Display plans for Peterborough Cathedral's extraordinary embroidery still under consideration
Plans to display a 12 feet long embroidery based on the artwork of Peterborough Cathedral’s medieval ceiling have still to be agreed, it has been revealed.
More than 100 people have helped put in thousands of stitches over about eight years to create the colourful embroidery which is a copy of the intricate 13th century painting on the ceiling.
Now with volunteers expecting the project, which was commissioned in 1986 but only started in 2018, to be completed this May it has been revealed that proper consideration about the work’s future has still to take place.
After the first few feet of the embroidery were completed it was rolled up until yesterday when the 12 feet, two inches long embroidery was unravelled to enable volunteers to see exactly what was left to be done.
"At first there were only seven people involved and now there are five sessions a week with 24 people involved"
One of the volunteers who has been working on embroidery since the start is Elaine Harburn, team leader of the embroiderers.
She said: “A lot of hard work has gone into this embroidery
"We started in May 2018 without a clue about what we were doing.
"We had to find out the hard way by doing it wrong first and we’ve been working on it solidly since then.”
She said: "At first there were only seven people involved and now there are five sessions a week with 24 people involved.
"But we get all sorts of passing people stopping by to put in a stitch or two – the Dean and the Vice Dean and assorted clergy have helped. It’s nearly 100 people now.
“And the last person to put in a stitch will be the Bishop of Peterborough, the Right Reverend Debbie Sellin.”
Elaine said: “We do about two to two-and-a-half hours work a time.
"It is a lovely thing to do
She added: “We think we know when it will be completed but then it turns out to be much slower, and then suddenly it’s done.
"So hopefully it will be the end of May, which means it will have taken a full eight years to complete.
"Although it was commissioned in May 1986, so that will make it 40 years.”
“We have seen that a huge amount of dedication, love, skill and craft has gone into it "
The Very Reverend Chris Dalliston, the Dean of Peterborough, said: “This is such a remarkable achievement.
"We thought it was going to take years and years to complete but as we’ve gone on more people have got involved.”
Asked how the embroidery would be displayed, he said: “We don’t have any immediate plan but it needs to be framed and then we’ll have to think about how to show it off to its best advantage and in a way it would help interpret the ceiling artwork.
"We have seen that a huge amount of dedication, love, skill and craft has gone into it and produced this remarkable representation of our amazing medieval ceiling.
"I am very proud of our volunteers and it is really special and we should celebrate.”