Notes from the Archives: Medieval Brasses in St Mary Magdelene Church in Cobham
MEDIEVAL BRASSES IN ST MARY MAGDALENE CHURCH IN COBHAM
The Cobham Brasses in correspondence to John Gough Nichols F.S.A.
"I really think it will be a very fine restoration, all the ancient portions remaining intact and clearly discernible whilst the [lost] ensemble will shew [sic] one beautiful whole."
C. Spence, Dec. 1864
St Mary Magdalene Church in Cobham, Kent is known for its magnificent collection of medieval brasses of the Cobham family and the tomb of George Brooke, Lord Cobham and Anne Bray. Amazingly, the brasses and the tomb survived, although much damaged over the centuries and the sight we can enjoy today is the result of restorations undertaken first in the late 1830s and early 1840s and secondly, in the 1860s. The restoration was paid for by a descendant of the Brooke family, Francis C. Brooke. In the first phase of restoration the work was overseen by Charles Spence of the Admiralty and the research was done by John Gough Nichols, F.S.A. for George Hamnerton, who had previously worked on Rochester Cathedral, restored the monuments. In the second phase in the 1860s the restoration was undertaken by J.G. Waller, but still with the involvement of John Gough Nichols and Charles Spence.
The ongoing archive survey has found an interesting collection of 31 letters and other papers relating to the restoration project at Cobham Church in Box 17. These range from 1840 to 1866. The majority of letters were written by Charles Spence, Esq. of the Admiralty (1779-1868) to John Gough Nichols F.S.A. (1806-1873).
Charles Spence was a Clerk of 1st Class in the civil department of the Admiralty (Pay Office) and acquainted with Gough Nichols. In 1840-41 we find him in Rochester and Chatham and in 1844 he is in Devonport, where he gave a talk on Medieval Brasses, including the Cobham brasses, at the mechanics' institute. He wrote "A walk through Rochester Cathedral" in 1840 and a work on Romsey Abbey. In Archaeologia Cantiana (Vol. XII, 1878) Waller credits him with being the first to collect and arrange the fragments of the papers held on the Cobham brasses by the Society of Antiquaries, London.
Gough Nichols had intended to publish on the Cobham Brasses. In the Gentleman's Magazine 1841 it says that the monument is have been "...researched with intention to publish by Mr. John Gough Nichols F.S.A." The 1840-41 letters in Box 17 from Charles Spence urges Gough Nichols to publish on the Cobham Brasses. The publication never materialised. Papers relating to the Cobham Brasses held by the Society of Antiquaries contain a criticism of the engravings and this is often taken as being the reason. However, the collection of letters in Box 17 hints at scholarly disagreements between J.G. Waller and F.G. Brooke on one side and John Gough Nichols on the other and these may also be implicated in the decision not to publish. The plates were eventually published by F.C. Brooke, and J.G. Waller published accounts in Archaeologia Cantiana in 1877 and 1878 after the death of John Gough Nichols.
Gough Nichols' large collection of books as well as the archive of family papers was dispersed after his death in 1873. The Nichols Archive Project, undertaken by the University of Leicester, aims to catalogue the correspondence of the Nichols family held by various archives in order to aid the study of the social circle and intellectual pursuits of the time. The letters in Box 17 could potentially be of interest to those on the project who study the circle around the Gentleman's Magazine.
Pernille Richards
ABOVE: A memorandum from George Hamnerton, restorer in the 1830s and 40s.