The exhibition will be open 12 noon to 5.30pm (and also 6.30-9pm for Passamezzo concert goers).
In conjunction with Passamezzo’s evening concert, we are pleased to present the Greensleeves Project Exhibition, which the group have been involved with…
The Greensleeves Project is an interdisciplinary collaboration between a team of established historians and practitioners to look at one of the most famous English historical songs, the Elizabethan ballad of Greensleeves.
The earliest surviving text of Greensleeves dates from 1584. It’s a long song, with 18 verses, written in a somewhat stalker-like fashion, by a man who showers his would-be beloved with gifts, including a lot of clothes. Put together, these gifts provide us with a rich resource of information on clothing, fabrics, embroidery, and other aspects of material culture.
Interpreting a literary source like this, especially when most people today lack the material literacy of their early modern counterparts, throws up many questions, some of which are only possible to answer through attempting to reconstruct the clothes described in the song. Is the writer being literal, or are the clothes simply a fantasy? Is the answer somewhere in the middle? Given the fact that the first surviving version of the song is from four years after the original was written, has anything changed? Were there more than 18 verses in the original? What might they have looked like? What can this source tell us about clothes and the way they were worn that we might not get from wills and inventories, wardrobe accounts, portraits, or surviving garments? Who was Greensleeves?
We have been given the Janet Arnold Award by the Society of Antiquaries of London, and are working with a team of superb historians and practitioners to examine and recreate the items described in the song.
In February 2025, we filmed at Athelhampton House, working with Bernadette Banner to create a documentary on the project, and a video of all the verses of Greensleeves. Both of these show the clothes, accessories and other gifts described in the ballad.
All of the clothes and accessories created for the project can be seen in our new exhibition, and there are a number of events (concerts, talks, workshops and a conference) scheduled over the next year.
Further plans for the Greensleeves Project include recordings, videos, and the creation of an interdisciplinary resource on early modern clothing in music and song.
Almost 450 years after the song first caught the attention of the Elizabethan public, the Greensleeves Project has brought historians, musicians and makers together to ask:
Who was Greensleeves – and what might she have worn?
Find out more at our new exhibition showcasing the clothing and accessories reconstructed for the Greensleeves Project, alongside a range of information about the social and historical context of the song and its elements.
Greensleeves’ gifts document not only the clothing of the 1580s but also fabrics, embroidery, and many other aspects of material culture. The extraordinary wealth of evidence contained in the song’s 18 verses has formed the basis of this ambitious reconstruction of 16th century dress.
There is also a textile handling display, and an opportunity to view films made on the subject of Greensleeves by Bernadette Banner.
Two of the people involved in making the lovely items will be in attendance:
Mally Ley, who made the garters; more info about her can be found here.
And Sarah Thursfield who made the kerchers and purse; more info about her can be found here.
They will both be demonstrating their techniques with the opportunity for people to try things out for themselves.
Exhibition devised by Tamsin Lewis and designed and curated by Rachel Jardine.
More information about the exhibition can be found on this Website 
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