Thank you so much. I didn’t know about the Coventry tapestry as I’m not a specialist in tapestries. I imagine that “Erras creation” is a typo for ‘Arras’ which was the centre of tapestry production in the 14/15th centuries. I am sure you know this interesting fact but for those new to tapestry in France: “Arras” came to mean a tapestry that’s hung as a decoration, especially one decorated with complex stitched designs. There’s a famous reference to an arras in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, when Polonius hides in an alcove behind an arras to eavesdrop.

https://www.stmarysguildhall.co.uk/tapestry/

They have some information, but by no means enough. Please take a look & see what you think. It’s been pretty much in continuous situ., for 500 years (apart from WWII when it was removed before the complete destruction of Coventry in the Blitz. They belueve it was created in Flanders but, I think it’s an Erras creation.

Anyway, thank you for posting this amazing and fascinating.

Oops! Many thanks; yes I did mean 155 feet. I have corrected the article.

Many thanks for this! I have added it to the article and will certainly visit the market to check on my next Toulouse visit.

Hi Sue. What an interesting question. Many thanks. I have done a small amount of research into Charente and very briefly, France was caught up in the French Revolution and its Industrial Revolution was later than in the UK. Angoulême expanded in the early 19th century so would have attracted a certain amount of the rural community. Vineyards had been important and expanded in the 2nd half of the 19th century but phylloxera from 1875 was disastrous and led to a rural exodus. Do you have any dates around the exodus in the Charente?
In my region (Haute-Loire) there was a big expansion of small villages from the 1850s onwards which I have yet to explore. I will do some more research, possibly a good article here?