Picture Library - The Church

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The Church

Amongst the earliest patrons of monumental brasses were bishops and other members of the upper clergy. This form of monument remained a popular form of commemoration for the clergy until well after the Reformation. They span all levels from Archbishops (such as Thomas Cranley), Abbots (like John Lawrence de Wardeboys, though, his brass having been made on the eve of the Reformation his original effigy showing an abbot has been replaced by a cleric in surplice and almuce) and Priors (like Thomas Neland) to monks, friars (as at Great Amwell) and parish priests. A wide variety of vestments are illustrated, particularly in the pre-Reformation period. Examples are common showing both mass vestments, as at Higham Ferrars, and copes, both plain, as at Rothwell, and richly decorated, like those shown at Boston and Beeford. The vestments worn by the post-Reformation clergy are illustrated by brasses at Christchurch, Oxford and Salisbury Cathedral.]

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