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All the United Kingdom England Reading Reading Museum Bayeux Tapestry

Reading Museum Bayeux Tapestry

This unique, full-sized copy of the Bayeux Tapestry sports a few modern additions, including underwear.

Reading, England

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Matthew Williams
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Bayeux Tapestry, Reading Museum.   Dylan Garcia / Alamy
Start of the Bayeux Tapestry replica in Reading Museum.   Hotlorp/cc by-sa 4.0
The home of the Reading Museum.   Leslie/cc by-sa 2.0
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Within its Gothic Revival galleries, the Reading Museum displays an eclectic mix of Roman finds, medieval carvings, Huntley & Palmers biscuit tins, and British art. In 1895, it acquired its most unusual exhibit: a full-sized replica of the famous Bayeux Tapestry that tells the story the Norman conquest of England, but with a few modesty-enhancing modifications.

Ten years earlier, in 1885, Elizabeth Wardle visited the original tapestry in Bayeux, France, and decided England needed its own copy of the iconic artwork.  Wardle was a skilled embroiderer and directed 35 women from the Leek Embroidery Society to make the replica.

Like the original, Reading's version is an embroidery and not a tapestry, faithfully recreated in hand-dyed woolen yarns on a linen backcloth. It was created in sections, joined to form the impressive 230-foot (70-meter) work. Unlike in the original, every woman who created the Reading replica signed her name under the section she completed. 

The other significant revision is that several naked men in the tapestry's borders have had their modesty protected with underwear. These additions are often blamed on the women of Leek, but it's now thought they were copied from photographs of the original that had been "cleaned-up" by the South Kensington Museum staff in London.

Today, the tapestry impressively circles round its own purpose-built gallery on the first floor. You can view the entire replica and spot famous scenes from 1066, including Halley's comet and the death of Harold, allegedly with an arrow in his eye.

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Reading Museum is located inside the city's landmark gothic town hall, only a few minutes walk from Reading train station. Reading is only about 25 minutes by train from London Paddington. The museum is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and admission is free.

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mattr

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jooniur, Kerry Wolfe

  • jooniur
  • Kerry Wolfe

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March 14, 2019

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  • www.bayeuxtapestry.org.uk
  • https://www.readingmuseum.org.uk/blog/five-things-you-probably-didn%E2%80%99t-know-about-reading%E2%80%99s-bayeux-tapestry
Reading Museum Bayeux Tapestry
Reading, England, RG1 1QH
United Kingdom
51.457048, -0.969918
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Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Reading

Reading

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Places 7

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Silchester Eagle

Reading, England

miles away

Huntley and Palmers No. 4 Biscuit Collection

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miles away

Henry West's Grave

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Explore the Destination Guide

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