Scottish External Funerary Metal Plates | 293

Proc Soc Antiq Scot 138 (2008), 293–308 SCOTTISH EXTERNAL FUNERARY METAL PLATES | 293 Scottish external funerary metal plates George Thomson* ABSTRACT Small external funerary metal plates made before the middle of the 19th century are given little attention or ignored in most studies of British gravemarkers. These hand-engraved artefacts are relatively common in Gloucestershire, Cumbria and, to a lesser extent, in Yorkshire. Although usually referred to as brasses, most of them are made from bronze alloy and exhibit both affinities with and differences from interior small brass memorials. They are uncommon elsewhere in England and are extremely rare in Scotland. This paper describes the nine Scottish plates so far found in Scotland, all but one in the far south of the country, together with details of the gravestones on which they are mounted. Special consideration is given to the lettering of the inscriptions as a possible indicator of their provenance. The reasons for the rarity of these artefacts in Scotland are discussed. INTRODUCTION (2000) does not facilitate appropriate recording of these artefacts although he does allow for The gravemarkers in several thousand graveyards the recording of brass markers (but not those and other burial grounds in Europe and North attached to gravestones) and makes only very America have been surveyed and photographed brief mention of brass plates in his text. Willsher in the pursuit of the author’s research activities and Willsher and Hunter make no mention of in inscriptional palaeography (Thomson 2001; them whatsoever in their extensive publications 2002; 2005; 2006a; 2006c; 2007; 2008a; 2009). (see Willsher & Hunter 1978 and Willsher 2005 In the course of these studies, it was noted for their most important publications). Several that the gravestones in many graveyards in published records on monumental inscriptions England have small inscribed metal plates fixed either do not distinguish them from gravestones, to headstones and graveslabs. In some sites, or ignore them completely. All this is very similar plates are also fixed to exterior church surprising when, as memorial artefacts, they are walls. The almost total lack of any mention of as much part of funerary and commemorative post-Reformation external funerary metal plates culture as any headstone, ledger or mural in the literature on gravemarkers in Britain monument. The Monumental Brass Society has is surprising. Burgess (1963) makes limited published inventories that include these plates in reference to external brasses, restricting his England (Lack, Stuchfield & Whittemore 1992– comments to an endnote. Mytum (2004) ignores 2005), although many still have to be recorded. them completely. Even Lees (1993; 1998), who D’Elboux (1946–9) details their history. brings attention to them in her Gloucestershire The distribution of these artefacts in Britain works, makes only passing comment in her more is extremely patchy and many have been lost, comprehensive volume (Lees 2000). Mytum stolen or destroyed leaving evidence of their * Craignish, The Loaning, Waterbeck, Lockerbie DG11 3EY 294 | SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND, 2008 former location as indents. The value of the small memorial plates based on an analysis of metal from which they are made has made 209 sites in 13 counties in England, Wales and them candidates for recycling, either legally Scotland, discussing its place and significance or illegally through theft, as is the case with in the broader context of material culture monumental brasses. The largest accumulations (Thomson 2008b). of external metal plates are in Gloucestershire, Many, if not most, were not made locally just spreading into west Oxfordshire, and and were imported from major centres such Cumbria in the ancient counties of Cumberland as London and Birmingham (Bertram 1996). and Westmoreland. They are also found in There were exceptions. Lack et al report significant numbers in Yorkshire. Elsewhere that many external brasses in the Cotswolds in England their occurrence is rare and their were made in Cirencester, King’s Stanley, distribution sporadic. External metal plates Michinhampton, Stroud and, according to local occur much more frequently on vertical tradition, in Bristol. A few in Gloucestershire headstones in Cumbria and Yorkshire than in are signed. The high proportion of imports Gloucestershire where they are fixed, almost means that any stylistic trends in lettering style invariably, on graveslabs, table tombs, chest or other aspects of the design are due more to tombs or, less commonly, on exterior church client preference and instruction rather than walls. Small external funerary metal plates local craft traditions. Bertram recognised that dated 1850 or earlier appear to be absent from geographic trends in the design of monumental Wales and Ireland and outwith Great Britain brasses were blurred for the same reason. This they appear to be extremely rare but include a is in stark contrast with the very subtle local few from the mid-19th century in Brittany and differences that can be detected in lettering one in St Paul’s Churchyard, Halifax, Nova on gravestones that reflect cultural diversity Scotia (Thomson unpublished). However, (Thomson 2006b). others that now have been mounted within The standard of engraving on many external churches may have been external in the past, brasses, although it varies considerably, often or coffin plates as in the case of those in the does not compare well with that on other Oude Kerk, Amsterdam. artefacts or on many small interior brasses Although the plates are invariably referred (see Dalgleish & Fothringham (2008) for to as brasses, they were usually made from examples in silver). There are some notable an alloy more akin to bronze, with varying exceptions in Gloucestershire, especially proportions of the constituent elements at Minchinhampton and Painswick. Many (Cameron 1946). A few were made from metal utilitarian and commemorative items ferrous alloys and other metals. Their shape were engraved with lettering in the 17th, 18th is usually rectangular, although there are and 19th century in Scotland. Most that have also oval, shield and other irregular forms. survived in private and public collections are The majority of external metal plates are of silver or gold and are usually artefacts of very small and usually unfigured, other some historical or artistic significance. The than occasionally incorporating restrained engravers who were employed to cut the iconography or decoration and, more rarely, inscriptions on these objects would have heraldry, a feature that distinguishes them from been amongst the most highly skilled. It is archetypal medieval and later monumental possible that small funerary metal plates were brasses. Consequently, the engraved lettering sometimes considered to be of much less on them is the dominant and most important importance and it appears that engravers of attribute. The author has made an extensive lesser skill were often given the task. Local study of lettering on both external and interior craftsmen would have cut the lettering on SCOTTISH EXTERNAL FUNERARY METAL PLATES | 295 plates that were not purchased elsewhere, proportions, stroke weights and serifs derived just as was the case with stonemasons and from Classical and Renaissance models. gravestones. In spite of the differential in The engraved roman letterforms on metal craftsmanship, the style and interpretation of artefacts in the 17th and early 18th centuries, lettering on small funerary metal plates has including brass and bronze funerary plates, much in common with that on other artefacts are much akin to those used subsequently on of similar materials. The quality of engraving gravestones in the late 18th and 19th century, on interior small brasses is often superior to typographically classed as ‘modern’, with that on external plates, the difference being marked contrast between the thick and thin most apparent before 1700. Gawthorpe (1922), lines and bracketed, fine serifs. These forms in his discourse on the methods of engraving are misleadingly called ‘English letter’ by brasses, suggests that engravers from the 15th Bartram (1978) and ‘English vernacular’ by century onwards did not plan the layout of Mosley (1963) and Gray (1986). Corrections lettering in advance resulting in the haphazard made by adding missed letters or completing arrangement of inscriptions. However, these misjudged lines with small characters above appear to have been planned much more the word are much rarer on metal plates than carefully than inscriptions on contemporary on gravestones, possibly because the text gravestones. The emergence of small external was planned more carefully in advance. On plates in England at the beginning of the 17th gravestones, ligatures were frequently used century coincides with the beginning of the in inscriptions in roman capitals. More than decline in the numbers and quality of figured 65 letter combinations have been recorded ecclesiastical brasses and their virtual demise (Thomson unpublished). Ligatures are rare by 1700. and may be absent altogether on external metal Cutting techniques in metal and stone plates, other than AE in Latin inscriptions. are similar, though not identical. However, Even this ligature is not common. They are also the influence of material on gravestone relatively rare on post-16th-century interior inscriptions was far greater than that on brasses but do occur throughout England. brasses and other metal plates.

Load more