Making the frame

Steve Lamont lived in East Meon for thirteen years and was commissioned in 2008 to design and construct a frame for the Embroidery and a Vestry cupboard behind it.

White boards, cut to size ready to be planed up

Veneered boards, machined and ready for planning

Boards cut to size

Steve cutting dovetails

Front drawer dovetails

Drawers glued in.

Trial fit of front dovetails

Trial fit in the vestry unit.

One of the drawers complete with oak front

And all the drawers flush to the cabinet.

Lock escutcheon in walnut, key hand-made by locksmith

Drawer-locking snakehead mechanism

Toy wheels, hidden, to reduce friction of drawer locking mechanism

Knobs and worktop installed

The display unit is erected in front of the vestry unit in Steve's workshop.

The vestry unit, complete and ready to be disassembled

The Millennium Embroidery is mounted in its frame and fibre optic lighting installed. September 2008.

Steve Lamont had been a fighter pilot in the USAF, then learned woodwork in the Barnsley Workshop in Froxfield. He lived in the 2000s in the cottage at East Meon’s Court House and set up his own workshop in Ropley. In 2008 he was commissioned to build a frame for the Millennium Tapestry which would also incorporate hanging and storage space for the vicar’s vestry.

Most of the photographs were taken by Chris Warren – please acknowledge if used.