The Last Invasion Tapestry

It is 30 metres – or 98 feet – long.  More than 70 women completed the embroidery work. It was begun in 1993 and completed in 1996.  The room where it is hung was designed to accommodate the tapestry.   This week’s photo challenge is: Big

The Last Invasion Tapestry housed in the Town Hall in Fishguard, Wales is an embroidered depiction of the last invasion of England.

In February 1797 a French force of 1400 men – said to be misfits and jailbirds – sailed in four warships across the Channel with Bristol as their destination.  After sacking Bristol they were to cross into Wales and march on to Liverpool. However, bandied about by strong winds they altered course, but not before being spotted.   When instead, they sailed into Fishguard Bay the townspeople were forewarned.  The French encountered cannon fire, which, it is said, was not aimed at the French but was an alarm to alert the townspeople. Essentially the ill-trained force capitulated and the ‘invasion’ was over before it started.

The heroine of the day was Jemima Fawr – Jemima the Great. The middle-aged wife of a Fishguard cobbler, she is said to have singlehandedly captured 12 of the invaders, marched them into town and locked them up in St Mary’s Church.

See one more photo relating to the Last Invasion on the Legion of Door Whores