Historical tapestry one of largest in Europe

The Ros Tapestry is reckoned to be one of the largest embroidered tapestries ever made in Europe. It depicts the early history of New Ross, the Norman town founded by William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke in l207.

The project, a series of 15 six by 4½ foot panels started as a modest idea seven years ago for the l9th century Church of Ireland St Mary's church by Archdeacon Paul Mooney and the artist Ann Griffin Bernstorff. Since then it has evolved into a major voluntary community undertaking.

Some 60 local stitchers in different groups around Wexford are engaged on the detailed panels each of which takes four stitchers nearly three years to finish and costs around €4,500. Funds have been drawn from various sources through an active fundraising committee.

Three are already finished, six are in production and the challenge is to have all 15 ready by 2007, when the town celebrates the 800th anniversary of its foundation. One completed tapestry depicts the building of the church in 1210 by William Marshall, another Raymond Le Gros at Hook Head and a third the port of New Ross in its heyday when Italian financiers like the Frescobaldis and Ricardis from Lucca, were brought in by Marshall.

Described by the Plantagenets as the finest flower of chivalry, Marshall was responsible for establishing New Ross as a model of Norman shipbuilding and commerce. Because of its natural harbour, it was, in present day terms, a greenfield site which developed into an important financial trading centre. At its peak, there were up to 400 ships in the port of New Ross, sixteen different guilds in the town and six languages spoken.

Ann Griffin Bernstorff who has been responsible for the research and execution of the cartoons (paintings from which the tapestries are made) has become an authority on medieval life in Ireland, translating that into visual form with painstaking historical accuracy and detail.

For her the project has important contemporary resonance, a reminder of a time when New Ross was a thriving European city and two cultures, the Gaelic and the Norman were coming together which is relevant today with EU integration and globalisation.

Additionally, famous tapestries such as the Bayeux in France from the 11th century are huge visitor attractions. More recently, the Fishguard tapestry in Wales depicting an attempted Napoleonic incursion in 1797 attracted 60,000 visitors during its first year on view. The Ros Tapestry is bound to generate similar interest when completed and according to Ann Griffin Bernstorff, "is a gift to future generations".