Brasses
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
- Admiral, Admiral of the Fleet The Earl Mountbatten of Burma (d.1979)
- Barry, Sir Charles Barry (d.1860)
- Bill, William Bill (d.1561)
- Bilson, Thomas Bilson (d.1616)
- Bohun, Eleanor de Bohun, Duchess of Gloucester (d.1399)
- Bourgchier, Sir Humphrey Bourgchier (d.1471)
- Bradley, George Granville Bradley (d.1903)
- Estney, Abbot John Estney (d.1498)
- Ferne, Henry Ferne (d.1661)
- Harpedon, Sir John Harpedon (d.1438)
- Hunter, John Hunter (d.1793)
- Monk, James Henry Monk (d.1856)
- Oswald, James Oswald (d.1769)
- Parry, Sir Thomas Parry (d.1560)
- Pearson, John Loughborough Pearson (d.1897)
- Scott, Sir George Gilbert Scott (d.1878)
- Stanley, Sir Humphrey Stanley (d.1505)
- Stephenson, Robert Stephenson (d.1859)
- Street, George Edmund Street (d.1881)
- Valence, Margaret (d.1276) and John de Valence (d.1277)
- Vaughan, Sir Thomas Vaughan (d.1483)
- Waldeby, Robert Waldeby (d.1397)
- Waltham, John of Waltham (d.1395)
- Wilson, Sir Robert Thomas Wilson (d.1849) and his wife Jemima
- Wyndesore, Sir John Wyndesore (d.1414)