{"id":1696,"date":"2015-06-30T09:26:52","date_gmt":"2015-06-30T08:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/wp\/?p=1696"},"modified":"2026-02-07T11:24:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T11:24:47","slug":"bayeux-a-stitch-in-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/bayeux-a-stitch-in-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Bayeux \u2013 A stitch in time – travel review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bayeux It\u2019s inevitable that the first thing people think of when you mention Bayeux is the tapestry. Though it\u2019s not actually a tapestry but a very fine embroidery. The Bayeux Tapestry is now on permanent display in a bespoke museum in the city of Bayeux in Normandy, France. It\u2019s unique and huge and merits a home of its own.<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u2018tapestry\u2019 tells the story of the life of William the Conqueror and the Battle of Hastings, and here comes another factual correction and we are only at paragraph two! The Battle of Hastings was actually fought at a place called Battle, although I suspect it was named only after the Battle. It would have been too much of a coincidence otherwise.<\/p>\n

The tapestry tells of William and his passage from being just the illegitimate son of the Duke of Normandy (with \u2018Bastard\u2019 as the only appendage to his name) to rising to having \u2018King\u2019 as his title. One can see the preparations for invasion; the felling of trees and the launching of boats, and then the battle. Many men are shown as conclusively dead and the English King Harold can be seen being the well-documented recipient of the arrow in the eye.<\/p>\n

\"Bayeux The bloody event was to have a huge impact on Medieval England and it\u2019s still exciting interest today. The tapestry is made out of eight narrow widths of linen sewn together.\u00a0 It\u2019s 270 feet long and about 20 inches wide. The majority of stitches used are \u2018stem\u2019 and \u2018laid-and-couched\u2019, which will only mean anything to devoted embroiderers.<\/p>\n

There are eight colours of thread and the five main colours are blue-green, terracotta, light-green, buff and grey-blue. Nothing too vivid and all obviously made with natural dyes. There are also areas where very dark blue, yellow and a dark green are still visible \u2013 this hanging is in amazing condition considering its age.<\/p>\n

It is assumed that the man who commissioned the tapestry was Bishop Odo of Bayeux. He was William\u2019s half-brother. It is probable that the tapestry was made to celebrate both William\u2019s victory at Hastings and the completion of Odo\u2019s cathedral in the city.<\/p>\n

The tapestry was likely made by women in Canterbury, Kent, where there was a celebrated embroidery school.\u00a0 They used stitches very similar to those found on the tapestry. Another indication that this was sewn on the English side of the Channel is that some of the names on the tapestry are spelt in the English way and not in the French style.<\/p>\n

\"Bayeux The tapestry shows 50 different scenes and there are 632 people, 202 horses, 55 dogs, 505 other characters, 37 buildings, around 40 ships and trees, and lots of Latin. Adults will be charmed by the handiwork and younger members of the group will be thrilled by the brutality and carnage!<\/p>\n

But there is more to this beautiful town than the tapestry. The large Norman-Romanesque and Gothic Cath\u00e9drale Notre-Dame de Bayeux was consecrated in 1077 by the aforementioned Bishop Odo. The lower part of the building is Romanesque, and is probably original. The upper part is in Gothic style making this an architect\u2019s dream structure to study. But look inside to really appreciate the magnificence of the cathedral.<\/p>\n

Bayeux is only a short distance from the Normandy Beaches, which have been attracting more visitors than ever over the last several years. There are various associated museums and exhibitions in the area, as well as war cemeteries, commemorating very much more recent battles than that shown in the Tapestry.<\/p>\n

\"Bayeux Bayeux has a wealth of restaurants and specialist food shops. Many of these are housed in historic half-timbered buildings, so take your eyes off the cheese for a moment and you might find some characterful wood carving. And along with the cidre and dairy products there is a little shop that actually sells bits of the Bayeux Tapestry. Well, newly embroidered authentic replicas of the historic hanging anyway. You can buy finished cushions, you can buy kits as souvenirs and you can even have lessons on the stitches used by those Kentish damsels who made the original.<\/p>\n

Bayeux is an accessible and walkable town. Photo opportunities abound, eating opportunities are ever present and one can just people-watch with a coffee and an apple pastry. It\u2019s easy to get there from Caen by train, which itself has fast shuttle links to and from its airport. There are flights from the gem of an airport at Southend.<\/p>\n

Learn more about making your own tapestry here<\/a><\/p>\n

Visit Southend Airport here<\/a><\/p>\n

Learn more about Bayeux here<\/a><\/p>\n

Visit the Bayeux Tapestry Museum here<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Travel review by Chrissie Walker \u00a9 2018<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Read more articles about France here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s inevitable that the first thing people think of when you mention Bayeux is the tapestry. Though it\u2019s not actually a tapestry but a very fine embroidery. The Bayeux Tapestry […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24452,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,10],"tags":[376,80,364,501],"class_list":["post-1696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-european-travel","category-travel","tag-bayeux","tag-france","tag-historic","tag-normandy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1696"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27260,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1696\/revisions\/27260"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}