Dennington, Suffolk, UK
Church of St Mary
Tomb of Baron William Bardolf and Lady Joan. Alabaster. Chapel of St Margaet, South aisle. Commissioned by Baron William around 1437, probably completed by 1447
Condition: the figures have suffered minor vandalism, but the colour of their robes has been restored discretely; figures have been removed from the now empty niches of the tomb chest
The tomb is set in St Margaret’s chapel, striking for its richly decorated parclose screen, mirrored in that of the chapel dedicated to the Virgin to the north. In 1437 Baron William established a chantry in the chapel, and in his will of 1438 arranged for his burial there. The tomb may have been in place by 1447, the date of Lady Joan’s will, in which she also arranged to be buried in the chapel.
The effigies are the best preserved of the pre-Reformation alabaster tombs in East Anglia
Baron William and Lady Joan recline with their hands clasped in prayer, looking up to heaven. Baron William rests his feet on the wings of an improbably duck-like eagle, while Lady Joan’s feet touch a fierce dragon, the emblem of St Margaret, to whom the chapel is dedicated. Baron William’s head is crowned by a chaplet and rests on his tilting helmet, while Lady Joan’s is on a pillow accompanied by two smaller angels. The effigies are well handled; the flow of her robes and tassels for the cloak are contrasted with the detail of his armour and gloves and both wear the SS livery collar, while he has the garter with the inscription ‘HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE’ on a blue ribbon on his left leg. The SS livery collar was not an insignia but a popular sign of allegiance, associated during the early fifteenth century with the House of Lancaster.
The splendour of the tomb reflects Baron Bardolf’s position; born William Phelip in 1383/4, on his mother’s side he was the grandson of the most powerful figure in East Anglia, Sir Thomas Erpingham, which, in the account in the ODNB, shaped his career.
Baron William had been lord of Dennington manor, which by the sixteenth century had passed to Sir Richard Wingfield, who sold it to Anthony Rous in 1538. There is a wall monument to Sir Thomas Rous (d.1619) kneeling in prayer opposite his wife on the south wall of the chapel, but by the mid seventeenth century Dennington Manor had been destroyed and Henham Hall, a large Tudor house built in 1538, which Anthony Rous had bought in 1548, became the seat of the Rous family (later ennobled as Earls of Stradbroke).
Richard and Sarah Cocke, The Public Sculpture of Norfolk and Suffolk, Liverpool University Press for the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association, 2013, pp.258-259
detail of Baron William Bardolf
Dennington, Suffolk, UK
Church of St Mary
Tomb of Baron William Bardolf and Lady Joan. Alabaster. Chapel of St Margaet, South aisle. Commissioned by Baron William around 1437, probably completed by 1447
Condition: the figures have suffered minor vandalism, but the colour of their robes has been restored discretely; figures have been removed from the now empty niches of the tomb chest
The tomb is set in St Margaret’s chapel, striking for its richly decorated parclose screen, mirrored in that of the chapel dedicated to the Virgin to the north. In 1437 Baron William established a chantry in the chapel, and in his will of 1438 arranged for his burial there. The tomb may have been in place by 1447, the date of Lady Joan’s will, in which she also arranged to be buried in the chapel.
The effigies are the best preserved of the pre-Reformation alabaster tombs in East Anglia
Baron William and Lady Joan recline with their hands clasped in prayer, looking up to heaven. Baron William rests his feet on the wings of an improbably duck-like eagle, while Lady Joan’s feet touch a fierce dragon, the emblem of St Margaret, to whom the chapel is dedicated. Baron William’s head is crowned by a chaplet and rests on his tilting helmet, while Lady Joan’s is on a pillow accompanied by two smaller angels. The effigies are well handled; the flow of her robes and tassels for the cloak are contrasted with the detail of his armour and gloves and both wear the SS livery collar, while he has the garter with the inscription ‘HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE’ on a blue ribbon on his left leg. The SS livery collar was not an insignia but a popular sign of allegiance, associated during the early fifteenth century with the House of Lancaster.
The splendour of the tomb reflects Baron Bardolf’s position; born William Phelip in 1383/4, on his mother’s side he was the grandson of the most powerful figure in East Anglia, Sir Thomas Erpingham, which, in the account in the ODNB, shaped his career.
Baron William had been lord of Dennington manor, which by the sixteenth century had passed to Sir Richard Wingfield, who sold it to Anthony Rous in 1538. There is a wall monument to Sir Thomas Rous (d.1619) kneeling in prayer opposite his wife on the south wall of the chapel, but by the mid seventeenth century Dennington Manor had been destroyed and Henham Hall, a large Tudor house built in 1538, which Anthony Rous had bought in 1548, became the seat of the Rous family (later ennobled as Earls of Stradbroke).
Richard and Sarah Cocke, The Public Sculpture of Norfolk and Suffolk, Liverpool University Press for the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association, 2013, pp.258-259
detail of Baron William Bardolf