00:00The bio tapestry goes on display today in London after it returned to the UK
00:03earlier this year for the first time in nearly 1,000 years.
00:07But did you know that the tapestry is most likely made in Canterbury?
00:11To find out more we spoke to Dr Charlie Rosier, a lecturer in medieval history at the University of Kent.
00:18We don't know anything for certain but the main people mentioned in the bio tapestry by name
00:23all have links to Kent and Canterbury. We think the artists responsible for designing it was based
00:30at the Abbey of St Augustine's which is now in Canterbury and we think the women who made it
00:36were probably embroideresses from the city of Canterbury, probably nuns, highly skilled,
00:42years of training and so that's one aspect of it. It was probably made in Canterbury.
00:47Tickets to view the tapestry however are sold out for visits until the end of this year.
00:52Ahead of the second ticket released next month for visits between January and March,
00:58Canterbury Council have asked for its residents to be allowed priority booking.
01:01I spoke to council leader Alan Baldock to find out why.
01:06Well the King actually in his opening address at the Bay of Tapestry recognised Canterbury as the
01:11place where the tapestry was most likely to be made and we're really proud of that heritage
01:17and of course without the battle in Hastings there wouldn't be a tapestry but honestly we're the
01:22storytellers of that battle and we are a place of storytelling in Canterbury so that we expect
01:28to be treated the same as those residents in Sussex who rightly are recognised because they're
01:35placed in that history. We're also part of that history and our storytelling element of it,
01:40so Bay of Tapestry we need some tickets for Canterbury residents to enjoy the priority booking process.
01:46It's a move that has wide political consensus across the city as I found out when speaking to the Vice
01:53Chair of Upper Hards Parish Council. Well I think any opportunity we have as a city, as a county to
02:00engage with national events is something that we should take very very seriously and there are those
02:05really clear local links to Canterbury that the Bay of Tapestry has and so I would support the British
02:10Museum and those involved with organising the exhibition giving access to local Canterbury
02:15residents on a priority basis. A British Museum spokesperson said given the tapestry's depiction
02:21of Hastings in connection to the area that they have prioritised early engagement there they're afraid
02:26that priority access cannot be offered to every local authority. There's just under six weeks until
02:31the next ticket release and Canterbury's residents will be hoping for a change in the museum's position
02:35between now and then to give them greater chance of viewing the exhibition next year. Alex Simpson,
02:41KMTV News in Canterbury.
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