Norfolk textile specialists help save one of oldest and largest tapestries in UK

  • Watch a report by ITV News Anglia's Natalie Gray

Textile specialists in Norfolk are nearing the end of a huge project to save the largest surviving set of tapestries in the UK.

They are working on the last of thirteen giant panels made in the 16th century. It is the National Trust's longest textile conservation project having begun twenty years ago!

The Gideon Tapestry in the Long Gallery at Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire Credit: National Trust

The Gideon Tapestry can be found at Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire.

The complete tapestry is 70 metres long and covers the entire length of the Long Gallery. It tells the biblical story of Gideon though it's normally hidden by portraits .

Two of the Norfolk textile conservators working on one of the giant panels from the Gideon Tapestry Credit: ITV Anglia

The tapestry experts work 130 miles away at the National Trust's in-house Textile Conservation Studio at Oulton on the Blickling estate in Norfolk.  

The underside is really vibrant because it has not had to endure 400 years of sunlight.

The Gideon Tapestry before it was cleaned - black from centuries of dust and dirt Credit: National Trust

The tapestry has been sent to specialists in Belgium for a wet washing process revealing weak and broken threads which will need to be replaced.

The original would have taken a team of weavers years to complete.

The Gideon Tapestry was woven in Belgium for Sir Christopher Hatton, whose coats of arms and initials are in the original.

Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury known as the Bess of Hardwick Credit: National Trust

But it was sold after his death and bought by Bess of Hardwick in 1592 for the huge sum then of £326. She had her own coat of arms stitched over the top.

Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire where the Gideon Tapestry can be found Credit: National Trust

Once back at Hardwick Hall the tapestry will be left for at least two years without portraits hung over it to allow it to be seen in all its glory, as originally intended.