Prestonpans Tapestry

Bayeux Tapestry

The Prestonpans Tapestry is a large embroidery created - and normally situated in - Prestonpans, East Lothian, Scotland.

Its full title is "The Battle of Prestonpans Tapestry 1754".

The design, size and style were inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry; however, the Prestonpans version deals with the events before, during and after the Battle of Prestonpans in 1745.

The Tapestry is – like the Bayeux Tapestry – an embroidered cloth, rather than a woven tapestry. It is annotated in English. More than two hundred embroiderers created the work over a two year period; about half of these reside in Scotland, but other participants have come from as far as New Zealand.

The complete artwork measures 104 metres (341 ft), and it consists of 103 panels, each about one metre long. It is about 30 metres (98 ft) longer than the Bayeux example.

The completed work was unveiled on July 26, 2010, at Cockenzie power station near Prestonpans and has travelled around Britain until September 2010 when it returned to Prestonpans to coincide with the Battlefield Trust's annual commemoration of the Battle of Prestonpans. Further opportunities to exhibit the work have included the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Storytelling Centre. At present it is on show at St. Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh (Episcopal), Edinburgh, to coincide with the Edinburgh Festival.

Inspiration

The Prestonpans Tapestry is the brainchild of the Prestongrange Arts Festival, the Battle of Prestonpans 1745 Heritage Trust, the former Chairman of the Trust (Gordon Baron Prestoungrange), and the designer Dr. Andrew Crummy, who is also the youngest son of the renowned and highly respected community activist Helen Crummy MBE. Historical and architectural advice was obtained from Professor Martin Margulies, from Arran Johnston and from Gareth Jones.

Sources

• Bonnie Prince sewn up in tapestry

• The Scotsman

• Prestonpans Tapestry website

References

• Crummy, Andrew (2010). The Prestonpans Tapestry 1745. Burke's Peerage & Gentry, for Battle of Prestonpans (1745) Heritage Trust. ISBN 978 0 85011 122 4.

Notes

• Le Corbusier once called tapestries "nomadic murals". Kings and noblemen could roll up and transport these items from one residence to another.

• The Apocalypse Tapestry is the longest tapestry in the world. Originally 140 m (459 ft), the surviving 100m are displayed in the Château d'Angers in Angers, France.

• The Bayeux Tapestry was listed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in June 2007.

• The Museum of Reading houses a replica of the Bayeux Tapestry.