Only just learnt the Bayeux Tapestry is actually an embroidery

[JamieOliverPetrolStation]

I saw a comment on social media where someone pointed out that the Bayeux Tapestry is actually an embroidery. So it's the Bayeux Embroidery.

Apparently we’ve all just agreed to call it the wrong thing for nearly a thousand years and carry on. Life is a lie. Next someone will tell me Hadrian’s Wall is a fence and Stonehenge is technically a prehistoric gazebo.

Isnt it true that the Battle of Hastings didn't even take place in Hastings?

"Meanest thou to be so churlish", AMAZING

The cartoonest Edith Pritchett has done a brilliant modern version: https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2026/sep/05/alternative-bayeux-tapestry-2026-edith-pritchett

Oh wow. Learned something new!

my mum was very big into tapestry/embroidery. We had loads framed around the house.

she taught me. I grew up with tapestry being all the same angled single stitch, usually wool on the printed design to create a woven type effect so you didn’t see the fabric underneath

embroidery was with silks, more freestyle with stitches. Different stitching techniques to create a design to decorate a fabric rather than cover it.

then there’s cross stitch…

https://www.lovecrafts.com/en-gb/blogs/articles/beginners-guide-to-tapestry?srsltid=AfmBOoo7Dp8zRCKhYKkgbYiMRfsYmZLGbPh-DTPLvCubcCet0lJ2vQGF

this would agree with me/mum.

Is it tapestry if the wool patterns are woven on to a base? Or is tapestry defined as the patterns woven into the cloth from scratch so directly on the loom rather than by hand with a needle?

confusing myself now!!

Sold in the middle aisle of prehistoric Lidl and used for prehistoric school fetes.

This was an enjoyable play that gave me some insights about how it was made https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0030yrh?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg8ev2w9qko

Saw this and thought of this thread (pardon the pun 😀). Fascinating stuff.