Layer Marney

Yesterday visited the Church with Italian-influenced terracotta & marble monuments to Lord Henry (d.1523) and his son John (d.1525) Marney. Pevsner described them as "Renaissance with a Gothic hangover". You can see what he means... not least in that the canopy over Lord Henry looks like its about to collapse! With steel-reinforcing rods being completely unknown to Tudor masons, whacking this bulky canopy on top of such a shallow arch took quite a bit of nerve I'd say!

Church is a delightful pre-reformation Tudor re-creation, the tombs show heavy Italian influence, and there's even a c.1520 wall-painting - where St Christopher is clearly meant to remind the viewer of Henry VIII (huge calves!) - which you don't see often. Could make an interesting project along lines of "The Tudor renovation/ornamentation of Layer Marney church (1520s) with particular reference to the tombs of Lord Henry and John Marney - a piece of Italy in Essex?".

Obviously I'd be going out on a limb here and a big issue would be a lack of literature specific to these monuments. With parish church fixtures, unless they are portable and have been exhibited, or the patron involved has been biographied, its pot-luck as to whether anyone has taken an interest. The former doesn't apply here, and the Marneys do not appear to have warranted their own place in the Tudor sun. Lord Henry is mentioned by David Starkey on pp.269-75, 349, 360 of his Henry: Virtuous Prince.... e.g "[Upon the accession of Henry VIII]... Henry Marney... was made vice-chamberlain and captain of the guard... ,chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, steward of the duchy of Cornwall etc..... It was an extraordinary accumulation of positions, which immediately turned Marney into one of the richest office-holders under the crown" (p.269-70). I think these Marney characters, lergley lost to the popular consciousness, would be much better known if our Tudor heritage wasn't (understandably enough) skewed towards the 1530s, Anne Boleyn, the Reformation etc.

Anyway, I will root around journal articles and church guides and see if anything comes up. Oh yes, the Layer Marney info. sheet suggests that a John Guldon of Hereford produced the effigy (if not the terracotta tomb chest/canopy). Something to follow up.....