Display of Welsh black hat and red cape. At the Fishguard tapestry museum. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
Problem
How do you make a tapestry to celebration 200 years from the last invasion of Britain?
First - what happened?
The French troops, fired with enthusasm for revolution, hoped to join with the Irish and any dis-satisfied British people to overthrow the British government.
The French sent over, not seasoned troops but a band of recruits including many criminals.
They landed in north Wales, were more interested in looting than fighting. While the Welsh were waiting for the soldiers to come overland to help, the women, led by a feisty lady, marched around the hilltops with their back to the incoming ships and sailors. The women wore red capes which looked like the redcoats of soldiers. The ladies kept marching in a loop, so the French onlookers from far away thought they were outnumbered.
French Invaders, Good and Bad
Some of the French invaders looted a nearby church. Others were kinder, and left alone a lady who was feeding her newborn baby. The baby's bottle is preserved in the museum. Whilst the French invaders were generally considered bad from many points of view, two Welsh ladies fell in love with French soldiers and got married.
The film about the making of the taspestry tells you how they looked for fabric cheaper than the usual linen, got discounts on bulk buying embroidery 'wool' skeins, selected up to 100 colours, and sent all their needle workers instructions on the kinds of stitches to use to edge and fill in, so that all the panels made by different people looked like part of a consistent whole.
The tapestry has text in Welsh and English. Brochures on it are in several languages.
The international context is made clear by a newspaper article in the library next door.
Fishguard
Wales
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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