![Sheldon Tapestry (Warwick)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Sheldon_Tapestry_%28Warwick%29.JPG)
Sheldon tapestries were produced at Britain's first large
tapestry
Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads may ...
works in
Barcheston
Barcheston is a village and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district of Warwickshire, England. The village is on the east bank of the River Stour, opposite Shipston-on-Stour. It shares a parish council with Willington. The parish, admini ...
,
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...
, England, established by the Sheldon family. A group of 121
tapestries
Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads may ...
dateable to the late 16th century were produced. Much the most famous are four tapestry maps illustrating the counties of
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
,
Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...
,
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
and
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...
, with most other tapestries being small furnishing items, such as cushion covers. The tapestries are included in three major collections: the
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
, London; the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, New York; and the
Burrell Collection
The Burrell Collection is a museum in Glasgow, Scotland, managed by Glasgow Museums. It houses the art collection of Sir William Burrell and Constance, Lady Burrell. The museum reopened on 29 March 2022 with free entry, having been closed for r ...
, Glasgow, Scotland (still uncatalogued). Pieces were first attributed in the 1920s to
loom
A loom is a device used to weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of the loom and its mechanics may vary, but th ...
s at Barcheston, Warwickshire by a Worcestershire antiquary, John Humphreys, without clear criteria; on a different, but still uncertain basis, others were so classified a few years later. No documentary evidence was then, or is now, associated with any tapestry, so no origin for any piece is definitely established.
The Sheldon Tapestry Maps
These are the four tapestry-woven maps commissioned in the late 1580s by Ralph Sheldon (1537–1613), based on the county surveys of
Christopher Saxton
Christopher Saxton (c. 1540 – c. 1610) was an English cartographer who produced the first county maps of England and Wales.
Life and family
Saxton was probably born in Sowood, Ossett in the parish of Dewsbury, in the West Riding of Yorkshire i ...
. The tapestries illustrated the counties of
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
,
Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...
,
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...
and
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
, with each tapestry portraying one county. Designed to hang together in Ralph Sheldon's home in Weston, near Long Compton, Warwickshire, they would have presented a view across central England, from the
Bristol Channel
The Bristol Channel ( cy, Môr Hafren, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Seve ...
to
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, covering the counties where Sheldon’s family and friends held land. The maps are important in showing the landscape of central England in the 16th century, at a time when modern map making was in early development.
Of the original four tapestries, three survive in part and only the Warwickshire one is still complete, now displayed at
Market Hall Museum, Warwick
__NOTOC__
Market Hall Museum is an historic museum located in Warwick, in Warwickshire, England. The Market Hall forms part of The Warwickshire Museum. The Warwickshire Museum is operated by Heritage and Culture Warwickshire. The collections on d ...
.
Background
![Weston House, Long Compton 1716](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Weston_House%2C_Long_Compton_1716.jpg)
In 1570 Ralph Sheldon's father, William, laid out plans which would, if successful, set up a new tapestry-weaving business in his manor house at
Barcheston
Barcheston is a village and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district of Warwickshire, England. The village is on the east bank of the River Stour, opposite Shipston-on-Stour. It shares a parish council with Willington. The parish, admini ...
, Warwickshire. A Flemish tapestry maker, Richard Hyckes, lived there rent-free on condition that he organised the weaving of tapestries and textiles. At the same time Hyckes was working, with the title of arras-maker, in the Great Wardrobe in London, part of the household departments of Queen
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
El ...
. He was head of the team responsible for the care and repair of the 2,500 tapestries inherited from her father King
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
. Ralph Sheldon allowed the business to continue following his father's death; he subsequently commissioned the tapestry maps, though there is no proof that they were woven in Warwickshire. It has been suggested that the size of this project would have required more space and skilled labour than would have been available in Barcheston at that time.
[Turner, ''No Mean Prospect: Ralph Sheldon's Tapestry Maps'', pg. 38-39]
During the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
the Sheldon family supported the Royalist cause, and after the war their lands were confiscated. With the
Restoration
Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to:
* Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage
** Audio restoration
** Film restoration
** Image restoration
** Textile restoration
* Restoration ecology
...
of the monarchy in 1660 and accession of
King Charles II, their lands were returned to them and a second Ralph Sheldon, known as ‘the Great’ (1623–1684) commissioned copies of two of the earlier tapestries, those of Oxfordshire and Worcestershire, possibly because the originals had been damaged.
[Turner, ''No Mean Prospect'', pg. 44] Instead of the detailed imagery of the Elizabethan borders on the four originals these tapestries were woven with a stylised picture frame and classical decorations. The original 16th-century border on the Warwickshire map was also replaced in the same style, probably at this time.
Design
Each of the four tapestry maps measured approximately wide and high and was based on the recent county maps made by Christopher Saxton, which provided information on rivers, towns, and geographical features such as woods and forests. Each tapestry focussed on a single county and the area of tapestry around that county boundary was filled in with details taken from the appropriate adjoining Saxton county maps. To enable the central county to stand out on each tapestry, it was given a pale background and a red border, while the backgrounds of neighbouring counties were woven in contrasting shades. Because it bordered so many other counties, the Oxfordshire tapestry, for instance, included details from nine of Saxton's maps.
The tapestry designer had to greatly enlarge the scale since the counties on the Saxton printed maps measured approximately .
[Turner, ''No Mean Prospect'', pg. 10-18] The tapestries therefore had space to add more detail than Saxton’s maps, so they include more natural and man-made features of each area, vary the species and style of trees and size of hills and illustrate items such as fire beacons and windmills. Most villages were drawn in a similar style, as houses grouped around a central church, though towns are more varied and shown in more detail so may have been based on more accurate drawings. Coventry was depicted with many church spires surrounded by its defensive walls, and Worcester included the stone-arched bridge over the
River Severn
, name_etymology =
, image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG
, image_size = 288
, image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle
, map = RiverSevernMap.jpg
, map_size = 288
, map_c ...
. All settlements, whatever their size, were identified in black capital letters on a pale background.
Numerous private houses were shown, often depicted in detail and indicating the building style of the house. Most had a connection with Sheldon’s family and friends and the Warwickshire tapestry included
Coughton Court
Coughton Court () is an English Tudor country house, situated on the main road between Studley and Alcester in Warwickshire. It is a Grade I listed building.
The house has a long crenellated façade directly facing the main road, at the cent ...
, home of Sheldon's wife, as well as the Sheldon properties in Weston, Skiltes and
Beoley
Beoley is a small village and larger civil parish north of Redditch in the Bromsgrove District of Worcestershire. It adjoins Warwickshire to the east. The 2001 census gave a parish population of 945, mostly at Holt End. The parish includes the ...
. Because of the overlap of geographical areas, each of the four tapestries was able to include Sheldon’s house in Weston which, unlike most of the other houses which were surrounded by fencing, was shown bordered by a hedge.
Every tapestry had the arms of Queen Elizabeth in the upper left corner, a panel of text inspired by
William Camden
William Camden (2 May 1551 – 9 November 1623) was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and herald, best known as author of ''Britannia'', the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, and the ''Annal ...
's ''Britannia'' in the upper right and a scale and dividers in the lower left corner.
Each right-hand corner of the tapestry had a coat of arms, representing different generations of the Sheldon family. Gloucestershire shows the arms of Ralph Sheldon (d. 1613) and Anne Throckmorton, Warwickshire shows those of Edward Sheldon (d.1643) and his wife Elizabeth Markham, while the simple Sheldon coat seen on Oxfordshire may represent their son William, born early in 1589. The Elizabethan Worcestershire tapestry lacks its right-hand side so that the arms are missing, but when it was woven a second time it showed those of William Sheldon (d.1570) and his wife Anne Willington. The 17th-century Oxfordshire map carries the arms of Ralph 'the Great' Sheldon and his wife Henrietta Maria Savage.
Each tapestry was then surrounded by a decorated border approximately deep, which included representations of allegorical and classical figures as well as pieces of text referring to the county depicted.
[Turner, pg. 30-34] The orientation of the four tapestries is not the same. The tapestry maps of Worcestershire and Oxfordshire have north at the top, while Warwickshire and Gloucestershire were made with north to the left.
Dispersal
The tapestries remained in the house and in 1738
George Vertue
George Vertue (1684 – 24 July 1756) was an English engraver and antiquary, whose notebooks on British art of the first half of the 18th century are a valuable source for the period.
Life
Vertue was born in 1684 in St Martin-in-the-Fields, ...
recorded that he had seen the Elizabethan maps and later copies of Oxfordshire and Worcestershire hanging together in the Great Drawing Room in Weston. Thirty years later in 1768 Walpole saw only ‘Three large maps of Counties in tapestry’. In 1781 when the contents of the house were sold, only three pieces were listed, by size, in the entries in
Christie's
Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...
auction catalogue.
The three tapestries listed are identifiable as the 16th-century Warwickshire map with its 17th-century border and the two 17th-century copies of Oxfordshire and Worcestershire; they were bought by
Horace Walpole
Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whigs (British political party), Whig politician.
He had Strawb ...
. He later gave them to Lord Harcourt, who left them to the Archbishop of York and in 1827 they were given to the
Yorkshire Philosophical Society
The Yorkshire Philosophical Society (YPS) is a charitable learned society (charity reg. 529709) which aims to promote the public understanding of the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the archaeology and history of York and Yorkshire.
...
who put them on display.
[Turner, pg. 46-48] In 1897 the Warwickshire tapestry was lent to the new Birmingham museum at its opening, and in 1914 the tapestries were exhibited at an exhibition at the
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
in London.
Because the border around the Warwickshire map had been replaced in the 17th century, it had been assumed that the whole map had also been made at that time.
[Turner, pg. 47] In 1980 a study of the tapestry revealed that the border had been stitched to the tapestry and not woven with it; this meant that the centre of the tapestry was older, revealing that the Warwickshire map dated from the 16th century and so was the only one of the original four tapestries which was still complete.
Cleaning and conservation of the Warwickshire tapestry was carried out in 2011, prior to its temporary exhibition at the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
in 2012. During this treatment the lining was removed from the back where some fragments of the Elizabethan original were found. The original colours could also be seen, bright green and yellow, though on the front of the tapestry these have now faded to blue.
Cleaning also highlighted previously hidden details like the many cottages hidden among the trees of the
Forest of Arden
Arden is an area located mainly in Warwickshire, England, with parts in Staffordshire and Worcestershire, and is traditionally regarded as extending from the River Avon to the River Tame. It was once heavily wooded, giving rise to the name 'F ...
and the stone circle near Great Rollright, possibly the earliest depiction of the
Rollright Stones
The Rollright Stones are a complex of three Neolithic and Bronze Age megalithic monuments near the village of Long Compton, on the borders of Oxfordshire and Warwickshire. Constructed from local oolitic limestone, the three monuments, now known ...
, Neolithic and Bronze Age megaliths on the Oxford- and Warwickshire border.
The Warwickshire tapestry contains a woven date, 1588. It was perhaps meant to commemorate the marriage of Edward Sheldon and Elizabeth Markham in that year, rather than being date the tapestry was woven.
Current locations
The history of the three 16th-century maps is more complicated. They were not identifiably listed in the sale catalogue of 1781; probably already damaged, the tapestries of Worcestershire, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire were acquired by different owners by unknown means. The antiquarian
Richard Gough
Charles Richard Gough (born 5 April 1962) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a defender.
Gough played in the successful Dundee United team of the early 1980s, winning the Scottish league title in 1982–83 and reachi ...
donated large sections of the Worcestershire and Oxfordshire and smaller fragments of the Gloucestershire tapestries to the
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...
, University of Oxford in 1809. In 2007, the Bodleian Library acquired a further piece of the Gloucestershire tapestry map, costing over £100,000.
This, with a companion piece, had first come to light in the 1860s and re-emerged in 1914; they decorated a fire screen. So too did two other parts of the 16th-century Oxfordshire tapestry; they had been in the possession of Horace Walpole and were sold from
Strawberry Hill House
Strawberry Hill House—often called simply Strawberry Hill—is a Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival villa that was built in Twickenham, London, by Horace Walpole (1717–1797) from 1749 onward. It is a typical example of the "#Strawb ...
in 1842. they were donated in 1954 to the Victoria and Albert Museum.
In 1960, the three complete tapestries were sold at
Sotheby's
Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...
, London. Worcestershire was bought by the Victoria and Albert Museum,
the Oxfordshire tapestry was bought by a private buyer and is now on display at the
Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...
, Oxford.
[Turner, Hilary (2006). "Oxfordshire in wool and silk: Ralph Sheldon the Great's tapestry map of Oxfordshire" (PDF). ''Oxoniensia'', Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society. Retrieved 25 August 2014.] The Warwickshire tapestry was bought for the Warwickshire Museum Service and is now displayed in the
Market Hall Museum, Warwick
__NOTOC__
Market Hall Museum is an historic museum located in Warwick, in Warwickshire, England. The Market Hall forms part of The Warwickshire Museum. The Warwickshire Museum is operated by Heritage and Culture Warwickshire. The collections on d ...
.
References
Bibliography
*
External links
Sheldon Tapestry Map of WarwickshireHistory of Parliament biography of Ralph Sheldon
{{Tapestry
Tapestries
Historic maps of Europe
Maps of England
Warwickshire
Textile arts of England
Tapestry-making operations