The last invasion of Britain
I am not known for my love or knowledge of History. In fact, I often claim to have simply not been there when history was taught at my Grammar school. I just wasn't interested. Over the years, however, my Hero has shared his love of the subject, our son gained an MA at Cambridge in, yes, History (for which I claim no responsibility whatsoever!) and unsuprisingly, along the way I have picked up one or two facts.
When I was judging one of the preliminary rounds for the Royal Welsh Show last year, for which the theme was “Welsh Myth and Legend”, I prepared by reading up on some of the main folk tales from the Mabinogion, the great Welsh collection referred to on these pages previously. I was stumped, however, by one of the entries which depicted women dressed in red on the rooftops of some buildings. Thankfully the makers had added a few background notes, from which I learned that this was an event which took place in Pembrokeshire, west Wales, and was spearheaded by a woman called Jemima Nicholas, a cobbler.
Chatting about it with my Hero later, he added “Oh yes, that was the last invasion of Britain”.
Unsurprisingly, I knew nothing about it!
Over the weeks, I learned a little more, proudly sharing my new found knowledge with our Los Angeles friends Mary and Diana who were headed for west Wales on a road trip. I suggested they might like to find out about Jemima, knowing that they'd appreciate a little local legend, as well as a relatively unknown fact from British history, for most people (including me, until relatively recently!) think the last invasion of Britain took place in 1066.
They returned with huge enthusiasm for this surprising discovery. Not only did they visit Fishguard, they paid a visit to the town library, where they had a fabulous time visiting The Last Invasion Tapestry. Similar in size and format to the Bayeaux Tapestry, from where the inspiration clearly was drawn, this is a masterpiece of storytelling and one we were eager to visit whilst passing through the town.
It's mounted behind glass and well lit to show the detail to best advantage. Taking photographs is tricky, therefore, so rather than share all of them here, I'll simply suggest taking a close look on the website for better illustration.
But of course, I took plenty of photographs for my own reference, loving the soft palette of colours and the detailed stitching that went into the masterpiece.
And on Diana's recommendation, we watched the video which explained how the tapestry came about and included interviews and conversations amongst the women who did the stitching.
I was also keen to see how Jemima Nicholas was depicted! Here she is, spearheading her band of red-cloaked women, each carrying a pitchfork. It's described here as “the myth”, for though the story is told locally, there is no actual written record of the event
Whilst watching the film about the creation of the tapestry, we smiled when one of the embroiderers described the care she had taken with she “beautiful shape of this chap's bottom”, spending hours ensuring that her stitches recreated the lovely curves!
We could have spent longer and as is often the case, we left thinking “we'll come again”, but we had further to go and deadlines to meet.
I couldn't resist taking a quick snap of these fabulous paper structures in the small shop next door, which is actually the local history museum. Another place for next time!
I was glad too, to see a blue plaque on the wall of Fishguard Town Hall, commemorating Jemima's actions that day, for whether it be the truth or simply a myth, it's a darned good story!
