Tapestries called Sheldon - The Tapestry Maps Exhibition

The Tapestry Maps Exhibition

Ralph Sheldon, William's son, commissioned four tapestry maps of the counties in which he held land - Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. Hanging together in his new house at Weston, Long Compton, they portrayed a panoramic view across England.
Worcestershire, the seventeenth century copy http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O114027/tapestry/	MORE on Ralph Sheldon (pdf file)
	They were so much admired by his descendants that two of them, perhaps damaged in the Civil War (1642-46), were copied and woven a second time, in the 1670s. Many changes were made to the decorative details, including substitution of a narrower, picture frame border.
Only one of the Elizabethan originals has survived complete, though its original Elizabethan wide border was replaced by the narrower border seen in the new pieces. http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/Web/corporate/pages.nsf/Links/D9E72D711175B668802572E3002EDAD5 Two of the other Elizabethan maps were given to the Bodleian Library in 1809
Map of Worcestershire Courtesy of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford	Map of Oxfordshire Courtesy of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford MORE on the background to the Tapestry Maps
Later Worcestershire tapestry map: 3.96m x 6.70m. Wool and silk http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O114027/tapestry/ Museum number T.261-1960	Bodleian Library Tapestries Oxfordshire: 12.ft 6 inches x 16 feet; 3.82 x 4.88 m. Worcestershire:13 ft 9 inches x 16 ft 9 inches; 4.20 x 5.11 m.

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