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1491, Lillingstone Dayrell, Buckinghamshire

This finely engraved brass to Margaret is one half of a family 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 fluted 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 head-dress 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 it looks clumsy when drawn on brass. The head is shown in three-quarter pose especially to display the head-dress.

All brass dimensions are identical:

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

Height in inches: 9.5 Width in inches: 5

Weight in kg: 0.5 Full Scale, Replica or Theme? Replica

1491, Lillingstone Dayrell, Buckinghamshire

This ancient family, spelled as De Hayrel, Darell or Dayrell is said to have derived 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 land 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.

All brass dimensions are identical:

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

Height in inches: 9.5 Width in inches: 5

Weight in kg: 0.5 Full Scale, Replica or Theme? Replica

1567, Denchworth, Berkshire

Alice, daughter of Sir Thomas Essex of Lambourne, Berkshire, was the wife of William Hyde; they had five sons and five daughters. This brass is notable for the elegance of her dress. She wears the Paris hood, known to most as the Mary Queen of Scots head-dress. Alice has a frilled partlet around her neck which later developed into the ruff so typical of Elizabethan fashion. She also wears an embroidered petticoat displayed through the open front of her over-dress.

Alice lived during a very eventful period of history - the beginning of the turbulent reign of Henry VIII and the difficult years before Elizabeth I became Queen in 1558.

All brass dimensions are identical:

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

Height in inches: 9.5 Width in inches: 5

Weight in kg: 0.5 Full Scale, Replica or Theme? Replica

1484. Isleham, Cambridge

Beneath an ornate canopy, the original brass depicts Thomas Peyton with Margaret Bernard, his first wife and Margaret Francis, his second wife, on either side. This finely engraved brass shows Margaret wearing a décolleté waisted gown of rich Italian brocade or cut velvet. Her butterfly head-dress, fashionable at that time, is worded with the prayer "Lady (Help) Jhu (Jesu) Mercy". Her elaborate necklace is also worn by Margaret Francis and is thought to bea family heirloom, but research reveals that an identical necklace worn by Isabel Cheyne (Blickling, Norfolk, 1495) and this together with the position of the hands of all three ladies, points to these brasses having come from the same workshop.

All brass dimensions are identical:

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

Height in inches: 9.5 Width in inches: 5

Weight in kg: 0.5 Full Scale, Replica or Theme? Replica

1424 Hampton Poyle, Oxfordshire

The original brass shows Elizabeth with her husband John. This very early 15th Century brass owes much of its charm to the draughtsmanlike quality of the engraving. Elizabeth wears a simple gown with turned-over collar and full sleeves close to the wrist. She wears the Crespine headdress in which the hair is draped over the head to fall to the shoulders behind. The tiny church at Hampton Poyle contains records of priests going back almost to Domesday. Among them the name Poyle occurs and presumably the hamlet added Poyle to commemorate the family's long association.

All brass dimensions are identical:

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

Height in inches: 9.5 Width in inches: 5

Weight in kg: 0.5 Full Scale, Replica or Theme? Replica

1424 Hampton Poyle, Oxfordshire

This early 15th Century brass is part of a family brass which includes his wife Elizabeth and owes much of its charm to the quality of the engraving. The plain simple lines show John wearing complete plate armour of the style in vogue during the Wars of the roses later in the Century (1455-58). The tiny church at Hampton Poyle is well worth a visit. It is so typical of the ancient but continuig rural life with monuments to thos who fought for their country and recordes of priests going back nearly to domesday. Among them is the name of Poyle.

All brass dimensions are identical:

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

Height in inches: 9.5 Width in inches: 5

Weight in kg: 0.5 Full Scale, Replica or Theme? Replica

1547 Aldbury, Hertfordshire

Lady Elizabeth, wife of Sir Ralph, was the daughter of Edmund, Lord Braye. Her heraldic mantle bears her family arms, with those of her husband. This is one of the finest examples of insignia with its story of family links and inter-marriage. Elizabeth outlived her husband and married three more times. The original Verney brass shows her with Sir Ralph, their 9 sons and 3 daughters.

In 1557 Elizabeth's brother John, 2nd Baron Braye, died without issue. The barony was abeyant until 1839 when it was terminated in favour of Sarah Otway, daughter of Sir Thomas Cave and Elizabeth's descendant. The family assumed the name Verney-Cave which is that of the present Baron Braye.

All brass dimensions are identical:

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

Height in inches: 9.5 Width in inches: 5

Weight in kg: 0.5 Full Scale, Replica or Theme? Replica

1547 Aldbury, Hertfordshire

Sir Ralph was scion of the Whittingham family, who lived in Pendley Manor from the 14th Century. Three generations of Whittingham were named robert, the first was Sheriff of London in 1419, the second fought in the Hundred Years' War; the third, a Lancastrian, was killed during the Wars of the roses. His daughter Margaret, against his wishes, married the Yorkist, Sir John Verney, whose father, knighted by Edward IV in 1471, became Lord Mayor of London. On Henry VIII's accession, Parliament granted the Whittingham estates to the Verney's. Sir John was buried at Ashridge, as were his son and grandson Ralph, whose brass this is. Ralph and elizabeth his wife are shown with their 9 sons and 3 daughters. The parents wear heraldic tabards showing the Coat of Arms of the Verneys and Whittinghams.

Sir William Wadham C1440 Ilminster, Somerset

All brass dimensions are identical:

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

Height in inches: 9.5 Width in inches: 5

Weight in kg: 0.5 Full Scale, Replica or Theme? Replica

1849, Westminster Abbey

Dame Jemima, wife of Sir Robert, much decorated soldier, Governor and Commander in chief of gibraltar, lived from 1777-1823.

The brass is engraved in the style of the Middle Ages, she wears a loose mantle over a wide- sleeved gown showing the close fitting sleeves of the kirtle beneath. With veiled head-dress and hair gathered into nets at the side of her face, Jemima's modest appearance is so similar to Margaret Bellingham's brass in Kendall (restored about 1860) it is assumed both were made at about this time, possibly by the same engraver.

The seven sons and daughters of the couple are incorporated in the family brass which lies in the North Aisle of the Abbey.

All brass dimensions are identical:

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

Height in inches: 9.5 Width in inches: 5

Weight in kg: 0.5 Full Scale, Replica or Theme? Replica

General Sir Robert Wilson 1849 Westminster Abbey

The Wilson brass is unusual because of its incongruity of costume. Sir Robert is in the armour of a 15th century Lancastrian knight. He was General of the British Army, and served under Wellington in Napoleonic campaigns. His military career was brilliant if erratic. He held the titles of Knight Grand Cross of the Red Eagle of Prussia, The Military Order of St. Anna of Russia, Commander of the Imperial Military Order of Maria Theresa of Austria, Baron of the Holy Roman Empire, Knight Commander of the Imperial Portugese Miltary Order of the Tower and Sword, The Turkish Crescent, and the Military Order of Merit of Saxony. He was Governor and C-in-C of Gibraltar, Colonel of the 15th King's Regiment Light Dragoons, and Member of Parliament for Southwark for fifteen years. Meantime his wife, Dame Jemima raised their thirteen children.

All brass dimensions are identical:

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

Height in inches: 9.5 Width in inches: 5

Weight in kg: 0.5 Full Scale, Replica or Theme? Replica

1462. Nivelles, Belgium

This magnificent example of the engravers' art is detail taken from the brass to Marguerite de Scornay, Abbess of Nivelles. It depicts the enthroned Virgin holding the child Jesus, whose hand (on the complete brass) points towards the kneeling Abbess.

All brass dimensions are identical:

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

Height in inches: 9.5 Width in inches: 5

Weight in kg: 0.5 Full Scale, Replica or Theme? Replica

Trinity

c. 1500

The original of this brass is now in the Winchester Museum and is of unknown origin. Quite often brasses become detached from the slab in the Church which housed them - either as a result of wear in the surrounding stone or during restoration work.

Trinity brasses were popular at this time and were a regular feature on memorial brasses. They show the seated and throned God the Father, Christ on the Cross and the Holy Ghost as a bird.

All brass dimensions are identical:

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

Height in inches: 9.5 Width in inches: 5

Weight in kg: 0.5 Full Scale, Replica or Theme? Replica