The Bayeux Tapestry and it’s Weather Vane

The Bayeux Tapestry is an extraordinary historical artifact currently on display at a sold-out exhibit at theBritish Museum in London. This enormous embroidery (about 20 inches tall and an amazing 230 feet long) lays out, in beautiful detail, one of Western civilization’s great inflection points.

Told from the victor’s point of view, William the Conqueror, the tapestry depicts events leading up to the Duke’s invasion of England from his stronghold in France, the vast expeditionary force he assembled to sail across the English Channel, and the pivotal Battle of Hastings, where he defeated Harold, the Anglo-Saxon King of England and his forces in 1066.

The tapestry depicts 58 pivotal scenes and employs dyed wool thread in ten distinct colors displayed on a linen background. One panel famously depicts a craftsman installing a Rooster Weathervane (a Weathercock) above the roof of Winchester Cathedral, illustrating the central role weathervanes played in denoting major Englishbuildings almost a thousand years ago.

But hand-crafted copper weathervanes have an even older lineage than the Bayeux Tapestry. The historical record describes copper weathervanes dating back to Hellenistic Greek times, over 2000 years ago! Other famous historical weathervanes include those employed on Viking Ships in the ninth century, which helped the Norsemen gain the confidence to sail away from the shoreline and cover vast distances over open water.

So, if you ever decide you want a weathervane of your own, knowing it is part of an unbroken tradition dating back over two millennia may add an extra patina to your handcrafted, artisan-made weathervane!