East Sussex Church Monuments 1530 - 1830

In almost every parish church in East Sussex there survive examples of commemorative art - ledger stones on the floor, wall-mounted inscriptions and monumental brasses and numbers of substantial carved-stone funeral monuments standing in chancels and family chapels. Never previously studied as a group, these objects cast dramatic light on the social, religious and family histories of the county. The media and artistic techniques involved in making these works of monumental art are many and varied: they are sculpted, engraved, cast and painted in stone, brass, iron and wood and are of interest to students of local history and of art and architecture. Some Sussex monuments were made locally, with important centres of production in Lewes and in the Weald where the celebrated cast-iron floor slabs were turned out. Other works were made outside the county and brought in, probably by water transport, from London and sometimes from as far away as continental Europe. At the heart of this volume is a set of catalogue entries, each one dedicated to one of the 1409 items that have been identified as a result of extensive field-work in 144 East Sussex churches. The whole project represents the largest published regional survey of English monumental art ever attempted. Each work included mentions a person or people who died in the period 1530 - 1830 and in each case there are either transcriptions or summaries of the monumental inscriptions. An introductory essay, illustrated by 200 colour plates, outlines the broad historical trends and key developments and sets the monumental art of post-Reformation East Sussex into the broader national context. In addition, the catalogue entries may be studied in conjunction with a complete set of high resolution on-line photographs on the Society's web site at www.sussexrecordsociety.org. A complete index of artists and persons is also included.