Reconstructing the Steeple Aston Cope

The Steeple Aston Cope is an incredible surviving example of English medieval embroidery. Dating to around the 1330s, it was originally made as a large semi-circular cloak, known as a cope, to be worn in church services. It exists today in an altered state, having been cut up and rearranged to make altar furnishings, probably at the time of the Reformation. Fortunately, very little of the cope’s fabric was lost. This digital reconstruction demonstrates the cope’s original shape and design, showing how it wo