German Pole and his widow Margaret

Date of Brass:

1592

Place:

Crich

County:

Derbyshire

Country:

Number:

Style:

Description

November 2025

The incised alabaster slab of German Poole or Pole (d.1592) and his second wife Margaret is now set in the north wall of the chancel. It was originally on the floor. In 1861 it was moved to a new position on the floor and covered by a wooden board. This proved an obstacle, so it was moved again to its present position above the tomb chest of John Clay. He had married Margaret Pole after her husband’s death. She is depicted again on the incised slab on the top of the chest.

German Poole had no children by either wife, and Margaret was probably responsible for commissioning the slab. It presumably came from a workshop in the area, possibly that of Garrat Hollemans of Burton-upon-Trent. However the treatment of the sleeves is unusual. Unlike on most other slabs that can be attributed to Hollemans and his son Jasper, the sleeves are wide and formless with many creases. Incised figures of females from both Garrat’ s and Jasper’s workshops are usually shown with striped sleeves, as on the second representation of Margaret as wife of John Clay. However, John Clay appears to have sleeves of the same type as the Pooles. The only sleeves amongst the sculptured effigies from the same workshops that offer a parallel are those of Bishop Thornborough (d.1641) in Worcester Cathedral, a much later work attributable to Jasper although erected well before the bishop’s death.

F A Greenhill noted that the Poole slab appears to show the couple in outdoor clothing. Both are shown holding gloves in their left hands, and German also holds a walking stick. The figure of German is somewhat worn in this area, in contrast to the good preservation of the slab as a whole. Both figures have their heads on cushions and their feet on heraldic beasts, a large bird of prey, presumably a hawk or griffin, in German’s case and a unicorn in Margaret’s, referring to her family, the Ferrers of Tamworth. German is wearing a hat, seemingly over a skullcap. Margaret’s face is reminiscent of other slabs that can be ascribed to Garrat Hollemans in the 1580s, as at Queenhill, Worcestershire and Packington, Leicestershire. However, the Roman capital inscription at the foot of the slab has peculiarities that seem to set it apart from that used by Garrat: the lettering is much thicker and coarser and every capital A has a line over the top, a feature more often seen on capital lettering earlier in the century.

The second slab depicting Margaret as the wife of John Clay (d.1601) has been badly worn. This is said to have been caused by children repeatedly climbing on it in the eighteenth century when this part of the church was used as the village school. However the sides have kneeling figures of her five children by John Clay, two sons who predeceased their mother and three daughters, one married. Like the monument commemorating William Sacheverell, died March 1616/17 and his wife Tabitha at Barton in Fabis, Nottinghamshire, it shows the incised figures of the children kneeling under round-topped arches. The tomb at Barton is attributable to Jasper Hollemans, and the date of the Clay tomb at Crich, in the very early years of the seventeenth century, also falls within the period when Jasper worked on his own. Despite the sleeves of John Clay’s costume, his tomb fits much more comfortably into Jasper Hollemans’ work than German Poole’s slab does into Garrat’s. This leaves a big question mark over the attribution of the Poole slab.

Copyright: Jon Bayliss (text and photos of the Clay monument)

The photo of the Pole slab is reproduced from F A Greenhill, Incised Effigial Slabs (1976), plate 127b.

Reference: John Reynolds, "A Description of Crich Parish Church in Derbyshire", transcribed by Stuart Hill [from 18th-century MSS in the British Library],

https://www.crichparish.co.uk/webpages/reynoldschurch.html