Relhan Collection : 231 Isleham church. Brass to Thomas Peyton and 2 wives, 1484

Relhan, Richard, 1782-1844

Relhan Collection

<p style='text-align: justify;'><p>Before 1808</p><p>Drawn by S Lysons</p><p>Thomas Peyton of Wicken married first Margaret Bernard, daughter of Sir John Bernard and heiress to the major estate in Isleham 1438, and secondly Margaret Francis, also an heiress. Thomas and Margaret Bernard lived in Isleham and began considerable works to beautify the church, which were completed by their son Christopher Peyton, including a new clerestory and angel roof, dedicated to his parents. Late C15 work bears shields of the Peyton family. Their elaborate programme of works is thought to designed by John Wastell, architect of King's College Chapel, and completed 1494. The brass of the parents was on a tomb-chest but is displayed upright in 2020 and came from the London D workshop, usually more ornate than those from London B. Thomas Peyton, Sheriff of Cambs and Hunts, is in Gothic armour and the 2 wives are finely dressed with necklaces and low-cut necklines, Margaret Bernard in a Venetian brocade dress, Margaret Francis with deep fur trimming and a dress of rich but plainer fabric. Both wear elaborate butterfly headdresses. Thomas, bare-headed and clean-shaven, wears plate armour with elaborately scalloped elbow pieces and a long sword, standing with armoured feet on a small mound with a poppy at his feet. They stand beneath an elegant triple Gothic canopy and the figures are 52 cm high. There are several other memorials to the Bernard and Peyton families in the church. </p><p>Bradley and Pevsner 2014; Heseltine 1981; Lysons 1808; Lack et al1995; Rogers in Hicks 1997</p></p>