C to D

Size 38" by 15"

Weight in kg: 6.0

1553

Ashby St Legers, Northamptonshire

Size 38" by 15"

Weight in kg: 6.0

Sir Richard's brass is a fine example of the early Tudor period.

We know little of Sir Richard's life, though the size and quality of this engraving point to his being a wealthy man.

Sir William Catesby was the Esquire to the Body of Richard III, the hated Yorkshire king. It is this Sir William who is referred to in the famous political rhyme of the time, "The cat (Catesby) the rat (Sir Richard Ratclyff) and (Lord) Lovell our dog, rulen all England under an hog". (Richard III's emblem was a white boar).

Sir William was executed in Leicester in 1485 for his part in the Yorkist cause. Alas we do not know if this brass is his son's memorial, though it does seem likely.

1393 Draycott Cerne, Wiltshire

Dimensions of whole product (figure may be within this):

Height in inches: 40

Width in inches: 24

Weight in kg: 10.0

Full Scale, Replica or Theme? Full Scale

The indent on the original slab shows that the top of the cushion and the upper part of the helmet with Sir Edward's tournament crest and two shields are missing. The cushion and helmet have been restored in the facsimile. Sir Edward succeeded his brother John de Cerne in 1348 and was knighted in 1378, acting as Assessor of Taxes in 1379 and as a Collector in 1382. He married twice and was succeeded by the son of his first marriage to Joan. This brass shows his second wife Elyne, dressed as a vowess, that is, a widow who has taken a vow not to re-marry. Sir Edward wears armour with a scalloped jupon. The sword belt is of hinged plates with decorated panels.

1485 Blickling, Norfolk

Dimensions of whole product (figure may be within this):

Height in inches: 30

Width in inches: 11

Weight in kg: 3.5

Full Scale, Replica or Theme? Full Scale

Isabel was the daughter of Geoffrey Boleyn and great-aunt to Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII and mother of Queen Elizabeth I. Isabel married William Cheyne of Sheppey, Kent and the three-quarter profile of this brass suggests it was designed to be one of a pair.

The open hands, the dress and the necklace are almost identical to that worn by Margaret Francis and Margaret Peyton at Isleham, Cambridgeshire. This would seem to point to all three brasses coming from the same workshop.

Isabel wears the 'butterfly' headdress, in which the hair is pulled back from the face into the nets. On top of the nets a framework of wires was erected and over these a fine gauze veil was draped.

1419 Hever, Kent

Dimensions of whole product (figure may be within this):

Height in inches: 17

Width in inches: 10

Weight in kg: 2.1

Full Scale, Replica or Theme? Replica (BLACK OUTER)

A lovely brass, most unusual with the angels supporting the embroidered cushion. Exquisitely engraves ad we have come to expect from this period.

Contemporary with Margaret was John de Cobham, whose brass dated 1399 is also in Hever Church. In 1462 the Cobhams sold the Hever Estates to Geoffrey Bullen, grandfather of Anne the ill-fated 2nd wife of Henry VIII. Bullen also purchased Blickling Hall, Norfolk, where a descendant of Margaret is also commemorated in brass.

THIS BRASS HAS A BLACK OUTER STYLING

Circa 1475 Hinton St. George, Somerset

Dimensions of whole product (figure may be within this):

Height in inches: 24

Width in inches: 16.5

Weight in kg: 4.2

Full Scale, Replica or Theme? Full Scale

This brass is now restored to it's original home in Hinton St' George; at sometime it was found in an outhouse on Lady dormer's Warwickshire estate. The two figures are turned slightly towards each other. John is wearing armour fashionable during the Wars of the Roses (1455 - 85), designed for comfort and manoeuvrability, the helmet with visored sallet gave a wider field of vision with easier breathing facilities than earlier types. Alice, daughter of William Blythermore, was previously married to Sir John Juyn. She wears a fur-trimmed gown with butterfly headdress, highly fashionable for the period. Thomasine, their only child, married William Champernon in 1457.

1614 Marden, Herefordshire

Dimensions of whole product (figure may be within this):

Height in inches; 38"

Width in inches; 10"

Weight in kg: 4.0

Full Size

1524

Hoogstraten, Belgium

Size 24" by 24"

Weight in kg: 6.0

Dimensions of whole product (figure may be within this):

Height in inches: 17.5

Width in inches: 13

Weight in kg: 2.4

Full Scale, Replica or Theme? Full Scale

The first recorded nameof this family is Richard Clerke of Willoughby. Some members of the family were benefactors of Magdallen college, Oxford. Sir John is the fourth generation on. The brass shows him kneeling, wearing an heraldic tabard with a scroll above his head. The inscription describes his part in the Battle of Spurs in Frnace in 1513, when he took prisoner Louise d'Orleans, Duke of Longueville. The ransom he received for his prisoner paid for the rebuilding of his manor near Thame. Sir John also received from Henry VIII a grant of the canton of honorable augmentation, still borne in the family arms. The family received an Earldom in 1660, the year Charles II became King. The family still hold the title of Earl of Hitcham in Buckinghamshire. The 9th baronet served in the 52nd Regiment at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

1539 Thame, Oxfordshire

Dimensions of whole product (figure may be within this):

Height in inches: 24

Width in inches: 16.5

Weight in kg: 4.0

Full Scale, Replica or Theme? Full Scale

Debrett's illustrated Baronetage's description reads:- "Arms - Argent, on a bend gules (red) between three pellets as many swans of the field: on a sinister (left) canton azure a demi-ram salient of the first and in chief two fleur-de-lis Or 9gold), over all a baton trunked. Crest - A ram's head couped proper."

Dimensions of whole product (figure may be within this):

Height in inches: 23

Width in inches: 10

Weight in kg: 2.5

Full Scale, Replica or Theme? Full Scale

The fourteenth and early fifteenth century are generally agreed to be the best periods for brass engraving. The designs were dignified and elegant, as the brass to John and Margery Compton testify. Their memorial includes an inscription and brasses depicting their four sons and seven daughters. John is shown wearing the complete Plate or Lancastrian armour. The Church at dinton is old and very beautiful and contains anumber of monumental brasses, the Compton brass being the earliest. Another brass commemorates Simon and Colubery Mayne. Their son Simon was a friend of Oliver Cromwell and a regicide-one of the men who signed the death warrant of Charles I. For this act he was sent to the Tower where he died in 1661.

Dimensions of whole product (figure may be within this):

Height in inches: 23

Width in inches: 10

Weight in kg: 2.5

Full Scale, Replica or Theme? Full Scale

Margery Compton was the daughter of Brian Harley and the wife of John Crompton. Her brass forms part of a memorial which includes her husband and their four sons and eleven daughters (also included in our collection).

Margery is depicted wearing a simple gown with full sleeves close to the wrist, almost identical in detail to that worn by elizabeth Poyler-a brass of the same date. On her head she wears a most unusual version of the Crespine headdress, where the hair is gathered into wide nets on each side of the face, level with the top of the head, and a veil is pinned on top and falls onto the shoulders.

Dimensions of whole product (figure may be within this):

Height in inches: 9

Width in inches: 8

Weight in kg: 1.0

Full Scale, Replica or Theme? Full Scale

Dimensions of whole product (figure may be within this):

Height in inches: 9

Width in inches: 8

Weight in kg: 1.0

Full Scale, Replica or Theme? Full Scale

r 1634 Ardingly, Sussex

Dimensions of whole product (figure may lay within this):

Height in inches: 19

Width in inches: 11

Weight in kg: 2.3

Full Scale, Replica or Theme? Full Scale

Elizabeth was the young daughter of Sir William Culpeper and his wife Jane. Separate monuments to children are relatively rare and there can be little doubt that this one owes it's existence to the fact that when she died,m a brass was being engraved for her grandmother, Dame Elizabeth Culpeper (another brass in this series) and the same engraver was asked to make one for the grand daughter too. Both these brasses are among the better examples of the period and may be attrubuted to the workshop of Edward Marshall. Elizabeth described as "a childe of 7 years old" is dressed in the same style as her grandmother though more simply, the cuffs are plain and the embroidery on the underskirt is less elaborate.

1401 Blickling, Norfolk

Dimensions of whole product (figure may be within this):

Height in inches: 77

Width in inches: 36.5

Weight in kg: 30

Full Scale, Replica or Theme? Full Scale

Sir Nicholas spent a long and active life in the service of both King Edward III and King Richard II. Between 1355-65 he fought in campaigns against the French, before becoming a diplomat and court official.

He was the son and heir of Thomas, Lord Dagworth. Blickling Manor was willed to him by James de Holveston, who was without male heir. It is presumed Sir Nicholas married one of James's daughters. We do know that he was Lord of the Manor at Blickling .

Size 49" by 20"

Weight in kg: 10.0

Size 48" by 20"

Weight in kg: 10.0

1491 Lillingstone Dayrell Buckinghamshire

Dimensions of whole product (figure may be within this):

Height in inches: 31

Width in inches: 13.5

Weight in kg: 4.5

Full Scale, Replica or Theme? Full Scale

PLEASE ALSO LOOK IN OUR 'MINI COLLECTIBLES' SECTION FOR SMALLER VERSIONS OF THIS BRASS

The ancient family spelles De Hayrel, Darell or Dayrell is asaid to derive its name from D'Airelle, a Normandy province. The name is in the Roll of Battle Abbey with the followers of the Norman Conquerors. The family were the earliest owners of lands in this county, "Lelinchestane" was surveyed among the lands of Walter Giffard at that time. The Manor of Lillingstone continues in the Dayrell family. The latest stone in the church commemorates Charles Gerald Marmaduke Dayrell in 1971, and one of the earliest recorded is Elias Dairel in 1195. The church treasures were confiscated under Henry VIII but in 1552, the son of Paul Dayrell received back a chalice and patend from the Commissioners of Edward VI

1491 Lillingstone Dayrell, Buckinghamshire

Dimensions of whole product (figure may be within this):

Height in inches: 31

Width in inches: 13.5

Weight in kg: 4.3

Full Scale, Replica or Theme? Full Scale

PLEASE ALSO LOOK IN OUR 'MINI COLLECTIBLES' SECTION FOR SMALLER VERSIONS OF THIS BRASS

The finely engraved brass to Margaret is one half of a family of memorial which includes her husband, Paul. Margaret is wearing a long flowing gown trimmed with fur around the wide turned down collar, and around the hem. With narrow sleeves and cuffs that cover half her hands, this dress could have been made of wool or velvet. By the late Middle ages the Italians were producing magnificent velvets much favoured by wealthy landowners and English aristocracy. The headdress is typical of the period. The hair is taken back from the forehead into nets, upon which rests a large framework of wire, covered by a gauze veil. No doubt it was attractive, but looks clumsy when drawn on brass. The head is shown in three-quarter pose especially to display the headdress.