The New World Tapestry was for a time the largest stitched embroidery in the world. It depicts English colonisation in North America, Guyanas, and Bermuda between the years 1583 and 1642, when the English Civil War began.
Work began on the tapestry in 1977 and continued for twenty years, with the last stitch made by Prince Charles in 2000. The tapestry was at the British Empire & Commonwealth Museum in Bristol until its closure in 2013. It is now in the collection of the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery in storage.
The panels The New World Tapestry, which in its entirety measures , consists of twenty-four panels, each of which depicts the narrative of a particular phase in the period between 1583 and 1642.
Each panel measures .
+ The 24 panels of the New World Tapestry Years Narrative People Plants 1583 (1) Expedition to Newfoundland Humphrey Gilbert, Captain William Winter, Robert Davis, Edward Hayes, Richard Clarke, William Cox, Captain Cade, Thomas Edmondes, Thomas Aldworth, Gilbert Staplehill Common mallow, soapwort, dandelion, thrift, daisy, jessamine, bistort, purple iris, cleavers, heartsease, yarrow 1584 (2) First Expedition to Roanoke Walter Raleigh, Philip Amadas, William Grenville, John Wood, Richard Hakluyt, Henry Greene, William Sanderson, Josias Calmady, John Dee, Thomas Harriot, John Sparke Foxglove, plum, dock, peach, corn marigold, St John's wort, pear, succory, hollyhock, cowslip, tobacco 1585 (3) Second Expedition to Roanoake Richard Grenville, Edward Kelley, John White, Thomas Wise, Robert Masters, John Stukley, Christopher Broking, John Arundel, Edward Gorges, Thomas Cavendish, Walter Raleigh Honeysuckle, dovesfoot, saxifrage, bramble, melilot, peppermint, oxeye daisy, wild pink, mullein, potato, hop 1586 (4) Roanoke Colony and Fort Raleigh Francis Walsingham, Ralph Lane, John Harris, Francis Drake, Philip Sidney, Richard Grenville, Thomas Ford, Thomas Luddington, George Raymond, Marmaduke Constable, David Williams Scabious, parsley, broad leaved dock, Good King Henry, betony, weld, alkanet, crosswort, columbine, hazel, nonesuch 1587 (5) Fourth year on Roanoke Island John White, George Howe, Edward Spicer, Roger Pratt, Edward Stafford, Roger Bayle, John Humphrey, George Maynard, Ananias Dare, Eleanor Dare, Virginia Dare Bird's-foot-trefoil, burdock, houseleek, chervil, forget-me-not, bugle, tutsan, bladder campion, pimpernel, strawberry, thyme 1588–1590 (6) End of the Roanoke Colony Richard Grenville, William Winter, John Hawkins, Francis Drake, Anthony Cage, George More, Martin Frobisher, Robert Hughes, Lord Howard of Effingham, Christopher Cooper, Thomas Stevens Basil, briar rose, bay, periwinkle, feverfew, tansy, willow herb, elder, borage, Alexanders, comfrey 1595–1596 (7) Expedition to the Guyanas Walter Raleigh, Lawrence Kemys, Anthony Ashley, John Donne, Thomas Howard, John Hartington, Robert Devereux, Francis Vere, Charles Howard, George Carew, Thomas Bodley Globe thistle, stitchwort, orpine, water lily, black poplar, wormwood, winter savory, dill, bell heather, flax, sneezewort 1602–1603 (8) Expedition to Cape Cod Bartholomew Gosnold, Gabriel Archer, William Strete, John Brereton, John Popham, John Hele, William Parker, Bartholomew Gilbert, Thomas Walker, Edward Hayes, Walter Raleigh Red valerian, squill, toadflax, Plymouth thistle, archangel, vervain, hedge mustard, lily of the valley, self heal, buttercup, marjoram 1605 (9) Expedition to Maine George Waymouth, Henry Wriothesley, Walter Mathew, Wiliam Rosecarrock, Ferdinando Gorges, John Popham, Robert Martin, Thomas Arundell, Richard Aldworth, Thomas Smythe, James Rosier White rose, violet, groundsel, rest harrow, knapweed, lady's bedstraw, bluebell, fennel, clown's ringwort, lady's mantle, tare 1606 (10) Plymouth Company and London Company John Popham, William Parker, George Popham, Raleigh Gilbert, Thomas Hanham, John Maddock, John Dodderidge, William Waad, James Bagg, Henry Challons, Martin Pring Cotton lavender, lemon balm, bittersweet, willow tree, celandine, meadowsweet, red campion, bugloss, woad, thistle, fumitory 1607 (11) Jamestown, Virginia Christopher Newport, Bartholomew Gosnold, Henry Montagu, Robert Cecil, John Smith, Chief Powhatan, George Percy, John Ratcliffe, Walter Cope, Edward Maria Wingfield, Robert Killigrew Lady's smock, furze, poppy, privet, primrose, pink rose, bindweed, pellitory, cornflower, rue, plantain 1607–1608 (12) Expedition to Maine, Popham Colony (Sagadahoc) Francis Popham, William Parker, Matthew Sutcliffe, Richard Champernoune, Thomas Horner, Edward Rodgers, John Mallet, Raleigh Gilbert, George Popham, Roger Warre, Abraham Jennings Ground ivy, ragwort, great willowherb, agrimony, teasel, rocket, germander, oak, dovesfoot, ribwort, sage 1609–1610 (13) Bermuda claimed after Sea Venture shipwreck Thomas Cambell, William Godolphin, William Shakespeare, William Strachey, Thomas Gates, William Craven, George Somers, Matthew Somers, Henry Wriothesley, Richard Frobisher, Robert Aldworth Yellow iris, orach, rose, hawkweed, wood sorrel, water mint, yellow poppy, gentian, biting stonecrop, Solomon's seal, goldenrod 1613–1614 (14) Jamestown grows Samuel Argall, Pocahontas, John Rolfe, Thomas Dale, Thomas Smythe, John Borlase, Prince Charles, John Scobie, Richard Buck, Thomas Hayes, Thomas Savage, John Smith Spurge, horehound, tormentil, love in a mist, sloe, eyebright, red clover, oxlip, marshmallow, garlic, sow thistle 1616 (15) John Rolfe brings Pocahontas to England Michael Drayton, John Rolfe, John Smith, Thomas West, William Shakespeare, John Leman, Edward Lawrence, Thomas Dale, John King, George Yeardley, Ben Jonson Clary, rhubarb, great burnet, mercury, scurvy-grass, sea holly, wallflower, purple loosestrife, water ragwort, figwort, lime tree 1617–1618 (16) Failure of Raleigh's Expedition to the Guyanas Roger North (Oyapoc), Robert Trelawney, Henry Rolfe, Lewis Stukley, Henry Montagu, Robert Tounson, Samuel Argall, Nicholas Frankwell, Walter Raleigh, John Bingley, Edward Coke Tamarisk, nepeta, tarragon, hellebore, sweet William, cherry, Prince of Wales' feathers, holly tree, gooseberry, mouse ear, mulberry 1619 (17) House of Burgesses, Slaves and Bartered Brides George Yeardley, William Paget, Henry and Thomas Lyle, William Cavendish, William Herbert, John Mason, Edward Seymour, William Cockayne, Robert Spencer, William Tucker, Edwin Sandys Chickweed, wortleberry, service tree, cocks head, woodrush, opium poppy, avens, onion, yam, beech, orchis 1620 (18) Mayflower Compact John Robinson, Edward Winslow, William Brewster, Henry Wallis, Ferdinando Gorges, William Bradford, Gerryt Lanaertz, Edward Richards, John Plumleigh, Thomas Fownes, John Carver Speedwell, chamomile, mayflower, valerian, rosemary, lavender, nettle, herb Robert, wild arum, ivy, spearmint 1621–1623 (19) Indian Raids, beginning of New Hampshire David Thompson, Leonard Pomeroy, John Mason, Thomas Hobson, Robert Rich, Abraham Colmer, Edward Hilton, Robert Gorges, Alexander Shapleigh, Myles Standish, Thomas Weston Indian corn, crab apple, barberry, French lungwort, white clover, barren strawberry, lungwort, runner bean, currant, horse chestnut, lilac 1624–1630 (20) Massachusetts Bay Colony, Dorchester Company John White, John Warham, John Wolstenholm, Roger Conant, Thomas Morton, Edward Rossiter, Thomas Holcombe, Roger Clap, Jonathan Gillett, John Endecott, James Gould Rocket, snowdrop, pasque flower, garlic mustard, hyssop, wolf's bane, cranesbill, dead nettle, elm, leopard's bane, fritillary 1630 (21) Massachusetts Bay Colony, John Winthrop Adam Winthrop, William Laud, Richard Saltonstall, Hugh Peter, Matthew Craddock, Isaac Johnson, John Winthrop, Emmanuel Downing, William Coddington, William Pynchon, John Underhill, John Taylor Loosestrife, musk mallow, hounds-tongue, white bryony, hairless catmint, spindle, organy, Jacob's ladder, American winter cress, brooklime, campion 1628–1634 (22) Calvert family and the Province of Maryland George Calvert, Cecil Calvert, Leonard Calvert, Richard Blount, Thomas Dorrell, Thomas Cornwallis, Richard Gerard, Jerome Hawley, Henrietta Maria, Edward Winter, Jerome Weston, Nicholas Ferfax Dyer's greenweed, quince, scarlet pimpernel, nettleleaved bellflower, sea beet, asparagus, sand spurrey, meadow clary, marsh marigold, monkshood, sweet cicely 1635–1641 (23) New England, Harvard College and Taunton Nicholas Frost, Anne Hutchinson, John Eliot, Nathaniel Eaton, Henry Dunster, Thomas Gorges, Roger Williams, Drapers Company, John Harvard, Elizabeth Pole Pennyroyal, scabwort, astrantia, vetch, wayfaring tree, dark mullein, centaury, green alkanet, saxifrage, corn cockle, sweet woodruff 1642 (24) Great gardeners and herbalists. English Civil War begins William Turner, Edward Seymour, Henry Lyte, Robert Cecil, Thomas Johnson, Nicholas Culpeper, John Gerard, John Tradescant the Elder, John Parkinson, Henry Danvers, John Tradescant the Younger Simpson, fleabane, pot marigold, Scots rose, stag's horn sumach, larkspur, navelwort, wild candytuft, spiderwort, charlock, aster
The creation of the tapestry The designer was Tom Mor, who also designed the Plymouth Tapestry at Prysten House, Plymouth, the Adventurers for Virginia (London) Tapestry, and was the consultant on the Jersey Liberation Tapestry (St Helier, Channel Islands) and the Plympton Tapestry (Plympton, Devon). The panel was researched by Tom Mor, Tom Maddock, Paul Presswell and Freda Simpson. Chief tapissiers were Joan Roncarelli and Renée Harvey. A New World Tapestry Website has been developed as of December 2008 and will soon include 120 pages, showing all complete panels.
Research for the New World Tapestry's twenty-four panels began in 1980. Tom Mor was joined by Tom Maddock, a retired friend from Ivybridge. Over the months they travelled hundreds of miles together, researching the two hundred sixty four people who would be named on the tapestry. Heraldic expert Paul Presswell of Buckfastleigh identified all the coats of arms of the people, colleges and companies involved. The result has been the creation alongside the tapestry of a library of files on each person and a collection of reference books of great use to researchers, scholars and teachers.
Two hundred sixty four armorial shields run along the top and bottom tapestry borders throughout its length, alternating with illustrations of the same number of flowers of herbs, medicinal plants, trees and shrubs. The latter are shown because the colonists took ointments and cure-alls with them on their voyages and plant hunters returned with such things as the potato and tobacco.
All the flowers and florets depicted were drawn from nature by Tom Mor, who studied them under a watchmaker's glass. He was helped from the very early days by Freda Simpson of Plymouth, who was passionately interested in herbs and old herbal remedies. She identified and gave him over 230 flower specimens in the years that Mor lived with his wife and family in Plymouth. Later they moved to Cambridge where he was able to complete the set of 264 drawings with the help of Clive King and Caroline Lawes of the Cambridge University Botanic Garden, Lady Jane Renfrew of Lucy Cavendish College and Alison Davies, Monica Stokes and Edna Norman.
The stitchers Tom Mor could not have seen his canvasses brought to life without the help of his friends and the expertise of the dedicated tapissiers. When the very first stitch was made in the New World Tapestry in 1980, the team working in Prysten House numbered twenty. By the time the last stitch was made in March 2000, the number of tapissiers had increased to two hundred fifty-six with the addition of another eight centres. In Devon there was a second in Plymouth at HMS Drake (the Royal Navy's panel), Ivybridge, Chillington, Exeter, Bideford, Totnes and Tiverton Castle. Dorset's Tapestry centre was in the Guildhall at Lyme Regis and it was there that the Great Gardeners and Herbalists panel was stitched.