Latest news
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Claude Blair: Funeral and memorial fund
Claude Blair, C.V.O., O.B.E., M.A., F.S.A. (1922-
Church Monuments Society Events
Call for Papers: "Death, Commemoration and Memory: An Exploration of Representation, Concept and Change"
Another fund-
New booklet on the care of brasses
New index to MBS Bulletin 1-
Claude Blair: Funeral and memorial fund
The funeral of Claude Blair will be held on Thursday 11 March, at 2 pm, in the church of St Sepulchre Newgate in the City of London. Light refreshments will be provided afterwards in Cutlers' Hall, which is near at hand in Warwick Lane. No flowers please.
Claude was a founder-
Claude Blair, C.V.O., O.B.E., M.A., F.S.A.,(1922-
Our senior Vice President, Claude Blair, died on the morning of 21 February at the age of 87 in Epsom Hospital after a short illness. He had recently finished his book on Greenwich armour (to be published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York) thus achieving an ambition he had held for 50 years.
Claude also lived to see his only son, John, very happily married with two delightful children, who made Claude the proudest of grandfathers. He travelled to Finland for their baptisms and while there was greatly excited by the brass to St Henry at Nousis on which he has written an article for the next volume of our Transactions. He will be greatly missed.
Church Monuments Society events 2010
This year’s Church Monuments Society programme consists of a Study Day at Much Marcle (Herefordshire) on 12 June, a tour of Hertfordshire Churches on 26 June 2010, an excursion in West Yorkshire on 31 July and an excursion in South Cambridgeshire 9th October
Details can be found by clicking here.
Featured website
Every few months, we will be featuring on the Links page a particular site from those links. The one currently featured is the site of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) that includes many of the Gaignières drawings of French monuments, including brasses, in colour . Click on Links to discover more.
"Death, Commemoration and Memory: An Exploration of Representation, Concept and Change"
Thursday 24th and Friday 25th June 2010
The Death, Commemoration and Memory [DCM) Research Group is based within the School
of Arts, Culture and Environment at the University of Edinburgh. Founded in 2008,
DCM provides a forum for postgraduates and staff whose research engages with any
aspect of the Group's remit, attracting junior and senior scholars from a variety
of academic disciplines. Building upon the Group's success, a two-
between researchers across the UK.
Click here for further details (pdf file) -
Shire Books has published a new book on monumental brasses.
It has been written on behalf of the MBS by Sally Badham and
is profusely illustrated by photographs taken by Martin Stuchfield
especially for the book, which is of 64 pages and costs just £5.99.
It was launched at last year’s MBS City Churches Day on 25 July.
Have you seen this brass? 
Stolen from St Benet's church in Cambridge, May 2008
Please contact either the Hon. Conservation Officer
Martin Stuchfield,
Lowe Hill House,
Stratford St. Mary,
Suffolk, CO7 6JX
(tel 01206 337239)
or e-
martinstuchfield@btconnect.com
or Crime Stoppers (tel 0800 555111).
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
Have you enjoyed visiting our website? Then you might like to buy a special, high-
There are 10 designs in the initial range, as shown below, although additional designs will be available from time to time at Society meetings.
MM1 Ashford, Kent, unknown priest c.1282 (England’s earliest surviving brass)
MM2 Buslingthorpe, Lincs , Sir Richard de Buslingthorpe, d. c. 1340-
MM3 Sherborne St. John, Hants, Margaret Brocas, c. 1380
MM4 Ashby St. Ledgers, Northants, John Catesby, 1404/5
MM5 Newland, Gloucestershire, Robert Greyndour, 1443
MM6 Broxbourne, Herts, Elizabeth Say, 1473
MM7 Tattershall, Lincolnshire, Joan, Lady Cromwell, 1490
MM8 Merton, Norfolk, Grace de Grey and daughters, 1495
MM9 Merton, Norfolk, William de Grey, 1495
MM10 Thame, Oxfordshire, Sir John Clerk, 1539
The cost of the mousemats is £4.50 at meetings; or £5 including postage and packing to the UK (for overseas postage please enquire to Suttonbadham@btinternet.com). Please send your order quoting the reference number of your chosen design (with cheque made payable to ‘The Monumental Brass Society’) to: Miss Sally Badham FSA, Dawn Cottage, Purrants Lane, Leafield, Oxfordshire OX29 9PN.
About half the sale price of each mousemat will go to the Conservation Fund., which is used to give grants to churches that are having their brasses conserved – see the Conservation webpage. Why not treat yourself (or give one to a friend) and know you are also helping the preservation of the brasses we all admire!
MM1
MM2
MM3
MM4
MM5
MM6
MM7
MM8
MM9
MM10
Please click here for the order form
Booklet on the care of brasses
Our Conservation Officer, Martin Stuchfield, has produced a downloadable short booklet with guidelines to assist parishes on the care of brasses. It is accessible via the Conservation page or click here.
Index to MBS Bulletin 1-
To mark the issue of Bulletin 100, William Lack has compiled a complete index to
Bulletins 1-
1. A topographic list of references and illustrations, with all but the most trivial
references to churches which contain, or have contained, brasses, incised slabs and
allied monuments. Original references to the name of the person commemorated have
been converted into references to the church concerned.
2. A general index which is not intended to be comprehensive but to list major papers,
lecture reports, conference reports, etc.
3. An alphabetic index of books and important papers reviewed or described in the
Notes on Books and Articles.
The link to the index is on the Publications index page, reached va the navigation bars on the top or side of this webpage.
Why not give a subscription to the MBS as a gift? It is great value for money.
Click here for further details.
Click here for application form
STOLEN
in July 2002
from Lacock, Wilts
RETURNED
(and left in the church)
in October 2004
STOLEN
in July 2002
from Langridge, Somt
STOLEN
in July 2002
from Swainswick, Somt
STOLEN
in August 2002
from Fairford, Glouc
STOLEN
in August 2002
from Beckington, Somt
STOLEN
in May 2004
from Dauntsey, Wilts
In the course a few months in 2002, there was an extremely worrying spate of thefts
of monumental brasses, mostly from West Country churches. The pattern of locations
targeted and the common modus operandi for removing the brasses suggests that the
thefts are probably the work of one person (probably with an accomplice to act as
watch-
Over two years later, the Lacock figures were returned anonymously, being left in the the church. This may give hope that the other figures stolen at the same time will also be returned anonymously. In the meantime, if anyone sees the other brasses offered for sale, either in the UK or abroad (stolen brasses may pass quickly through a succession of dealers before being offered for open sale), please alert the MBS, who are in touch with the parishes from which these brasses came. Anyone with information regarding these thefts is asked to contact urgently either:
the Hon. Conservation Officer
Martin Stuchfield,
Lowe Hill House,
Stratford St. Mary,
Suffolk, CO7 6JX
(tel 01206 337239)
or e-
martinstuchfield@btconnect.com
or Crime Stoppers (tel 0800 555111).
If you have something you would like to contribute to our website e-
Another fund-
Following the success of the range of mousemats featuring photographs of brasses
the MBS is also offering a range of high-
C1 Ashford, Kent, unknown priest c1282 (our earliest English brass)
C2 Croft, Lincolnshire, unknown knight, c. 1340
C3 Dagenham, Essex, daughters of Sir Thomas Urswick, 1479
C4 Rougham, Norfolk, John & Roger Yelverton, 1505
C5 Narborough, Norfolk, resurrection plate from Sir John Spelman, 1545
C6 St. Laurence, Ipswich, Suffolk, palimpsest reverse MS. I, c. 1550.
The cost of these coasters is £2.50 each. P&P is extra, at 50p for 1, 75p for 2-
