A THOUSAND years of history will soon be on show in Abergavenny, after the recent completion of a tapestry that has taken five years to finish.

The 24 by six feet artwork is the brain child of Sheila Bevan, chairman of the Abergavenny Tapestry Group. She said: "We felt it was very important to celebrate the Millennium in Abergavenny, and it was back in 1999 that I had the idea of a tapestry."

Mrs Bevan approached locally based artists Susie Martin and Sarah Windrum, who between them came up with the design for the art work. Then began a hunt for cash to fund the project, which took nearly two years.

Mrs Bevan said: "Getting funding was very difficult - but getting people to help was very easy."

The design of the tapestry, Mrs Bevan said, is based on the view of Abergavenny from half way up Blorenge Mountain. It cost £20,000 to produce, and has 400 different shades in it. It was stitched by the Tapestry Group, made up of between 40 and 50 people, and took them three years and eight months from when the first stitch was done on April 26, 2002. Mrs Bevan said: "The artists came in on a regular basis to see how it was coming along, and made changes where they saw fit.

"It took over 20,000 hours of work but is completely worth it.

"A tapestry is a traditional way of showing history, and the scene has images from each century in it."

And the whole group loved working on the project. Mrs Bevan said: "We had withdrawal symptoms if for some reason we couldn't get there."

The tapestry will now be handed over as a gift to the St Mary's Priory Development Trust for visitors to enjoy. Mrs Bevan added she hoped it would be on display in the mediaeval Tythe Barn by the end of the year.