A TAPESTRY depicting the 1066 Battle of Fulford is to go on temporary display in France, near the home of the famous Bayeux Tapestry.

But before it crosses the channel, York residents and visitors will get a chance to see it when it is displayed for two days inside a city centre bank as part of the Jorvik Viking Festival.

French President Emmanuel Macron recently announced at an Anglo-French summit that the historical tapestry in Bayeux - which depicts the Norman victory at the Battle of Hastings - was to be loaned to Britain for the first time since it left these shores nearly a thousand years ago.

But archaeologist Chas Jones, who designed the Bayeux-style work about the Fulford battle, has already made arrangements with the French authorities for it to go on tour in Normandy next month.

He said it was set to go on public display in Saint-Valery-sur-Somme from March 13 to 20, before being shown to conservators in Bayeux itself and then to academics at the University of Caen.

The 5.6 metre long tapestry, which has already been shown to MPs at Westminster, took a team of York embroiderers about seven years to complete.

It tells pictorially the story of the Norse invasion of 1066, from King Harald Hardrada’s landing at Scarborough, where cottages were burnt, to their travelling down the coast to Holderness and then sailing up the Ouse before landing at Riccall.

The tapestry then recounts their victory at Fulford, followed by their entry into the city of York.

The Fulford battle was followed by another at Stamford Bridge and then the crucial Norman victory at Hastings, which changed the course of British history.

The plans to take the tapestry to France were welcomed by two women who were involved in the lengthy project to embroider it, which involved complicated stitches such as ‘laid work’ as well as cross stitch and stem stitch.

Mary Ann Dearlove said: “I think it’s wonderful,” while Dorrie Worrall, who lives in Fulford, said she was pleased by the news but said it was more important in the longer term for it to be put on permanent display somewhere in York.

*Chas said the Fulford tapestry could be seen at Barclays Bank in Parliament Street during bank opening hours on Friday and Saturday, February 16 and 17, during the annual Jorvik Viking Festival.