Janice Brooker

A Charter from 1060

The Wheathampstead Charter records the gift of lands by King Edward the Confessor to the convent of Westminster.

The colours and styles of the sampler were inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry which was probably created in Kent about 1070, ten years after the Wheathampstead Charter was enacted.

It is worked in whole cross stitch and back stitch on Dublin 25 count natural raw linen, using pure silk thread.  The edging is worked in square edging hem stitch.

The initial letter of ‘Wathamsted’ is taken from the ‘omega’ in the border of the charter.

Each name and image or symbol on the sampler represents places mentioned in the charter bounds. The crown and mitre in each corner represents the king and the abbot.

At the bottom is a spool of thread and a needle for Threads of Time, the initials of the embroiderer and the date of completion.

I took up cross stitching as an antidote to final year exams at university, and have been dipping into various forms of stitchery ever since.It gave me an opportunity to combine several of my interests – samplers, symbolism, the Bayeux tapestry, and the Wheathampstead charter, which is a fine Anglo Saxon charter. I had not made a sampler for some time and very much enjoyed returning to this form of work, from developing the design, to selecting the materials and making the finished sampler.

This page was added on 03/06/2014.

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