The Quaker Tapestry is a remarkable collaborative artwork: 77 embroidered panels depicting scenes from Quaker history, from the movement's founding in the 1650s to the present day. The work was created over 14 years by more than 4,000 volunteers in 15 countries, all working in the same embroidery style developed specifically for the project. It is displayed in the Friends Meeting House on Stramongate, the oldest purpose-built Quaker meeting house in England.
The panels cover subjects ranging from William Penn and the founding of Pennsylvania to Quaker involvement in prison reform, the abolitionist movement, and the chocolate industry (Cadbury, Rowntree, and Fry were all Quaker firms). The stitching is consistently excellent, and the overall effect is genuinely moving — a kind of crowdsourced monument to a religious and social tradition that punches well above its numbers. The meeting house itself, built in 1688, is worth seeing for its architecture, and there is a café on site.