Needlemakers Visit to the Jubilee Exhibition

Needlemakers visit to St Pauls Cathedral 14 November

We began our tour at the West door. Terry, our guide, informed us that the Cathedral we were visiting was the 5^th church on the site. The 4^th gothic style cathedral was destroyed in 1666 by the Great Fire. The English baroque masterpiece we see today is the work of Sir Christopher Wren.

 In the North transept, we viewed an exquisite Victorian altar frontal. Ruth a specialist Cathedral broderer and expert on all matters textile, explained that the colour red signifies martyrdom, and is displayed on specific Saints’ days, whilst a green background is used every day.

 At our next stop, Terry told how Cathedral firefighters had a narrow escape during the blitz. One night, a bomb fell on the North transept, destroying the roof dome and creating a huge blast hole in the crypt. The firefighters had been using this as their sleeping quarters and had only been relocated the previous week, to make way for organ pipe storage.

 We moved on to the choir where the Victorians had made “improvements’’, creating magnificent Byzantine-style tesserae depicting the creation of the world. We can clearly see the heavens and birds of the air, the seas and fish, on land there are palm trees but no humans, the composition requires an audience to complete it. We also viewed a splendid wrought iron gate installed with funds diverted from Westminster Abbey (formally titled the Collegiate Church of St. Peter) to St Paul’s. Hence the expression to rob Peter to pay Paul.

 We were lucky enough to pass a storage room known as the “dog kennel” whilst one of the vergers was there. Here we saw copes designed for the clergy to wear for the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth Second as well as those created for the marriage of Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles in 1981.

 A highlight of our visit was the cope exhibition. The first display featured the Prussian Cope restored with a donation from the legacy left by Past Master David Hubert. This Magnificent cope was embroidered on cloth originally destined for the Coronation robes of Empress Frederick of Prussia (daughter of Queen Victoria). Due to the death of the emperor prior to the coronation, the cloth was not used. Instead, it was gifted to Bishop Mandell Creighton and repurposed for the cope he wore during the 1879 Jubilee.

 Fast forward 100 years, the second cope we viewed was another Bishop’s Jubilee Cope. This cope was designed by Beryl Dean in 1975, ready for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977. It features the parish churches of the Diocese of London. The churches were embroidered individually by members of the Stanhope Adult Education Institute, then assembled on a wool fabric. A donation from our Charity funds allowed restoration work to be carried out by the needlework students at the Stanhope Institute.

 We were privileged to be invited to the cathedral broderers’ inner sanctum, where restoration work is undertaken. The broderers are a group of volunteers who meet twice weekly. Their needlework is truly exceptional. Ruth showed us another cope designed by Beryl Dean, worn on All Saints Day and featuring fiery resurrection scenes as well as entirely new designs for bible covers. We learnt that the restoration budget is approximately £1,000 per annum, whilst the fabric alone for one cope costs £1,500 and there are four to complete. Many old textiles elements are recycled and incorporated in restoration work and offcuts used for new designs.

 We would like to thank our 2 guides Terry and Ruth for an outstanding visit.

  Assistant Pippa Rousselet