CHURCHES of SUSSEX
Brass Rubbings of Sussex
Clapham - Shelley
Enshrined in a chancel enclosed by golden gates, lie three John Shelleys
and their people, ancestors of the immortal bearer of their name. There are
nobly remembered in brass and stone 37 of them, a magnificent collection of
three centuries.
The famous brass of Sir John Shelley and his wife is unique in Sussex for
its representation of the Trinity, showing the Almighty in a cope and triple
crown; but the brass is famous on its own account as one of the richest gems
of craftsmanship from 16th-century England. Sir John, who died in 1526, is
as handsome as a man could be even in that great day of pageantry. He wears
a richly embroidered tabard over his Tudor armour and his long hair falls
on his shoulders.
His wife Elizabeth has a rich mantle falling to her feet, embroidered with
heraldry, and he wears a delicately patterned headdress. The second Shelley
brass is to another John Shelley of 1550 with his wife and 12 children, she
wearing a long train; and another to John Shelley of 1580 with his only son,
and his wife with their only daughter.
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