“Each time I look at the panels I see something that I’d not noticed on previous visits….. The amount of thought in the design is phenomenal; the colours are so harmonious; the use of background fabrics inspirational.”
A Battle Remembered
The story begins with a public meeting early in 1987 called to consider how to mark 1000 years since the Battle of Maldon in August 991. This was fought on the banks of the River Blackwater (then known as the Pant) between the English defenders, mostly militiamen, commanded by Byrhtnoth the Earldorman of Essex, and some ninety three boats of Danish Viking invaders. Much is known about the encounter because of the remaining 325 lines of a poem in Anglo Saxon believed to have been written shortly after the event.
Byrhtnoth rejected the Danes demands for tributes (ie protection money) and instead invited them across the river to fight on open ground. The result was bloody, with heavy losses on both sides including that of Byrhtnoth himself. Although the Danes won, they lost so many men that they had difficulty in manning their boats to leave. The English King Ethelred then decided that it was better to pay the tributes (which became known as Dane Geld) than be attacked and 3300 kg of silver were paid to the Danes. The attacks soon resumed!
“Once you pay him the Dane Geld/ you never get rid of the Dane.” “Dane Geld” a 1911 poem of Rudyard Kipling.
From Commemoration to Embroidery
The 1987 public meeting generated a committee which became the Maldon Millennium Society charged with the task of commemorating the Battle and the 1000 years that had passed. The inspired idea of recording this in embroidery was one of those suggested at the meeting. It was subsequently approved and in due course Humphrey Spender (1910 – 2005) was appointed as designer.
Humphrey Spender and the Making of the Embroidery
Spender had a long, interesting life. He had a German émigré mother and talented siblings in Sir Stephen, the poet, and Michael, a surveyor and explorer. His first career was as a renowned commercial photographer operating from a studio in the Strand. Wartime saw him in the RASC and then an official war photographer and map maker. After the war he abandoned photography for painting, textiles and design.
In 1969 Spender moved to the first built house of the architect Richard Rogers, The Studio in Ulting near Maldon. Spender thought that the Embroidery project would take him a year. In fact, assisted by Andrew Fawcett and Rachael Hewitt, it took three and a half years. His idea was to have seven panels each six feet (1.8m) long and twenty six (66cm) inches deep with the panels formed using coloured overlapping nets and cotton materials.
Eighty-Six Embroiderers Bring the Design to Life
Also appointed was Lee Cash a professional restorer and embroiderer. She translated Spender`s design into fabric and stitch and led the volunteer embroidery team (which eventually grew to number eighty six ladies). Those involved in the embroidering are full of praise for the skill, dedication and generosity of Mrs Cash who sadly died at the young age of sixty. As each panel arrived from Spender, the design was divided into “motifs” (embroidered pieces) which were allocated to the embroiderers. One lady, Wendy Munnion, recalls that her motif of King Henry II entailed 280 hours of stitching! Once embroidered and passing the scrutiny of Mrs Cash, a small group led by Sheila Allen (and known as the Thursday Ladies) sewed the motifs onto the background panels.
Finding a Permanent Home in Maldon
In the very middle of Maldon`s High Street stands St. Peters Tower with an attached two storey brick building known as the Plume Building. There had been a church on this site from Saxon times until the then church was made redundant in1577. The base of the current tower is fifteenth century but the upper part, along with the brick attachment, was built by Thomas Plume DD (1630 – 1704). The upper storey still houses Dr Plume`s library of some 8000 books and pamphlets. The ground floor had been a school, a masonic lodge and then a public library but became vacant in 1992 when the public library moved to new premises.
Early on the Millennium Society seems to have intended that the permanent home for the Embroidery should be in Maldon Town Centre. There was much concern at the time about how the traditional High Street would cope with the new out-of-town centre Tesco’s. The Society clearly felt that a tourist attraction in its centre would help the High Street shops and businesses. The ground floor of the Plume Building suited this intention exactly.
Maldon Town Council needed to acquire the freehold of the Tower from the Church Commissioners and that of the Plume Building from the Maldon District Council which had to carry out various repairs. Alternative suggestions came and went such as placing the Embroidery in a planned visitor centre for the Roman remains and artefacts found at Elm Farm Heybridge (failed to obtain funding). Another was to display the Embroidery as part of the Maldon Museum which needed a new home (little support).
From the Moot Hall to the Maeldune Heritage Centre
The Millennium Society held firm and after all the coming and goings had come and gone, the now completed Embroidery was first displayed in the Moot Hall, Maldon in September 1991. It was reported in July 1995 that the 40,000th visitor had been welcomed. Finally by early 1998, eleven years after the project began, all was in place and the Plume Building had been prepared to receive the Embroidery for permanent exhibition. On the 28th May 1998 the Society formally voted to transfer the Embroidery to the District Council on terms that it was loaned to the Town Council (who had always had custody of it anyway) for display in the Plume Building. The Society then voted to dissolve itself.
Maeldune (translated as the cross on the hill) was the Old Saxon name for Maldon. As a link back to its past, the ground floor of the Plume Building was named the Maeldune Heritage Centre. The Maeldune Trust (a charity) was formed to operate the Centre as a heritage and cultural space.
Thirty-Five Years of Custodianship
For approaching thirty years the Trust has been custodian of the Embroidery (now 35 years old) and a focus for knowledge and scholarship about the Battle and the history of the Town. The Trust offers tours and talks to groups and individuals and has a particular programme for schools. A special series of 35th anniversary seminars are planned this autumn.
The Centre is open free to the public, Tuesday to Saturday 11 am to 4pm year round (except for a refurbishment closure after Christmas trading). It is also home to changing artist`s exhibitions, a craft shop, the Maldon Visitor Information Centre, the Maldon Society Listening Station and video and photographic archives and other local historical displays.
And so the Maldon Embroidery – a tale of a significant military event brought to life by an inspired idea, a talented designer, almost a hundred dedicated embroiderers, a determined Society, and a Trust accepting responsible custodianship of an important artefact, ensuring that current and future generations understand and appreciate their own heritage.
What Does the Future Hold?
Currently local government reorganisation, which could see Maldon District Council and its assets disappearing into a Mid Essex Unitary Authority, is casting a shadow over the future. “As far as we can work out” explains a concerned Trust Chairman Jill Hipsey “the District Council is the nominal owner of the Embroidery subject to conditions. The Millennium Society intended that the Embroidery should be held by a Maldon statutory body and displayed in the Town Centre.”
“Private benefactors to the public domain are important and, if feasible, their wishes ought to be respected. I am sure that those who worked on the Embroidery would be horrified to learn of their work ending up outside the Town. In the circumstances, the District Council ought to pass its interest in the Embroidery on to the Town Council and I would urge both authorities to do this as soon as possible.”
To book a talk, tour or for more information please contact the Centre manager Nigel Crowley via the Maeldune Heritage Centre website maelduneheritagecentre.org or ring 01621 851628. For an in depth insight into the fabrication of the Embroidery, a definitive work “The Embroiderers Story” by Jill Hipsey is available to study at the Centre.
All images that accompany this essay are reproduced with the kind permission of the copyright owners The Maeldune Trust.
—by Terry Coiley
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