The row over just how many penises appear on the Bayeux tapestry continues to rage as famous artefact arrives in UK for first time in 1,000 years

The Bayeux Tapestry has arrived in Britain for the first time in almost 1,000 years – encouraging fans to delve more closely into one particular poser dividing historians.

Experts have argued over just how many penises are on display across the 11th century artefact arriving across the Channel today for display at the British Museum.   

The medieval artwork depicting the 1066 Battle of Hastings was spirited into the British Museum in the dead of night, after a high-tech, tight-security operation. 

The tapestry was woven to celebrate the victory of Norman king William the Conqueror over the Saxon King Harold in the Battle of Hastings.

A professor of history at Oxford University has previously claimed to be the first person to count the number of penises in the Bayeux Tapestry.

Professor George Garnett, an expert in medieval history, told a conference how the famous depiction of the events from 1066 contained 93 penises, with the horse of William the Conqueror having the largest. 

The offending members, he said, 'alert viewers to themes of betrayal and deceit central to the tapestry's account of the Norman invasion of England'. 

Professor Garnett wrote in a report of his findings for the BBC's History Extra website: 'The Bayeux Tapestry can arouse obsessiveness of many kinds in modern historians.

One naked man is seen in the bottom panel reaching out towards a naked woman, who is covering both her face and body with her hands

In the bottom left of this image, a naked male figure appears beneath the scene of an unidentified priest is shown harassing a woman named Ælfgyfa

'One type involves tallying the number of images. There are, we are told, 626 humans, 190 horses, 35 dogs, 37 trees, 32 ships, 33 buildings, etc., in the tapestry.

'To the best of my knowledge, no-one has yet tallied the number of penises.

'By my calculations there are 93 penises in what survives of the original tapestry'. 

Yet his count was later disputed by another historian, with Dr Christopher Monk – described as a medieval scholar and expert on Anglo-Saxon nudity – last year pointing out another appendage, taking the tally to 94.

In the original count, the human genitals are all attached to naked figures – but there is one contested depiction of a running man wearing a tunic.

Dr Monk told the History Extra podcast: 'I am in no doubt that the appendage is a depiction of male genitalia – the missed penis, shall we say?

'The detail is surprisingly anatomically fulsome'.

But Professor Garnett remained firm in his view that this was a scabbard of a sword or dagger.

He said: 'It's quite clear to me that what is being depicted in that instance is the scabbard of his sword or dagger because right at its end is a yellow blob, which I take to be probably a depiction of brass.

The tapestry was carried across the Channel in a hushed-up process where any slip-up could have spelled disaster 

Museum employees open the gate to let in the truck carrying the Bayeux Tapestry this morning

The lorry carrying the artefact reverses into the British Museum in London

'If you look at what are incontrovertibly penises in the tapestry, none of them has a yellow blob at the end.'

Podcast host and tapestry expert Dr David Musgrove said: 'The possibility of there being another penis in the Tapestry is fascinating.

'It invites us to think again as to why there are these explicit scenes in what is otherwise a story of politics, power and pitched battle.

'It's a reminder that this embroidery is a multi-layered artefact that rewards careful study, and remains a wondrous enigma almost a millennium after it was stitched'.

A group of observers in London in the early hours of today saw a metal case holding the tapestry being unloaded from a truck which carried it across the Channel in a hushed-up process where any slip-up could have spelled disaster.

It was folded accordion-style in a climate-controlled case, the size of a small car, that was placed inside a shock-absorbing cradle.

This went into a truck that crossed from France on a vehicle shuttle train through the Channel Tunnel.

After an 11-hour and 350-mile trip escorted by police, the truck backed slowly into a museum loading bay, where workers gingerly eased the container to the ground.

People look at the Bayeux Tapestry at the Bayeux Tapestry Museum in Normandy in 2019

Medieval scholar and expert on Anglo-Saxon nudity Dr Christopher Monk told last year of how found another – 94th – penis in the Bayeux Tapestry

Eight years ago, Oxford academic Professor George Garnett claimed to have identified 93 depictions of male genitalia

Museum staff as well as British and French diplomats who had been watching in hushed silence broke into applause as the priceless cargo's journey was completed.

It will spend several days acclimatising before being carefully unpacked and unfolded for an exhibition that the museum expects to be one of the most popular in its history.

On loan from its home in France, the tapestry will go on display at the museum from September 10 until July 2027 in a hugely-anticipated public homecoming for a vivid visual record of the 1066 Norman invasion, the last successful conquest of England.

Museum director Nicholas Cullinan said: 'It's a unique moment and it's the product of so much hard work.

'It's been very special to have witnessed the arrival of the Bayeux Tapestry, and especially for it to be back on these shores for the first time in probably 1,000 years.'

The Metropolitan Police and Kent Police transported the embroidery from Folkestone to London in what the British Museum has called 'one of the most significant international museum loans ever undertaken between the two countries'. 

While its exact origins are shrouded in mystery, the tapestry depicting the Battle of Hastings and start of the invasion by William the Conqueror's Norman army is widely thought to have been made in England before being transferred to Bayeux.

It is believed to be the first time the fragile 224ft embroidered tapestry has left France since then, and the first time it has been moved in over 40 years.

A worker in Bayeux gets the tapestry ready for transfer to Britain last September

It will be displayed at the British Museum, with 100,000 tickets already sold to the public for the first four months of the exhibition.

The Bayeux Tapestry, pictured in France in 2018, depicts the 1066 Norman invasion

Mr Cullinan said: 'It was like trying to get tickets to Glastonbury. 

'I don't take for granted that people care that much about a 1,000-year-old embroidery. I think that's an amazing thing.'

The date and details of the move were kept secret until the departure of the tapestry, which was led by a police escort as it made its way through London in the dead of night.

French president Emmanuel Macron, who announced the historic loan last year, hailed the transfer as a celebration of Franco-British relations.

Writing in the Times, Mr Macron said the loan was a 'tangible expression of long-standing friendship and a sign of our shared desire to see France and the United Kingdom build their future together'.

He said the two nations recognise what sets each other apart, but also 'their natural affinity and what they can achieve when they join forces'.

'This is what our partnership must continue to embody,' he said. 'The UK is a strategic partner, ally and friend of France.

'Faced with the major challenges of our time – the security of our continent, technological sovereignty, innovation, energy and decarbonisation, and the resilience of our democracies – we have chosen to act together.'

Workers unload a specially designed crate carrying the Bayeux Tapestry early this morning

The tapestry was led by a police escort as it made its way through London in the dead of night 

'The Bayeux Tapestry is an unfinished story. Its conclusion eludes us; its final scene does not bring the story to a close.

'Perhaps that is where its most contemporary strength lies. It is our job to write the next chapter, in a spirit of respect, trust and renewed alliance.'

French ambassador to the UK Helene Duchene told reporters gathered at the museum that it was a 'very moving moment'.

Some French cultural figures had opposed the loan, arguing that moving the tapestry was too risky.

But in return, the British Museum will loan treasures from the Sutton Hoo hoard – artifacts from a 7th century Anglo Saxon ship burial – and other items to museums in Normandy.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: 'Make no mistake – this is an historic moment and a significant act of friendship as we welcome this iconic historical tapestry back to Britain for the first time in almost 1,000 years.

'This exhibition is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn about this pivotal period in our national story and our shared heritage and friendship with France, which endures to the present day. I'm delighted to welcome this tapestry back onto British shores.'

The transfer funded by Britain is the result of over a year of planning and technical studies, including two test trips with a full-scale reproduction of the lace-like linen tapestry.

Conservators last September completed a tricky operation to move the tapestry from its museum in north-western Normandy, to a secret storage location.

Plans to loan it to London had been considered twice before – in 1953 for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and in 1966 for the 900th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings.

Some experts had voiced concerns that move risked causing irreversible damage to a work already weakened by 30 tears and nearly 10,000 holes.

A 2021 study by restoration experts warned of the 'additional risks' that a trip lasting more than two hours would pose to the tapestry.

Mr Cullinan said: 'An unprecedented amount of thought and planning and care has gone into it.'

The tapestry will remain its specially made, shock-proof case for a few days to 'acclimatise', after which a condition check will take place, explained the museum director.

The UK government has agreed to provide insurance coverage estimated at £800million in the event of major damage to the tapestry.

Peter Ricketts, who helped coordinate the transfer, insisted the one-of-a-kind work would be returned to France 'safe and sound'.

Some French cultural figures had opposed the loan, arguing that moving the tapestry was too risky 

The date and details of the move were kept secret until the departure of the tapestry 

The eye-watering insurance cover 'just shows how serious we are about ensuring that it goes back in good condition,' he said.

Mr Ricketts added: 'It's an extraordinary mark of friendship and confidence in the UK to entrust this object to us for a year.

'Macron, when he offered us the tapestry, I think he understood that it would have far more impact in the UK than it does in France, because it's more fundamental to our national story. Everybody (in Britain) knows 1066.'

Millie Horton-Insch, project curator for the exhibition, added: 'I think it is a singular survival from the period in which it survives – there aren't really any other textiles made in England from this period on this scale.'

She also said: 'It has an emotional richness that is really difficult to get from written sources.

'It just brings people closer to this history than any other object can. It's not the same as reading a text.

'You are looking at something that was handled by the people who lived through it and felt compelled to record these events in this way. '

Many scholars believe the tapestry was made by artisans in or around Canterbury in Kent.

It was probably commissioned by Bishop Odo of Bayeux – William the Conqueror's half-brother – in 1077 to decorate the new cathedral in his hometown, Bayeux, according to the tapestry's home museum.

'I don't think we know for sure,' Ms Duchene said about the origins of the artwork.

'It's a long story, and we're here to write the next chapter.'