The Abbey has a fine series of monumental brasses dating from the late 13th century onwards. A brass consists of engraved metal plates, shaped and cut to fit into a matrix prepared for them on a tomb. The earliest figure brass in England is that to Sir John D’Abernon, 1277, at Stoke D’Abernon in Surrey. Brasses are important for the history of costume and armour but many were destroyed or melted down at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s and during the English Civil War.

Rubbing of Abbey brasses is no longer permitted.

For more information and pictures contact Westminster Abbey Library.

Useful website: www.mbs-brasses.co.uk