Sheldon tapestries
Pieces were first attributed in the 1920s to looms at Barcheston, Warwickshire by a Worcestershire antiquary, John Humphreys, without clear criteria;[3] on a different, but still uncertain basis, others were so classified a few years later.
In 1570 Ralph Sheldon's father, William, laid out plans which would, if successful, set up a new tapestry-weaving business in his manor house at Barcheston, Warwickshire.
At the same time Hyckes was working, with the title of arras-maker, in the Great Wardrobe in London, part of the household departments of Queen Elizabeth I.
[7] Ralph Sheldon allowed the business to continue following his father's death; he subsequently commissioned the tapestry maps, though there is no proof that they were woven in Warwickshire.
With the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 and accession of King Charles II, their lands were returned to them and a second Ralph Sheldon, known as ‘the Great’ (1623–1684) commissioned copies of two of the earlier tapestries, those of Oxfordshire and Worcestershire, possibly because the originals had been damaged.
The tapestry designer had to greatly enlarge the scale since the counties on the Saxton printed maps measured approximately 12 by 10 inches (30 by 25 cm).
[10] The tapestries therefore had space to add more detail than Saxton’s maps, so they include more natural and man-made features of each area, vary the species and style of trees and size of hills and illustrate items such as fire beacons and windmills.
Most villages were drawn in a similar style, as houses grouped around a central church, though towns are more varied and shown in more detail so may have been based on more accurate drawings.
The Elizabethan Worcestershire tapestry lacks its right-hand side so that the arms are missing, but when it was woven a second time it showed those of William Sheldon (d.1570) and his wife Anne Willington.
[11] Each tapestry was then surrounded by a decorated border approximately 18 inches (46 cm) deep, which included representations of allegorical and classical figures as well as pieces of text referring to the county depicted.
The tapestries remained in the house and in 1738 George Vertue recorded that he had seen the Elizabethan maps and later copies of Oxfordshire and Worcestershire hanging together in the Great Drawing Room in Weston.
They were not identifiably listed in the sale catalogue of 1781; probably already damaged, the tapestries of Worcestershire, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire were acquired by different owners by unknown means.
The antiquarian Richard Gough donated large sections of the Worcestershire and Oxfordshire and smaller fragments of the Gloucestershire tapestries to the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford in 1809.
