Year of the Normans
FIONA MCGARRY
To commemorate the 1,000th anniversary of the birth of William the Conqueror, there will be events across Hastings and the rest of the country from this summer into 2027, as part of the Year of the Normans.
The 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry is visiting the UK for the first time in nearly 1,000 years. It provides a record of the 1066 Norman invasion, culminating in William the Conqueror’s victory and King Harold’s defeat at The Battle of Hastings.
The most famous scenes depicted in the 70-metre tapestry show the brutal clash between Anglo-Saxon and Norman forces, but it also records the Norman fleet landing on the Sussex coast and feasting in Hastings beforehand.
On 12 June Hastings Museum and Art Gallery (HMAG) launched the national programme and schools offer: Bayeux Around Britain, supported by WorldQuant. This is a nationwide programme designed by the British Museum to communicate the story and significance of the Bayeux Tapestry to as many people as possible, and make it more accessible to schoolchildren, especially in 1066 Country. The British Museum team brought several artefacts down to Hastings, including an 11th century war axe and the Stothart Cast, which features depictions of Harold Godwinson, William the Conqueror and a medieval knight and will go on display at HMAG.
Schools in Hastings and nearby 1066 Country are receiving priority booking for free tickets to see the Bayeux Tapestry when it goes on display at the British Museum in the autumn. The announcement follows months of campaigning by Helena Dollimore MP (including a debate), to ensure that all schoolchildren in Hastings and the surrounding area are able to access the exhibition.
In addition to securing tickets for the exhibition for local people, Dollimore also encouraged visitors to the exhibition to “take a further step back in time and visit 1066 Country, the place where it all happened”. She said: “I am urging many of our transport providers to make sure that we can make it easier for tourists to visit 1066 Country during this important moment, and that includes urging Southeastern to look at how it can make it quicker for tourists to visit our area by train.”
Speaking at the launch event, British Museum Director Nicholas Cullinan announced that every school child visiting The Bayeux Tapestry Presented by Igor Tulchinsky, as part of an organised school visit will receive a free packed lunch, made possible with the support of coffee company Benugo.
It was also announced that on 14 October, the anniversary of the battle itself, the British Museum will also broadcast live into hundreds of classrooms across the country, “bringing the story of the Bayeux Tapestry to life through a curriculum-linked schools event”.
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