Council wants Bayeux Tapestry priority for residents

A council is calling for its residents to be offered priority booking to view the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum.

Canterbury City Council in Kent said: "Such an offer is available to the people of Hastings and Rother due to the Bayeux Tapestry's links to these areas, but Canterbury district has not been included, despite it being widely considered that it was made here."

Council leader Alan Baldock added: "Without Hastings, there would be no tapestry to celebrate and the very same is true of our great city. It's always the workers, especially women, that are forgotten. In this case, it's Canterbury's seamstresses."

The British Museum has been contacted for a comment.

Baldock said the tapestry formed part of the area's "rich story-telling history" and was the "source of enormous pride to everyone in this part of Kent."

The Bayeux Tapestry is 70m (230ft) of embroidered scenes of the events leading up to 1066 and the Battle of Hastings.

It had been in Normandy, France, before being loaned to the UK.

The Bayeux Tapestry exhibition is opening at the British Museum in London on Thursday.

Follow BBC Kent on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram and listen to BBC Radio Kent on Sounds. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.