Nearly 1,000 years after it was produced, a key mystery surrounding the murky origin of the Bayeux Tapestry may have been solved. 

Professor Benjamin Pohl, a historian at the University of Bristol, claims the masterpiece was hung on the walls at St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury, Kent.

It was originally designed to provide mealtime reading for medieval monks at the abbey's new refectory, Professor Pohl claims. 

'Just as today, in the Middle Ages mealtimes were always an important occasion for social gathering, collective reflection, hospitality and entertainment, and the celebration of communal identities,' he said. 

'In this context, the Bayeux Tapestry would have found a perfect setting.' 

While the Bayeux Tapestry is widely regarded as one of the world's most important cultural treasures, very little is known for certain about its origins. 

However, St Augustine's Abbey is the 'Bayeux Tapestry's probable place of origin', where a 'team of highly skilled embroideresses' crafted it in the late 11th century – probably the 1080s, Professor Pohl now claims.

Next year, the Tapestry will go on display in the British Museum, marking the first time it has returned to the UK since it was made nearly 1,000 years ago.  

The Bayeux Tapestry is considered one of the world's most famous pieces of medieval art and one of Britain's most cherished historical artefacts. 

Around 230 feet (70 metres) long, it tells the story of the events surrounding the conquest of England by the Duke of Normandy.

According to other scholars, the artwork was likely commissioned by Bishop Odo, William the Conqueror's half-brother, to embellish his newly-built French cathedral in Bayeux in 1077 - but Professor Pohl contests this. 

While most scholars agree the Tapestry was designed and created at St Augustine's Abbey in the 1080s, its original purpose in England has long been mysterious. 

Along with his students, Professor Pohl studied the Bayeux Tapestry and reviewed existing theories about its origins and possible display locations. 

Results of their investigation suggests it was hung on the walls of St Augustine's refectory, a newly-built large communal room where meals were served.

Here, the monks' diet would mostly have comprised of 'plain and simple food' such as bread, light beer, fish and sometimes meat. 

The academic reports in Historical Research: 'Hung roughly at head height or slightly higher like the mural of the Last Supper at Dover, the Bayeux Tapestry's details would have been perfectly discernible from the seated position assumed by the monks and their guests during mealtimes in the refectory.'  

According to Professor Pohl, evidence suggests the Bayeux Tapestry was made in the 1080s – which is also when the new refectory at St Augustine's was scheduled to be built.

However, the refectory was not completed until the 1120s (at which point the Tapestry could finally be hung on the refectory walls).

It may seem incredible, but the Bayeux Tapestry could have just been 'kept in a box' for its first 40 or 50 years of existence at St Augustine's until construction of the refectory was finally complete.

'If my theory is right, then the refectory was meant to be built in the 1080s under Abbot Scolland of St Augustine's, who died in 1087 before the building work could commence,' Professor Pohl told the Daily Mail. 

'We know that the refectory was finally built, according to Scolland's plans, by his successor, Abbot Hugh, probably around 1120 or shortly thereafter. 

'My theory is that without a place in which to hang it, the Bayeux Tapestry might simply have been kept in a box and was perhaps forgotten about. 

'At the time of Scolland's death, nobody could have foreseen that it would take almost 50 years for the refectory to by completed, so the plan might well have been to only keep it in storage for a few years.' 

It's also possible that it remained in storage at St Augustine's and 'never got to do what it was intended to do' – be hung on the walls for monks to enjoy. 

At some point, the Bayeux Tapestry made its way across the English Channel to France – specifically, the commune in Normandy from which it gets its name. 

When exactly this happened – and whether it remained at St Augustine's until its journey to France – is unclear. 

We also don't know when the cross-channel journey took place; the first mention of the Tapestry in Bayeux dates to 1476, but it could have moved before this. 

The academic said there is a 'remarkable lack of records attesting to' the artwork's location 'or even to its very existence' prior to the fifteenth century. 

'One would think that with an artefact this big – and, as far as we know, unique – somebody would have seen it on display and commented on it between the 1080s and 1476, which is when it is first mentioned in writing,' he told the Daily Mail. 

St Augustine's Abbey was founded in 598 and functioned as a monastery until its dissolution in 1538 during the English Reformation. 

After the abbey's dissolution, it underwent dismantlement until 1848. 

Today, the ruins are managed by English Heritage and are open to the public.