In the Tudor period the little hamlet of Barcheston on the outskirts of Shipston was the first manufacturing home in England for the weaving of magnificent woollen tapestries. They are also known as the Sheldon Tapestries. They are profusely decorated with flowers and mythological motifs and often highlighted in silk. Technically, for that period, they were unrivalled throughout the land. Unfortunately very few have survived.  

In 2007 scholars have authenticated a previously unknown example, 25ft by 6ft and in excellent condition, which illustrates a romanticised and humorous scene of rural Elizabethan England.. (See illustrations) It probably took between one and two years to make during the 1580’s.

Warwick Museum houses a 13ft by 18 ft tapestry map of Warwickshire dated 1588 which was also woven at Barcheston. Two series of four Midland county maps are thought to have been produced. They are stunningly beautiful and also cartographically important as no other such detailed contemporary maps of rural Elizabethan England exist.                 

The master craftsman for this mid 16^th century project of high quality tapestry work was a local man Richard Hyckes. He was sent by William Sheldon, his new landlord, to the Low Countries in order to study the craft of weaving.. Sheldon was living at Weston Manor near Long Compton and had just inherited from his father-in-law the freshly depopulated village of Barcheston. When Richard Hyckes returned he was accompanied by a team of Flemish weavers. Sheldon was anxious to offer local employment and to utilise the local wool trade. A few buildings were still standing at Barcheston for Hyckes to occupy as workshops, and large looms were installed in the   old manor house. Shipston was just across the river with all the benefits of a sheep wash, wool market and labour for acquiring suitable assistants and employing spinners and dyers.

The completed Tapestries were hung in the now long demolished Weston Manor. Here the Sheldons showcased the work to the Elizabethan gentry who were obviously keen to be the first to purchase fine quality highly decorated English manufactured tapestries. Importantly they were illustrating English lyrical country scenes and mythological subjects which had become fashionable for that age. Hycke’s reputation began to spread far and wide and he was ultimately commissioned to make tapestries for The Earl of Leicester and Queen Elizabeth 1^st.                                                                                              

The Sheldon’s weaving industry lasted for about 90 years. In William’s will of 1569 he described Hyckes “as the only author and beginner of this art within this realm.” After William’s death his son Ralph took over and re-built Weston Manor into grander premises where he added further workshops. Tapestry bed valences, covers for chairs, cushions, and book covers were also being woven by now. Many were made with the armorial decorations of the commissioning clients. Richard Hyckes died in October 1621 aged 97 and is buried at Barcheston. 

All work abruptly ended in 1642 with the outbreak of the civil war. The Sheldon family were forced to temporally move away from Weston and the workshops were all shut up. The Barcheston looms fell silent too. Sadly Weston Manor, or Weston Park as it had become known by then, is now demolished.

Today the wall tapestries are considered priceless. Early in the last century there was a large exhibition of all known and available Sheldon Tapestries at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Examples are also held in the Bodleian Library and York Museum. As far back as the 18^th century they were highly desirable. Horace Walpole, one of the father figures of the Georgian Gothic style, was an avid collector of them. Even King George III invited himself to breakfast at Earl Harcourt’s home expressly “to enable me to pay due respect to the venerable tapestry.” 

As the birthplace of the Sheldon Tapestries, Barcheston and the little wool town of Shipston are central to the history of English tapestry weaving. Their people and their skills with wool contributed directly to the artistic flowering of that exceptional late Tudor age that produced not only great poets and playwrights but also some beautiful and lyrical tapestries.