Events

• General Meeting

  Saturday, 28th March 2020

  Rothwell, Northamptonshire

  The first meeting of 2020 will be held at Rothwell, described by Pevsner as ‘one of the most attractive towns in Northamptonshire’.

  The programme will commence at 11.00a.m. with an optional short walk conducted by Ann Rowlett, a local historian, focusing on Thomas Tresham’s Market House and the Jesus Hospital. The latter was founded in 1591 by Owen Ragsdale who is commemorated with a brass (M.S.III).

  The formal meeting will commence at 2.00p.m. in Holy Trinity church with Jane Houghton speaking on William de Rothewelle, priest and quartermaster. Ann Rowlett will follow with Owen Ragsdale and the Jesus Hospital. Tea and an opportunity to view the brasses and monuments will follow. The afternoon will conclude with a talk by our member, Doreen Agutter on Edward Saunders, his brass and family.

  A rare opportunity will also be afforded to visit the charnel house. This small chamber is crammed with the bones of at least 2,500 people!

  The church of Holy Trinity is situated in Squires Hill, Rothwell. The postcode for satellite navigation is NN14 6BQ. The nearest station is Kettering (served from London: St. Pancras) which is 9 miles distant representing an approximate journey of 10 minutes by taxi. 

  Download
  Rothwell Flyer

  

• Annual General Meeting

  Saturday, 18th July 2020

  Saffron Walden, Essex

  The formal business of the Annual General Meeting will be held in St. Mary’s church, Saffron Walden at 11.00a.m.

  The afternoon meeting commencing at 2.00p.m. is being held in association with the Essex Society for Archaeology and History. Liz Allan will speak on The medieval town of Saffron Walden followed by David Lepine on ‘He fed his sheep well’: the clerical brasses of St. Mary’s, Saffron Walden. A third lecture by David Carrington of the Skillington Workshop relating to the important monument commemorating Thomas Lord Audley, Lord Chancellor, 1544, will conclude the meeting.

  The church of St. Mary the Virgin is situated in Church Path, Saffron Walden. The postcode for satellite navigation is CB10 1JP. The nearest station is Audley End (served from London: Liverpool Street) which is 3 miles distant representing an approximate journey of 10 minutes by taxi. Please contact Penny Williams, Hon. Secretary (email: penny7441@hotmail.com) if you wish to share a taxi or are travelling by car and are prepared to pick someone up.

   

  Download
  Saffron Walden flyer

  

• Conference

  Friday, 25th September 2020

  King's Lynn, Norfolk
  

  This conference, organised in collaboration with the Church Monuments Society, will be held at the Duke’s Head Hotel in King’s Lynn. The theme is Status and Display with excursions to the minster church of St. Margaret and the chapel of St. Nicholas in the town (Friday afternoon) and to the village churches of Oxborough, Narborough, Rougham and South Acre (Saturday), where a team of experts will introduce a remarkable series of medieval and early modern funerary monuments and brasses in north-west Norfolk.

  The keynote lecture will be given by Susie Nash (Deborah Loeb Brice Professor of Renaissance Art at the Courtauld Institute, London) on The Burgundian Ducal Tombs at Champmol at the Duke’s Head on Friday evening. The lecture programme will continue at the hotel on Sunday morning with papers by Ann Adams on Creation and Re-Creation: Tombs and plastercasts Roger Bowdler on Rank Decay: 17th century vanitas monuments to persons of status;Toby Capwell on Flowering and Decline: English effigies and armour in the late 15th century;Nicholas Flory on Illustrissima ac potentissima princeps: The commemorative brass plaques of Isabella of Portugal and her Carthusian donations; Robin Netherton on The sideless surcote: Elusive, illusive, allusive; and Jean Wilson on Not a Leg to Stand On: The monument to Robert Pierrepont, 1669, at West Dean, Wiltshire.

  The conference fee includes accommodation, breakfast and evening meals, all tea and coffee breaks, Sunday lunch and attendance on the excursions and lectures. Accommodation at the hotel is en-suite in single, double and twin rooms. It is limited and will be reserved on a first-come, first-served basis. Members are also welcome to arrange their own accommodation and to attend on a non-residential basis and will need to do so if the demand for rooms exceeds our allocation at the Duke’s Head. King’s Lynn has a wide range of accommodation to suit all budgets, including a Premier Inn and a Travelodge.

  The cost for the Conference is £300 (single room) or £250 per person (double/twin room) for Society members (non-members: £325, single room; £275 per person, double/twin room), full board (excluding Saturday lunch). Alternatively, delegates may choose to attend on a non-residential basis: Friday afternoon and evening £35 members (£45 non-members); Saturday excursion £35 members (£45 non-members); Saturday reception and conference dinner £40 members (£50 non-members); Sunday morning (including lunch) £30 members (£40 non-members).

  The deadline for booking is 30th June 2020. For all enquiries please contact the CMS President Mark Downing by email at markdowning1@talktalk.net.

  A booking form will be available shortly.

  

• General Meeting

  Saturday, 17th October 2020

  Trotton, Sussex

  Trotton lies in a bend on the river Rother, between Midhurst and Petersfield. St George’s parish church, Trotton, ‘has one of the finest interiors in Sussex’ (Arthur Mee) with three impressive monuments.

  On the west wall, 14th-century paintings depict the Last Judgement, the Seven Deadly Sins and the Seven Works of Mercy.

  The brass to Margaret Camoys, c.1310, is ‘the oldest existing female brass’ (Pevsner). The face is life-like, the gown flowing, and there is a small dog at her feet. Indents in her gown and within the canopy once contained shields, proudly proclaiming her identity.

  The second brass is to Thomas, Lord Camoys (d.1421) and his wife, Elizabeth Mortimer (d.1417), widow of Harry ‘Hotspur’ Percy. Camoys fought at Agincourt with Henry V. This brass is ‘one of the biggest and most ornate and best preserved brasses in England’ (Pevsner).

  Other monuments include the tomb chest of Sir Roger Lewknor (d.1478), husband of Eleanor Camoys, the granddaughter of Lord Camoys.  

  There will be talks by our members Jessica Barker, Nigel Saul and Jennifer Ward.

  Refreshments will be provided.

  Petersfield is the nearest station for Trotton. Transport to and from the station will be available upon request.