Coming soon.
Metadata:
- Created: 2024
- Artworks:
- Embroidery 12″ x 10″ (Crewel wool on
- Brief:
- I recently joined Leeds stitch and textile group (formerly the Embroiderer’s Guild chapter for the area)
- The group have been invited by the outrach people from Temple Newsam to create works to represent the house.
- Due to my current interest in early Leeds, I suggested I cover the time before the current country house.
The concept
I chose to cover the period before it became a country house not knowing what an interesting ‘pre-history’ it had. I also didn’t realize how well it tied into other Leeds research I’d been undertaking. The main focus for this research was mid 1100s through to 1309. This it when the Knight’s Templar were the occupants of Temple Newsam and the manor of Whitkirk.
I have produced an artwork which isn’t intended to be historically correct. Instead it is informed by from historic references. These references include both recorded activity and events as well as creative objects.
What research have I undertaken?
- Purchased books and attended training by Tanya Bentham – an expert on medieval embroidery, who happens to live in Leeds.
I want to take this chance to publicly thank Tanya. Her insight and books helped shape the work. They also informed the man and sheep in my artwork. - I have used the Bayeux tapestry as a reference. I used ‘crewel’ wool to stitch with on a linen base. I sought to use stitches that would have been used at the time. I have used the same letterforms as in the Norman artwork. We’re not sure when the lettering was added to that work recording the Norman Conquest. It may have post-dated the time my work aims to represent.
- Reading books and websites describing the activities of the Templars (specifically in Leeds and more generally) – see list on parent page.
- Due to limited time I chose not to hand-weave the linen base or hand dye the wool; but the brand I selected (Appletons) is from Yorkshire. Research suggested that crewel yarn was the nearest I’d find commercially to wool that might have been used by a member of the preceptory. The choice of materials and colours represent materials and dyes which would have been available locally.
Things which are guesses…
All of it!
- The buildings are informed by the preceptory book – but should be considered a representation – a fiction.
- “Godfri’ (May be Godfrey or Geoffrey) and his clothing and staff is based entirely on various descriptions and guesswork. Even the two-barred form of the cross is based on what’s been seen more recently in Leeds.
- I’ve assumed the fictitious creator to have been a Templar or lay-member of the preceptory recording (and lamenting) it’s passing.
- The Templars were imprisoned in York. It’s possible the creator may not have known what had become of their former ‘teacher’ (preceptor means teacher).
- I’m not assuming they were experts in embroidery. Maybe they learned the basics while visiting France. Or perhaps from a knight resident in the preceptory.
- We don’t know for certain when the preceptory started. It was most likely in the reign of Henry II. The Templars gained different pieces of land at different times and by different methods.
As with most of my work, I’m not dwelling on absolute historical facts. I’m instead choosing to consider points of change. I am interested in their impact on those around the. The more seismic change (the harrying of the North) had its impact over a century before. The land hadn’t recovered when the Templars took over.
But a significant change of order – like the Templars departing – will have had ramifications for the area. Tenants may not known what to do next. Did the wool trade with the continent continue – what became of the thousand-strong flock? What happened to the lower members of the community?
Jon Eland 