yeah. And it's trying to explain that on the tapestry was gonna be very difficult. But it's a lovely story. And yeah, it, it, it, it's one of those things that when our education team are looking at the finished article, they can kind of tell that story to, to their, you know, their, their class. , As, as, you know, this is Emma and this is what happened to, you know, being blown off course with Robert and the ship and all the rest of it. So yeah. Yeah. So it's a nice story to be able to tell. And hopefully that, that will, will, will happen with the tapestry. That those kind of tangential stories will just get told as, because the tapestry's there and we're talking about Emma or we're talking about one of the other characters in the tapestry.

Vic (09:39):

Yeah.

Perry (09:39):

I think, , being stuck in Jersey due to a storm, something a lot of us can relate to. Yes. Even higher. Maybe not invading Brittany then. <Laugh>

Vic (09:49):

Yeah. , So moving on to 1042, , Harthacnut is now, , dying and he appoints Edward the confessor as king. And Edward's queen is Queen Edith of Wessex. , So Ed- Edith is part of the Godwin family. , 1052 Emma dies. So she's, you know, she has a good long life. Mm-Hmm. , So she's there as a kind of political player in the background for quite a long time. , And this panel, panel number three, , we take the opportunity to kind of show some of the lives of, of medieval women with doing all the, the, the work that I spoke of before. And so we're, we're kind of using those illustrations from the, the medieval manuscripts, , and recreating them in thread, , on the tapestry. Panel four, this is the, panel four, five and six, , this is the, the bayer tapestry.

Vic (10:41):

So this is the 1066 story proceed down into three panels. So from 70 meters, we go down to about, , three meters, , of, of tapestry. <Laugh> So it was quite a task. Absolutely. , So Edward, Edward, the confessor is dying. , He promises the throne to Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex and brother of his wife Edith. So try and tell me that Edith didn't have a hand in that. Yeah. Holding onto power for the Godwins. And we also bring in the character of Queen Matilda. So over Normandy, Queen Matilda is married to William. So she's his right hand. , And the marriage between William and Matilda by all accounts was, , was a good marriage. , There's no, , suggestion that William was unfaithful to her. , And at the point at which they're preparing for the invasion of England, , Matilda is given charge of, , designing and building the boats.

Vic (11:38):

So she's given charge of the, of the boat building. , She's pregnant at the time with their child. And one of the things that they believe, , she did was on the mora, which is William's flagship. , She put a little angel as the, as the figurehead on the bow of the mora. And it represents their unborn child. , So that's a nice little - Yeah,

Mel (11:58):

It's a lovely little homage. Yeah.

Vic (12:01):

Lovely. And William trusts Matilda. I mean, he leaves her as regent, , in Normandy. So whilst he's in England reigning, he leaves her in charge of Normandy and she does a good job. And, , I think that's another piece of history that doesn't get told enough, , is the fact that, you know, we, we kind of think, oh yes, William became King of England. But hang on a minute. He was over in England, so who was looking after Normandy? Absolutely. And it was Matilda, , who was doing that, , as regent on behalf of their, their son. , So 1066 Battle of Hastings. Were there women snuck in there as warriors? We don't know.

Mel (12:35):

Oh, there must have been. <Laugh> There must have been.

Vic (12:38):

I mean, you know, you kind of think maybe there were a few women who got, got in there and, you know, but yeah, we have no absolutely no evidence of that whatsoever. But it's a question, you know, did, did some women sneak in there? Who knows? Yeah.

Mel (12:51):

Well, we don't

Vic (12:51):

Know, so. Yeah. , And then obviously William is crowned king of England. , But the panel, , number, , six is one where we asked the question of what's the fallout from that? What's the fallout from that battle? Women were grieving. , Women were hurrying into nunneries. Women were forced to marry Norman. , Invaders. Women retreated into exile. And the reason for that is because Anglo-Saxon legislation was such that women could hold land and property. Under Norman law, your land and property was given to your husband. So it was basically a land grab by the Normans to marry somebody. , You then gained their property. , So a lot of these women, rather than do that, rushed into the nunneries, , in order to avoid marriage. And it was so, such a kind of common thing to do that there was actually a piece of Norman legislation that then came in telling women that if you were hiding in a nunnery in order to avoid marriage, you weren't a proper nun.

Vic (13:58):

, So therefore you were fair game for marriage. , So yeah, it was that, that much of a problem to the Normans, , who were obviously after the, after the land and the, and the property.

Mel (14:08):

That's so interesting.

Vic (14:10):

Yeah. Yeah. And it's a piece of women's history that I think, you know - Yeah,

Mel (14:15):

It's just not talked about.

Vic (14:16):

Unless you kind of think about the fallout from the battle. Yeah. Yeah.

Mel (14:18):

Which often people don't really think about. They don't think about what happens to the women that are left behind. I guess we think about it more in the Second World War, but not so much perhaps in the medieval era.

Vic (14:29):

Yeah. But there was a significant fallout for women in, in England. And then we move on to panel seven, , where, which is probably our key panel in the whole tapestry. And it asks the question, who was behind the tapestry? So quite literally who made it, but also who was behind the history that is being told in it. Mm-Hmm. , And we have two schools of though on who was behind the bayer tapestry. One is Bishop Odo, who was William's brother. , And it's entirely possible that he commissioned the tapestry, , and got nuns in England to make it. The other school of thought is that it was Queen Edith. So remember her? Married to Edward the confessor. Yeah. , And she's one of the only Godwin's left behind at the end of 1066. , And it's entirely possible that she could have commissioned it as a kind of peace offering to William to say, "I'm loyal to you.

Vic (15:30):

, Don't come after me. You know, this is, this is how I'm going to fate you by, by making this grand tapestry. Um, and it's entirely possible that she could have overseen the creation of the tapestry. She had access to nuns. She was, she herself had gone into a nunnery. , She was a very skilled needle woman. , And, , she would have had the, , kind of wherewithal and, and skill to, to produce something like this. , So because we're talking about women and we're talking about the, you know, who was behind the tapestry, we're going with that theory that it could have been Queen Edith who was behind it. , So that's our, our panel seven. So panel, , eight we jump forward to 1204. So we're jumping forward to a different period. , Slightly different style of, of art as well. , So we reflect that within what we're doing on the tapestry.

Vic (16:21):

, And this is where, , Philip of France seizes Normandy from King John, John of England. So John Lackland, , loses a lot of land, , and gets that, that title. , And that's when we build a castle. So this is Mont Orgueil being built. Mount Pride. To defend us from the French. , So we have the, the building of Mont Orgueil, , on the tapestry as well. Which is

Mel (16:46):

Very lovely. Can I, can I add? It's a very cute section of the tapestry. It

Vic (16:50):

Does look, it does look very nice that, that - It looks lovely. Piece. Joe's done a lovely job with, with that bit of, , bit of the tapestry. And then 1259, our last panel, , we have, , Eleanor of Provence and her sister Margaret of Provence. Eleanor is married to, , Henry III, , and, , Margaret is married to King Louis. , And the seeding of the claim to the Dutchy of Normandy by the Kings of England is agreed at, in the Treaty of Paris, which is at that, that's the point at which we become a crown dependency, , and we stay loyal to the British Crown rather than, , remaining, , with Normandy. And Eleanor and Margaret were sisters. They were known to be very skilled negotiators. They were known to do that kind of soft power stuff at court. They were there with their mother at the signing of the Treaty of Paris.

Vic (17:45):

So try and tell me that they didn't have a hand in what was going on in terms of the negotiations between Henry and Louis over that. , So I think they're quite significant women. , And I think there's more that we could find out about them actually. , And, you know, kind of place them within the Jersey story.

Mel (18:04):

Yeah. And that's what I love about this tapestry is that it will, it's gonna probe questions and it's gonna people are gonna be curious about why we've decided to add elements and they're gonna wanna know more information. So I do think it will encourage further research into its, you know, its correlation to the island. So I think it's a lovely, a lovely piece, that section in particular. Yeah. And

Perry (18:25):

It's really important to, to remind people that like women have agency and had agency that, that entire time. And the fact that they were left out of the historical record obviously didn't mean that they weren't doing stuff. They were, as you said, completely involved in everything that was going on and had their own vested interests in what was going on as well.

Vic (18:44):

Yeah. I think the, the medieval period is one of those periods where it's very easy to kind of dismiss it as being, you know, oh, very backward and, you know, women were, were, you know, right, had no rights. But, you know, for example, the Anglo-Saxon women holding land and, and property, you know, that, that changes over time, you know? And it, it's really the, the Norman invasion where that goes backwards.

Mel (19:06):

That's actually quite a modern thing really to think about, like women having property, you know, later on. You're right. Women don't have rights to those kinds of things. Come and visit our exhibition, La Terri De Jerri at the Jersey Museum. This exhibition tells the story of Jersey's unique and complex history from our neolithic past to more contemporary stories. This exhibition really does have something for everyone. It's free to visit and open all year round.

Vic (19:35):

So yeah, it, it's, it was, it was interesting to, to look through the history and, and try to, to, to find out how much agency women did have. , And yeah, I mean, the, the sadness is that we don't have so much about ordinary women. , You know, we do tend to have the privileged women's history rather than, , the, the ordinary women.

Perry (19:56):

And just kind of going off, off the back of that, like sort of women not, not being mentioned, more ordinary women. Well, I don't know if this is necessarily an ordinary woman, but around 1035, , around the kind of death of Canoe, according to Wace who's writing in about 1160, so quite a bit later. , But he mentions that there was the Arch bishop of Rouen. , He calls him Malga, also known as Morgia, , who sort of fell out with William before he was William the conqueror, , for marrying his first cousin, according to Wace. , Where Morgi was actually banished to the aisles of the Cottontown where, , Wace says he moves from one to the other. So that'd be Jersey and Guernsey. And, , very kind of typically annoying says here, "Of the life he lived there, of the woman Gisler, whom he loved and the children he fathered on the island where he lived, we are able to relate a great deal, but this is not our concern." Which to me just is, is the perfect example of like - Yeah.

Perry (20:59):

How, you know, possibly very important characters are left out of these stories. Yeah. So Gisler there is, to my knowledge, the first named woman from the Chandler Islands and we just get that tiny glimpse of her. , What else was she doing? How important was she? You know? To be marrying a banished arch bishop of Rouen, was she just a normal local girl or was she part of the local elite? , It's a really tan - a real tantalizing glimpse there.

Vic (21:25):

Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's, that's typical of, you know, the sort of the way that history's written, , that we, we have these glimpses of women, but we want more. We want more colour. We want to know what they were doing. Yeah. And hopefully, you know, with the tapestry and, and our educational groups, you know, looking at it and, and, and asking questions about it, you know, they, they, it will inspire them to go off and just dig a little deeper. Does, not necessarily into this period of history, but other periods of history as well where, you know, they can ask that question about women. Hang on a minute. This is, okay, that's a really famous man, but who were, who were the women around him? You know, who were, who was supporting him? , So yeah, it's, it's just asking those questions really and provoking that little bit more research into, yeah, what were women doing.

Mel (22:16):

There is definitely kind of a movement into kind of exploring the more untold stories. I'm finding museums and in literature especially, there are lots of publications that are being released around what were women doing in these time periods? What do we actually know? What can we find out? There's that book. Is it... Well, it's a really beautiful book. It's called Femina, or I'm, I don't know if I'm saying that right. , It's a new history of the middle ages through the women written out of it. And it's by Janina Ramirez. And it's a really, really important, really important book. , Alice Roberts has given it Raging Reviews. So it is definitely something that people could read if they're interested in this time period, but I'm sure you've used this as a source, Vic.

Vic (22:57):

Oh, absolutely. It's a, it's a really easy read. , Got some fantastic stories in it. , Tells the, you know, the, the different stories from some of the women that people will know, like Joan of Arc, , and some women that you won't have heard of, , until you read the book.

Mel (23:14):

What I've, what I find really, really interesting is the process of how you go from doing all this research and then you create these beautiful little drawings. And then from these drawings, you turn them into this amazing huge illustration that we're going to embroider. So can we talk a little bit about the process of how you've gone from research to your designs?

Vic (23:35):

So having got the nine, the stories of the nine panels, , and knowing roughly where I could cut the story and, and, and how it would make sense, , almost like a comic strip, I suppose. , I then did the research in terms of the artwork and a lot of the artwork that we use comes direct from the biotapestry so that we've got that visual reference so that people know, "Oh, okay. Yes, I, I recognize that bit. It, it looks like a soldier from the biotapestry." , so we use, use quite a lot of that. , And then we also use the illustrated manuscripts, the bits and pieces that I found, , to inspire the design really. , A lot of the design is kind of, has come from my head, , in terms of, you know, trying to make it comprehensible through the drawings.

Vic (24:31):

And then what we did was we gave my little tiny sketches, , to Jo Preston, a local artist. And she has made those tiny little sketches up into the nine panels, which are roughly A2/A1 size. , And, , printed them out. So we've got a kind of a, a paper version of it. , And we started with a black and white line drawing and then we colored it in. And it's quite important, the colouring. We wanted colours that were the same colours as the tapestry. And of course the tapestry is originally a wool, , that was made, coloured with vegetable dyes. So it wasn't maybe as, as vibrant as kind of modern coloring, , would be for, for, for wool, , modern dyes. But it's, , got that sort of lovely muted tone. I do love it. It ha - it has, it has faded over the years, but not that much, the experts say.

Vic (25:35):

, So we're going with those muted tones in terms of the wool that we're using. So colour's quite important in terms of getting that reference back to the original tapestry. , But, , it also is quite important in terms of telling the story because the certain characters appear several times in the tapestry. So making sure that that color continues consistently through for that particular character and that somebody looking at the tapestry can go, "Oh, okay, that's Queen Edith. Oh, and there she is again, and there she is again." , through the colours is, is, was really important. So it took a little time to kind of colour the panels and get those to a point where we were happy with them and the story made sense with, with the colours. The other thing about the colors is that the way that the tapestry is embroidered, they never have the same colour adjacent to itself.

Vic (26:26):

So there's always a contrasting colour in between the panels, , of, of the blocks of colour on the panels. So we had to also think about, we had 10 colours. , There were 10 colours that we could, , use within the, the tapestry that matched the colors of the, the original. So when you've got sort of something quite busy happening with lots of soldiers throwing spears, you had to be quite clever about how you used the colours so you didn't end up with the same colour alongside itself. So it was a bit of a jigsaw puzzle to kind of work it through, but Joe did that. , And we ended up with the colored panels. And those colored panels were then used to guide the, the stitches, , so that they could, it was a key basically. So they knew what color wool matched what color on the panel and therefore what they needed to do on the tapestry.

Vic (27:15):

, And, , I think it worked out okay, , in terms of, of people making out the colours that it, what, you know, the, the colours that we put on the, on the paper were, were quite bright in order to make the key obvious to people which, which wool they should, should pick. , And, , the, , tapestry itself, the, , design was then printed onto the linen. , And -

Mel (27:42):

Just the

Vic (27:42):

Outline? Yeah, it was just the outline. We didn't put the colours on because it would have been too prescriptive and it wouldn't have allowed for a stitcher to have a slightly different, - Artistic license. Yeah, artistic license. Or just a slightly different skill level that would have meant that they wouldn't have been able to do exactly what we'd drawn on the, on the linen. , So it enabled us to have that little bit of flexibility, , to be able to, to change it up if we needed to because we'd made the, the circles of the armor too tight or something and they couldn't sew that, that neatly. , And it enabled them to still be involved and still, still make the, the tapestry.

Mel (28:20):

And what's even more impressive is that, , there's been a process of learning the two stitches that make up the Bayeux Tapestry. So we've really gone to town on making sure that we can make this as authentic as possible.

Vic (28:31):

Yes. So - The experience of, of stitching the tapestry for the volunteers who are doing it is, is just as important really, , as it's nice for us as historians to kind of make something authentic and, you know, yes, it's got, it's using wool and vegetable dye and linen and whatever, but actually for the people doing the stitching, what's been important is that they feel like there's a connection with the nuns who did the original tapestry. They're doing what the nuns did all those, you know, years ago. , So learning the two stitch, there's two stitches with the Bayeux Tapestry. There's something called a stem stitch, which is the outline of the, , the characters. , So not all of the, the tapestry is, is, is embroidered and filled in. A lot of the linen shows through. , And it's just an outline using a stem stitch.

Vic (29:23):

So there's that stitch, , which w- which every- everybody seemed to quite like, I think, as they learned it. <Laugh> That one seemed to be the easy one. And then there is the laid and couching work and that's the blocks of color. And that stitch is a, it's a long, , stitch to start with where you, you colour in the block basically with thread. And then the couching stitch goes over the top of that and, and lays those threads down and securely so they don't flap about. , And that gives you the blocks of colour. So if you look at the, the Bayeux Tapestry really close up, you'll see this kind of basket work. It's almost like a cross, cross-hatching, , where there is blocks of... Colour, and that's the laid & couching work. So it's two things. And, and after a couple of goes, people mostly got it.

Vic (30:07):

, You know, it didn't take too long to actually get the, the skills together to, to, to be, you know, stitching then onto the proper tapestry.

Mel (30:15):

So another element of our tapestry, which is really, really important is that we've decided to include Jerriaise instead of Latin.

Vic (30:22):

Yes. So across the top of the Bayeux tapestry, there are little sentences that say, you know, here is William, here is Harold. And rather than using the Latin, which is on the original Bayeux tapestry, we're going with Jerriaise because it's the Norman language, it's what we spoke on the island. So it seemed apropriate to include that, , across the top of our tapestry.

Mel (30:46):

Such a lovely touch. Makes it really jersey.

Vic (30:49):

It does.

Perry (30:50):

And what have you kind of found out about how fast this kind of thing can be done? <Laugh>

Vic (30:55):

It's not fast. <Laugh> , I mean, I started off with a, a tiny little sampler of a tree. , And it must have taken me probably about 20 hours to do a tree. Wow. Now obviously you

Mel (31:10):

Get - But it's also done to perfection though. You,

Vic (31:12):

You get faster. I don't know about that, Mel, but -

Mel (31:14):

I think it's

Vic (31:15):

Brilliant. <Laugh> But you get faster, but it's, it's still, it, it's a, it's a process. And I think what's been nice in terms of the, the groups that we've had stitching is the kind of the, the, the chatter that goes along with that process. Because once you get the, the momentum going, you, you almost are kind of doing it without thinking. I mean, there is some thought going on, but it, it enables you to also chat to, to the people around you. And I think that, again, is something that goes back to what must have happened in, in the nunnery when they were stitching the, the 70 meters is they were sitting there chatting, you know, and talking about what was going on in their lives. So that also seems a quite nice connection with the past.

Mel (31:55):

Yeah, it's lovely. It's also really lovely to see the camaraderie that goes with when you get a group of people together doing something creative. They end up helping each other and they compliment each other. Oh, that's, that section's lovely. It's, it's just really nice to see people coming together, bonding over something that's so old, but it's still so relevant now. And you can connect on a really human level. And you're doing something creative, which is always very bonding when you're doing it as a collective. Yeah. , so having done those workshops, it was really lovely to see. And also these new connections, people that don't know each other, people from different age ranges just coming together and, and really enjoying themselves and thinking, "Oh, we could take this here and we could do it like this. " And there's just a lot of excitement and buzz around it.

Mel (32:38):

And I think that's because we've got a lot of hands on deck. And as a community project, it's, it's a really special thing.

Vic (32:46):

Yes. I think that's right. And, and I think what's been really exciting about it has been the, the joy with which people have embraced it and, and wanted to get on board. , I mean, the number of volunteers that we've had come forward saying, "Oh, I really want to, I really want to get involved in this. " It's something, you know, my, you know, my, my aunt or my mother, you know, taught me embroidery and, you know, this is something that I kind of, I haven't done a lot of, but I, I really want to do some more of. , I have a feeling that we might be spawning like a whole kind of group of embroiders who will go on and kind of created a monster. Be cre - be creating these samplers once they, they, they, they stop doing the tapestry panels because they're just gonna kind of carry on the, the craft.

Vic (33:28):

And it, it's very, it is very meditative. It's very therapeutic. It, there's a, there's a slowness to it that actually just means that you do have to kind of stop your busy life and, and sit and, and, and just be in the moment with it. Yeah. , And I think that that's quite nice in a, you know, in a modern age.

Mel (33:47):

And what's really lovely about this, , this project in particular is that not only does it, not only is it a community project externally in our, in our island, but it's also, , it's a collective at Jersey Heritage because we have, you know, the education team that are involved and, you know, we've though about how we get children involved. So obviously the, the original Bayeux tapestry has all those mythical creatures along the borders. So getting children to design their own and if they want to stitch them, they can or potentially having the children - the primary school children design their creatures and then maybe getting a secondary school student or a textile university student to stitch it so that there's also a bond between those, those two people. , So we've got education team doing that element of it. But then we also need to have our collections team on board to think about how we look after this piece afterwards.

Mel (34:35):

And then we have obviously curators that are coming in to learn the stitches to then be able to teach other people. So it's been a really lovely project. And now we're talking about it on the podcast. So it's like it involves lots of different elements of the organization, which again, is a really special thing.

Vic (34:51):

Yeah. I, I mean, it has been lovely to kind of bring lots of teams together - Mm. , Over the, the course of the, the life of it. And as you say, you know, going forward, it's life after when it's finished, , in 2027. , It's life after that also, you know, has to be thought about. , And it, it will be in the 2028 women's exhibition, , at the Jersey Museum. , It'll be a piece in that. But then after that, , it will probably go on a permanent display at the Jersey Museum. , We've measured it and, and made it deliberately the right size to fit the, one of the landings of the stairs, the main stairs at the museum. , So hopefully it will, it will find a home there.

Mel (35:32):

Yeah. The beauty of the design of this tapestry is that it can be flexible. So whether we wanted to display it in the traditional bayer style where it's, it's long, , or if we wanted to make it into kind of like more of like a rectangle tapestry, because nine is a perfect number. So we have designed it in a way that we can adapt it to display in any kind of area really.

Vic (35:51):

Yeah. Yeah, that's the idea.

Mel (35:53):

But the beauty of the Bayeux tapestry for me, especially what makes this so special to make as a community project is that this style of embroidery and this style of stitching is very folk arty. So it's very, very forgiving. So it's about encouraging all sorts of people to come and get involved. They don't need to necessarily have any experience with embroidery or be like this amazing seamstress. It's about having a go because every section's gonna be slightly different and that's what we love. It's quite a forgiving tapestry.

Vic (36:25):

It is. And I think because of its checkered history, , with being used for all sorts of things like being thrown over in munitions cart in the Napoleonic era and being wrapped up and the end section going missing because it deteriorated. The fact that there are dinks and bits missing and some bits that have been redone by the Victorians, it's a little bit patchworky, , in places. And so actually, you know, we can get away with, , not always having, you know, exact stitches, , which is, which is lovely.

Mel (37:03):

That's I think the element that I'm most excited about is that it's such a, it's such a visually, it's very organic looking. It's very earthy looking. I think it's gona be really beautiful - Yeah. To, for people to engage with it.

Vic (37:17):

Yeah. And, and, you know, when the schools en- engage with it as well, the idea that the, the youngsters can have a go, , because actually the, the borders of the, of the tapestry are the bits that have got the most damage. So there's some really dodgy bits of stitching that have happened on the, on the borders of the original. , And so it doesn't matter if the, if the kids have a go and it's not exact. , You know, they, it's great that they've, they've got some stitches on there and, and that's fantastic. You know, that's something that they can then be proud of and say, "In years to come, you know, I did that bit." , and that's, that's the key thing, I think, for us.

Mel (37:53):

Well, thank you so much for joining us today, Vic. And I am so excited to see the final, the final product.

Vic (37:59):

So am I. <Laugh>

Speaker 4 (38:04):

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