Links

Listed below are links to other sites of interest. Click on the blue underlined text to transfer to that site. To return to the MBS site, use your back button. If you would like to go direct to a particular section of the links guide click on the section heading below:

Societies

National Heritage Organisations

Picture libraries and other useful resources

Featured Website

Every couple of months, we will feature a particular site that will be added to the lists below afterwards. The current featured site is from the British Library and is called Collect Britain. The main monumental brass interest lies in the King George III Topographical Collection. You can view the whole collection but brasses are very much in a minority among the 2,500 items within it. It is easier to use the search facility instead. As there seems no way of confining a search to a particular collection, the best approach is to use the word brass as one search term and add a location. Brasses within the collection are from the following locations: Camberwell, Gorleston, Great Livermere, Hordle, Kingston, Northfleet, Oxford, St Albans, Stockbridge, Tottenham and Wroxton. There are a couple of others in the wider BL topographical collections too.

Societies

Ancient Monuments Society	Society for the study and conservation of ancient and historic buildings and craftsmanship in the UK
Arms and Armour Society	Furthers the study of arms and armour from the earliest times.
British Archaeological Association	Promotes the study of archaeology, art and architecture and promotes the preservation of antiquities
Church Archaeology Society	Promotes the care, conservation and study of the ecclesiastical buildings of England and Ireland
Church Monuments Society	International society for the study of all types of church monuments of all periods.
Ecclesiological Society	Society for the study of church architecture, furnishings and liturgy. An especially extensive and useful website.
Friends of Friendless Churches	Founded to save, from demolition or ill use, places of worship of architectural or historic interest.
Historical Association	The Historical Association is the voice for history. It brings together people who hare an interest in, and love for the past. It aims to further the study and teaching of history at all levels.
International Center for Medieval Art	Promotes the study of the visual arts of the medieval period in Europe.
MEDATS	Forum for the study of all aspects of dress and textiles in medieval times.
Medieval Academy of America	Largest organisation in the world devoted to medieval studies.
Richard III Society	Promotes research into the life and times of King Richard III.
Society of Genealogists	Promotes, encourages and fosters the study of genealogy.
Society for Medieval Archaeology	Society for the study of archaeology from the 5th to the 16th century.
Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology	Society for the study of life in the centuries after the Middle Ages.
Victorian Society	Society for the study and protection of Victorian and Edwardian architecture and other arts.

National Heritage Organisations

British Academy The National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Churchcare A resource for church maintenance issues developed by the Church of England in association with the Council for Care of Churches and Ecclesiastical Insurance.

Churches Conservation Trust Formerly the Redundant Churches Fund, the trust owns and looks after redundant churches of historical and architectural interest, which have been transferred to it by the Church of England.

Council for British Archaeology Organisation which regularly publishes important works on archaeology.

English Heritage The Government's lead body on the historic environment in England.

Historic Churches Preservation Trust A non-denominational Christian charity founded in 1953, providing grants and interest-free loans towards preserving the fabric of churches' buildings so they may remain open as places of regular worship.

National Monuments Record Public archive of 10 million photos including church monuments.

Society of Antiquaries Charitable body for the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities of this and other countries. Its collections include the most comprehensive collection of rubbings of brasses and incised slabs.

Picture libraries and other useful resources

Access to archives	Searchable database containing catalogues describing archives held throughout England and dating from the 900s to the present day.
Altavista picture search	Searches for images on a specified subject.
ArtServe	Searchable picture archive of art and architecture including monuments NB dial-up may be slow on this site as some pictures are huge.
Archaeological Resource Guide for Europe	Searchable index to internet resources concerning European Archaeology
Archive CD books	Reproductions on CD of antiquarian books including on brasses and other monuments. (under Graves and MIs) . The UK site is now closed for business but still links to sister sites elsewhere.
ArchNet	US-based world-wide virtual archaeological library
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford	The Department of Antiquities holds in its reserve collections a collection of rubbings of brasses (not currently available for public inspection). These are listed on the brass rubbing section of its Collections page on its website, which also has an extensive gallery of brass rubbings.
Bodleian Library Image catalogue	Catalogue of images from medieval manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
British Library manuscript catalogue	On-line catalogue of manuscript holdings with facility to search descriptions for particular words or names.
CUL manuscript catalogue	Catalogue for manuscript holdings in Cambridge University Library.
Church Mouse website	Website on Lincolnshire churches and their contents with a useful selection of monuments from a wider region. Includes a section (never completed) on cadaver monuments, which would have had more illustrations of brasses
Collage	Guildhall Library and Art Gallery , London, image database including pictures of existing and lost brasses and other monuments in London
County Series	A series of fully illustrated guides to the monumental brasses of the British Isles.
Digital Atlas of England	Aims to provide digital photographic record of all pre-1900 buildings of architectural interest. Includes most monuments and tombs up to 1850, as well as brasses and indents.
flickr - English Church Monuments flickr - Church Furnishings	A photo-sharing site with English church monuments and church furnishings pools that both include brasses
Fordham Research Guides	Fordham University guide for research on the medieval period and other topics.
Google picture search Google book search	Searches for images on a specified subject. Searches the contents of books
Internet Archive Text Archive	Many older books can be downloaded from this site or searched online. For the latter, choose TXT format, as it is faster.
Internet Medieval Source Book	Extensive Fordham University site with a searchable archive of primary and secondary sources of many aspects of the medieval period
Images of England	A digital library of photographs of the 370,000 listed buildings in England.
The Labyrinth	Extensive listings of text, image and archival databases and websites with resources for medieval studies, arts, architecture, archaeology, chivalry, arms, heraldry and many other related topics, set up by Georgetown University.
Lycos picture search	Searches for images on a specified subject.
Medieval English Genealogy	Extensive website on medieval English genealogy, with much information on sources and a good section on funeral monuments including brasses (with some illustrations).
Medieval Institute	Publications Website for the Medieval Institute of the Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, which has an extensive publication programme, including Medieval Review, which carries reviews of current work in all areas of medieval studies.
National Register of Archives	Searchable index to information on the nature and location of manuscripts and historical records that relate to British history.
NetSERF	US-based internet connection for medieval sources.
Picture Norfolk	Search facility for Norfolk CC photograph library (also includes some photos of brasses and related items in adjacent counties)
Portable antiquities finds database	Database of finds recorded under the Portable Antiquities Scheme. A search on 'brass' reveals a list of Lombardic letters and other fragments from brasses
PRO on-line catalogue	On-line catalogue of Public Records Office database, with facility to search for documents with specific words or names.
Purbeck Stone a history	Website on Purbeck marble with illustrations of medieval tombs
View Buildings	The View Buildings website provides access to the unique photographic archive of a project that is documenting the corpus of architecturally interesting & historically important buildings and their contents (including brasses up to 1800, figure indents and other monuments) in England. Most of the site is viewable only on the payment of a subscription.

If you have a website that you think would be of relevance to people studying brasses and incised slabs please e-mail:
jon.bayliss@btinternet.com