Monumental brass

A firm of Flemish tomb-makers working near the Strand bought up old brasses from the dissolved monasteries to re-use (part of the original Latin burial inscription survives on the reverse). The brass was re-engraved in 1550 with the coat of arms of distinguished soldier Sir James Wilford, who died at Crutched Friars 'very weake, feeble and sicke in bodye'.

Part of a brass showing, on one side, the upper half of a shield with the arms of Wilford impaled (or combined) with Barrett dating from the mid-1500s and on the other, a palimpsest (a new engraving on the reused brass, from the Greek palin 'again', and psestos 'scraped') bearing a Latin inscription of the late 1400s. The inscription in black letters is extremely difficult to decipher. [/ ...(?) eius qui quondam Ric(a)[rd...] /is Septembris Anno ..../ meum ai(o)... ...etur d.../...]