Relhan Collection : 12 Balsham church. Brass of John de Sleford

Relhan, Richard, 1782-1844

Relhan Collection

<p style='text-align: justify;'><p>Drawn by S Lysons, copied by Relhan without surrounding inscription</p><p>1808</p><p>Holy Trinity was a valuable rectory, used to reward service to Ely or the Crown. John de Sleford (1330-1401), who held many other benefices, earned this perquisite as Master of the Wardrobe to Edward III and chaplain to Queen Philippa. He repaid the church well as he rebuilt much of the building in the later C14, including the nave, arcades, aisles, porch, chancel screen and 26 handsome stalls that are still in the chancel. His monumental brass is in this chancel and includes several angels, 2 of them carrying the soul as a naked figure in a sheet up to heaven, where God is waiting. Figures of saints ornament the borders of the processional cope, including an unusual Wilfred of Ripon, a personal touch representing de Sleford’s canonry there. Coats of arms include those of England, France, Holland, the See of Ely and Queen Philippa, to record his royal and ecclesiastical connections. The brass was ‘one of the finest brasses in the county’ for Heseltine and, together with another at Balsham, one of the 2 most magnificent brasses from the London Series B workshop according to Rogers. It probably dates to about 1390, ordered by de Sleford well before his death. The royal arms are those of Edward III impaling those of Philippa of Hainault.</p><p>Well-connected ecclesiastics, lacking wives and children, were free to choose their own memorials and ensure the craftsmen got it right, and it is fortunate that the exceptional brasses at Balsham and Fulbourn (156) have been preserved. De Sleford was able to spell out his importance on the national stage, his charity in improving the parish church, and his blissful afterlife in heaven.</p><p>Bradley and Pevsner 2014; Heseltine 1981; Lack et al 1995; Lysons 1808; Rogers in Hicks 1997; Ruck GAE 1939; VCH 1978</p></p>