Chelsea in the olden & present times / by George Bryan.

  • Bryan, George.
Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Chelsea in the olden & present times / by George Bryan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Lord Bray.—In the chancel, the most ancient monument is that of Lord Bray, and of his son Lord John Bray. It is an altar-tomb, now much defaced, but was originally ornamented with the effigies in brass of these two noble lords, and with escutcheons of their arms. According to Weever, there was the following inscription in his time :—“ Of your charitie pray for the soul of Edmund Bray, knight, Lord Bray, cosin and heire to Sir Reginald Bray, Knight of the Garter.” There is a very long and curious account of the funeral of Lord John Bray in the Herald’s College, 1557. Sir Thomas More.—Against the south wall of the chancel is the monument of Sir Thomas More, erected according to his own desire, in the year 1532. The tablet on which the inscription is engraved is under a Tudor arch, the cornice of which is ornamented with foliage, and in the centre of it is his crest, viz., a Moor’s head. The spandrils of the arch are ornamented with branches of the vine, and in the midst are his arms and those of his first wife, and on each side are the arms of himself and his two wives. The eventful history of More, and the termination of his earthly career, must be familiar to the reader. After he was beheaded, his body is said by some to have been interred in the church, but others have contended that it was buried in St. Peter's, in the Tower. There are many legends respecting the head, but Mr. Brayley asserts positively that it was finally deposited in St. Dunstan’s, near Canterbury, and that he saw the head there many years ago. The inscription on the tablet is of considerable length. The Marquise de Cugnac.—Near the Communion Table, against the south wall, on a square ornamental slab, is an inscription to the memory of Elizabeth, the wife of the Marquis de Cugnac. As a proof of his unshaken love he erected this monument. She died in 1653, aged 20 years. The marquis was of a Protestant family, famous in the reigns of Henry IV Lewis XIII. and XIV. The Sedile.—In the south wall of the chancel, near the altar, was usually placed the “ Sedtle, a seat for the use of the priest at certain intervals during the celebration of the Mass, but when the church was almost rebuilt, in 1667, this ancient architectural ornament, and many others were removed, and not a vestige of them now remains.