To see: a free-standing alabaster chest, which you can walk right around, in the late-Gothic style still alive around 1534. On the slab, Sir Richard Knightley the elder lies in armour, a lion couchant at his feet, wearing the Collar of Esses — the chain of S-shaped links, badge of loyalty to the dynasty. Beside him his wife Jane Skenard, in a gable hood, with a little dog at her feet, an emblem of marital fidelity. Walk around the chest: twelve children are set in niches along the sides, a small sculpted people carrying on the line. Traces of the original polychromy can still be made out. The monument is attributed to Richard Parker of Burton-on-Trent, one of the great Midland alabaster carvers.
Did you know?
The Collar of Esses, a chain of "S" links, marked membership of the royal house of Lancaster and then Tudor: carving it at the neck of the dead cut a political allegiance, as much as an honour, into the alabaster.
Info
- Free-standing alabaster chest, late Gothic, c.1534.
- Knight in armour, lion at his feet, Collar of Esses; lady in a gable hood, small dog.
- Twelve children in side niches; original polychromy; attributed to Richard Parker of Burton.