Indeed Revd. Brothers' time at Bacton was chronicled in the monthly Bacton Church Parish magazine, an invaluable record of parish life. He also liked to travel and he included interesting accounts of his various visits for the parishioners. Among these are a visit to the Holy Land and a particularly interesting visit to Flanders and the battle-scarred areas of the Western Front immediately after the First World War. The magazines that survive are an invaluable record of his time in the parish for he kept them all and had each year bound in a red volume. Here, in September 1910, he described the framing of the Blanche Parry Embroidery in the autumn of 1909 so that everyone could see it. The craftsmanship of the oak frame was excellent for it survived 106 years hung on the north wall of the Church until the embroidery was removed for conservation to Hampton Court Palace on 17th December 2015. It had cost £3-8s-1d (equivalent to about £194-24p now). Mrs Studdy, who had sent notes about Blanche herself for the August 1907 magazine, also contributed.

However, Mrs Studdy was wrong about the date of Blanche's death and wrong about her age. She died, in our terms, on Thursday, 12th February 1590, aged 82 years. To Blanche herself the date would have been 1589 because at that time the year date changed on 25th March, Lady Day, and remained that way until 1752. So, as Blanche died in February to her and her contemporaries this was 1589, while to us it was 1590.

Though the chalice and paten were described as being in regular use this was not true of the embroidery. Revd. Brothers noted that before 1909 we doubt if many of our own people had ever seen it, though it used often to go away to the Congress exhibitions. So, one or more of the previous three incumbents of Bacton Church had also taken these church treasures to the Ecclesiastical Art Exhibitions. Presumably, they must have been kept safely by the vicar or rector, who had legal charge of church moveables, in a cupboard or perhaps under his bed! What is clear is that wherever, and however, they were all stored the embroidery itself was for most of the time in the dark, probably in a wooden box for there was no damaging lengthy exposure to the light.

In 1904 Revd. Brothers had mentioned the tradition that the embroidery originally came from one of Blanche Parry's court dresses. By 1910 his doubts about this attribution had led him to suggest that It is possible that our Altar Cloth was once worn by Queen Elizabeth. His reasoning was that At the White City Exhibition was shown a picture of Queen Elizabeth, lent by the Duke of Portland, in which the Queen was represented wearing an underskirt of identical design. The 1908 Franco-British Exhibition at the White City (then Shepherd's Bush) was held in 1910 to celebrate the Entente Cordiale signed by England (UK) and France in 1904. It attracted eight million visitors. However, the two extant publications relating to it: The Franco-British Exhibition Illustrated Review (1908) and the Souvenir of the Fine Art Section at the Franco-British Exhibition (1908), have no mention of either a portrait of Queen Elizabeth I or of a loan from the Duke of Portland[26] .

The Duke of Portland did own a full-length portrait of Queen Elizabeth I which is variously entitled the Welbeck, Wanstead, Peace or Pax Portrait[27] , attributed to Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder, c. 1585-90. It is dated c.1580 to 1585, that is before Blanche Parry died in 1589/90. The motifs embroidered on the Queen's lovely dress include roses, pimpernels, borage, flax and pansies, which are different from those on the Blanche Parry Embroidery.

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[26] I am grateful for this information from Robin Francis, Head of Archive & amp; Library, National Portrait Galley. These two publications are in the Library. He also checked the published catalogues of the Portland Paintings Collection at Welbeck Abbey (1896 and 1936)...The catalogue entries list exhibitions in which the portrait was shown but the 1936 volume does not mention the Franco-British Exhibition in 1908. In the separate catalogue of Welbeck Abbey miniatures published in 1916, a portrait of Queen Elizabeth I in robes of state, attributed to Nicholas Hilliard is listed, but again there is no mention of this having been exhibited in 1908. Letter to author.

[27] There is a full description in Arnold 2014, pages 137-138.