Transactions of the Monumental Brass Society
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TRANSACTIONS OF THE MONUMENTAL BRASS SOCIETY VOLUME XVI, PART 1 1997 MONUMENTAL BRASS SOCIETY (Founded in 1887 as the Cambridge University Association of Brass Collectors) PRESIDENT Dr. N.E. Saul, M.A., D.Phil., F.S.A., F.R.Hist.S. VICE-PRESIDENTS C. Blair, O.B.E., M.A., F.S.A. Miss N.R. Briggs, M.A., F.S.A. J. Coales, F.S.A. W. Mendelsson, F.S.A. Rev. Fr. J.F.A. Bertram, M.A., F.S.A. HON. SECRETARY H.M. Stuchfield HON. TREASURER P.D. Cockerham, M.A., Vet.M.B., F.S.A., M.R.C.V.S. HON. EDITOR N.J. Rogers, M.A., M.Litt. HON. BULLETIN EDITOR L.A. Smith HON. HERALDIC ADVISER Sir Colin Cole, K.C.B., K.C.V.O., T.D., F.S.A. ADDITIONAL MEMBERS OF EXECUTIVE COUNCIL J.C. Bayliss, B.A. Dr. L.E. Dennison, M.A., Ph.D. C.J. Easter, B.Ed. P.D. Farman Miss J.E.M. Houghton, A.L.A. D.R. Hutchinson, F.S.A. M.A. Paige-Hagg, B.Tech., M.Sc. Mrs. C.E. Reast, B.A. All communications regarding membership, the general conditions of the Society, etc., to be addressed to the Hon. Secretary, H. Martin Stuchfield, Esq., Lowe Hill House, Stratford St. Mary, Suffolk CO7 6JX; editorial matter to the Hon. Editor, Nicholas Rogers, Esq., M.A., M.Litt., c/o The Muniment Room, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge CB2 3HU, who will be pleased to supply Notes for Contributors and to discuss proposed articles. Cover: Bowls, from the Cortschoof brass, formerly Sint-Salvatorskathedraal, Bruges Editorial VERYONE recalls the first brass they rubbed. It may have been one of the early (or not so early) knights, or some less well-known brass. My first experience of brass-rubbing was during a holiday in Dorset. I was exploring Wimborne Minster in the company of my father when we came across someone taking a rubbing of the London B style brass of King Ethelred of Wessex. He kindly gave us some heelball and paper, and I produced my first, rather grey, rubbing. Wimborne Minster M.S. I can be studied in a variety of ways. It can be considered stylistically, as a product of the London B workshop. It can be treated as an illustration of royal ceremonial robes. It can be viewed in the context of the cult of Anglo-Saxon saints in fifteenth-century England. It can be cited as an early example of the restoration of a brass. But these scholarly approaches to a brass depend on the constant process of recording, to which all the members of the Monumental Brass Society can contribute. It was some years before I learnt of the existence of the Society, as a result of finding an odd number of the Transactions in an Oxford bookshop. My route to membership illustrates the importance of the Transactions as a representative of the Societys work. My predecessor has done much to establish its reputation internationally, and I shall endeavour to maintain the standards he has set. I hope that he will find sufficient time, amid his parochial duties, to make his contribution as an author. 1 The Bacon Brass at Gorleston, Suffolk by SALLY BADHAM HE brasses of the early knights are the most well-known and extensively studied of all medieval monumental brasses. Attention has focused particularly on the fine examples at Stoke dAbernon, Acton, Trumpington and Chartham. In comparison the brass of an armed figure to a member of the Bacon family in St. Andrews church, Gorleston, Suffolk (Fig. 1) has received scant attention, with no serious attempt having been made to establish whom it commemorates. Dating this brass is difficult because there is a dichotomy between the dating suggested by the equipment shown and that suggested by other evidence. The brass has most recently been dated by Binski c. 1330-40,1 a date consonant with the current understanding of the development of armour in the fourteenth century. However, all known Bacon males living in or near Gorleston at that time can be positively discounted as having been commemorated by the brass. Stylistic analysis and genealogical, heraldic and documentary evidence considered below suggest a date of c. 1305 may be more likely. History of the brass The brass and its Purbeck marble slab are now mural on the north side of the chancel, but originally lay in the Bacon chapel at the east end of the south aisle, amongst other indents to members of the Bacon family. The first description of the brass was made by Francis Blomefield on 13 July 1724. His notes, preserved in the College of Arms,2 of which there is a near transcript by John Gage in Cambridge University Library,3 refer to a Kt cross leggd standing on a boar. Bound into another volume of Blomefields Suffolk Collections in the College of Arms are some unrelated and unsigned notes on Gorleston, including a drawing which shows the figure unmutilated (Fig. 2).4 These notes evidently post-date the Blomefield notes since they refer to them at the top of the first sheet of this added section; they were probably made by Thomas Martin who is known to have owned the Blomefield volumes.5 Another drawing of the complete figure was made by John Ives in 1 P. Binski, The Stylistic Sequence of London Figure Brasses, in The Earliest English Brasses, ed. J. Coales (London, 1987), p. 97. 2 Francis Blomefield, Suffolk Collections, II, College of Arms, London, MS Suffolk 10, f. 78. 3 Cambridge University Library, MS Hengrave Hall 22, f. 78; another set of virtually identical notes is at Cambridge University Library, Hengrave Hall MS 11, f. 54. 4 Francis Blomefield, Suffolk Collections, I, College of Arms MS Suffolk 9, penultimate page. 5 This is clear from notes signed by Thomas Martin at the beginning of the two volumes. As far as volume 9 at least is concerned, the descent of the Suffolk Collections seems to have been Peter le Neve or his amanuensis Thomas Allen; Francis Blomefield, Thomas Martin, John Ives; and thus eventually to the College of Arms. I am grateful to Robert Yorke, Archivist of the College of Arms, for his help in identifying the various hands in this manuscript and for information on its descent. 2 BADHAM: THE BACON BRASS AT GORLESTON, SUFFOLK 3 FIG. 1 Gorleston, Suffolk M.S. I Ashford series brass attributed to John Bacon, c. 1305 4 TRANSACTIONS OF THE MONUMENTAL BRASS SOCIETY FIG. 2 FIG. 3 Gorleston, Suffolk M.S. I Gorleston, Suffolk M.S. I Drawing, probably by Thomas Martin, early 18th century Engraving based on a drawing of 1770 by John Ives (College of Arms MS Suffolk 9, penultimate page) (Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS Top. Suffolk b.2, f. 243) Reproduced by permission of the Chapter of the College of Arms Reproduced by permission of the Curators of the Bodleian Library preparation for his History of Lothingland, which was never finished.6 The original drawing does not survive, but a copy of the engraving is to be found in the Bodleian Library (Fig. 3).7 Although Ives possessed the Blomefield manuscript for a time, it is unlikely that his drawing was derived from the one here ascribed to Martin. He did not purchase the Blomefield manuscripts until 1773-4,8 but his own drawing appears to have dated from 1770.9 1770 is the latest date at which we can be certain that the figure remained intact. Richard Gough, writing in 1786, does not mention the boar in his description of the 6 None of Ivess original material survives, but some of his work was fortunately transcribed by Davy; British Library (hereafter BL), Add. MS 19098, f. 376 onwards. 7 Bodleian Library, Oxford MS Top. Suffolk b2, f. 243 (extra-illustrated copy of J. Kirby, The Suffolk Traveller (Ipswich, 1735)); Gough Maps 41m, f. 34, no. 185. I am grateful to Jerome Bertram for bringing the latter reference to my attention. 8 The Chorography of Suffolk, ed. D.N.J. MacCulloch, Suffolk Record Soc., 19 (Ipswich, 1976), pp. 3-4. 9 BL, Add. MS 19098, f. 376 gives the date of 1770 for these notes; a copy of Ivess drawing is at f. 397v. BADHAM: THE BACON BRASS AT GORLESTON, SUFFOLK 5 brass;10 possibly we may infer that the bottom part of the figure had been lost by then. It had certainly gone by 1810 when John Sell Cotman saw the brass.11 Soon after, the remainder of the brass was nearly lost too. When David Davy visited the church on 12 December 1812 he found only the indent. He recorded that the Clerk of the Parish informed us that the above figure becoming loose was sold by the late clerk to a brazier in Yarmouth for 5s.12 Fortunately it was rescued and found its way into Craven Ords collection; following his death in 1830 it was purchased by John Gage and returned to the church.13 Dawson Turner arranged for it to be refixed into its original slab, which in 1828, together with three other indents, had been moved from the Bacon chapel in order to make a vault for the Astley family. The restored brass and slab were then moved to their current position against the north wall of the chancel. Description of the brass The original composition of the Gorleston brass is clear from the indent.14 The full- length figure of a knight stands under a canopy, on either side of which were two shields and a roundel arranged vertically.