Bayeux Around Britain

Bayeux Around Britain comes to STEAM - Museum of the Great Western Railway from 10 to 19 November, as part of a British Museum partnership that's bringing the Bayeux Tapestry to audiences across the UK. The original tapestry has returned to England for the first time since it was made nearly a thousand years ago, and it's on show at the British Museum's Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery from 10 September 2026 to 11 July 2027. While that stays in London, a hand-painted plaster cast — taken from a wax impression made by Charles Stothard in Bayeux in 1816 — is touring the country, and it's this version that will be on display here in Swindon.

At STEAM, you'll find a full-scale printed reproduction of the tapestry, an information video, and other material to go with it. On the opening night, Tuesday 10 November, there's a talk by Dr David Musgrove called Decoding the Bayeux Tapestry, and on Wednesday 18 November, there are special activities for education groups, though those carry their own charges. The whole national programme is supported by WorldQuant and the Dorset Foundation, in memory of Harry M Weinrebe.

It's a strange fit on paper — a medieval tapestry in a railway museum — but it works. STEAM tells the story of the men and women who built, operated and travelled on the Great Western Railway, a network regarded as the most advanced in the world thanks to the pioneering vision of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The museum itself occupies a restored Grade II railway building in the heart of the former Swindon railway works, so the tapestry is sitting inside a piece of the city's industrial history.

Tickets are £5 for adults and £4 for seniors, students and children, with 20% off for season ticket holders and when you buy with a STEAM entrance ticket — though you don't need museum admission to see the tapestry. It's open weekdays from 15:00 to 17:00, Saturdays 10:00 to 17:00, and Sundays 11:00 to 16:00, with an extra slot from 18:00 to 19:00 on Tuesday 10 November. You'll find it at Fire Fly Avenue, off Kemble Drive, Swindon, Wiltshire SN2 2EY.