A will in the Bodleian in Oxford links Comberford Hall with the Battle of Bosworth Field and Stanley family intrigues

Comberford Hall, east of Lichfield and north of Tamworth … William Stanley was living at Comberford when he made his will in 1552 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

I have been in Oxford three times in the space of six or seven weeks for medical tests, surgical procedures and hospital visits, with one overnight stay, and time too for walks by the river, Choral Evensong in Pusey House and browsing in the bookshops.

During some of those visits, I began thinking about the potential for resources in the Bodleian Archives and Manuscripts that might be important sources for my continuing research in genealogy and family history when I came across the will of William Stanley (1474-1552) of Comberford, Staffordshire, made in 1552.

William Stanley’s kinship with King Henry VII, although there was a 20-year age gap, is analagous to that of a third cousin: his father, Sir Humphrey Stanley of Pipe, near Lichfield, was a second cousin of Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby, who married the king’s mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort. William Stanley’s will is held the Bodleian Libraries as part of the Weld Family Papers, including deeds relating to the manors in Staffordshire held by the Stanley, Heveningham, Simeon, Weld and Eyre families, dating from 1293 to 1809.

This collection of papers in Oxford includes deeds, family papers, court rolls, list of charges and even an indulgence granted to Sir John Stanley by Michael Laskeis (?Laskaris), in return for a florin given to Laskeis to help him liberate his family at Constantinople in 1468. Among the wills in this collection in the Bodleian are two wills of Dame Ellen Stanley, widow of Sir Humphrey Stanley of Pipe, near Lichfield, dated 1516 and 1518, and the will of her son William Stanley of Comberford, between Lichfield and Tamworth, made in 1552.

The Bodleian Library, Oxford … a collection includes the wills of Dame Ellen Stanley, widow of Sir Humphrey Stanley of Pipe, near Lichfield, and her son William Stanley of Comberford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

I wondered why William Stanley was living at Comberford Hall, and how he was related to one of the most powerful political families in Staffordshire, who were among the kingmakers during the wars of succession now known as the ‘Wars of the Roses’.

The Stanley family rose to political prominence first in Lancashire and Cheshire through Sir John Stanley (I) (ca 1350-1414), a younger son of Sir William de Stanley of Stourton.

John Stanley married Isabel Lathom, despite the opposition of John of Gaunt, and as heiress she brought him great wealth. He was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland on three occasions (1386-1388, 1399-1401, 1413-1414), and was granted the Lordship of Mann or the Isle of Man by Henry IV in 1406, becoming titular King of Mann. He died on 6 June 1414 at Ardee, Co Louth, and was brought back to England and buried in Burscough Priory, Lancashire.

John Stanley and Isabel Lathom were the parents of both Sir John Stanley II (1386-1437), ancestor of the Earls of Derby, and Thomas Stanley (1392-1463), ancestor of the Stanleys of Elford and of William Stanley of Comberford Hall.

The Stanley coat-of-arms (left) in a stained glass window in the Chapter House, Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The eldest son, Sir John Stanley II (1386-1437), was also titular King of Mann. He died on 27 November 1437 in Anglesey, Wales, and was buried in Saint Oswald Churchyard, Winwick, Cheshire. He married Elizabeth Harrington and they were the parents of three sons and two daughters, including: Thomas Stanley (ca 1405-1459), 1st Baron Stanley; Richard Stanley, Archdeacon of Chester (1425–1433); and Edward Stanley, Archdeacon of Chester (1454-1462) – at the time, Chester was part of the Diocese of Lichfield or Coventry and Lichfield.

The eldest son of Sir John Stanley II, Sir Thomas Stanley (1405-1459), was the titular King of Mann, 1st Baron Stanley (1456) and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1431-1436). He died at Knowsley, Lancashire, on 20 February 1459 . John Stanley and Joan Goushill were the parents of three daughters and four sons, including: Thomas Stanley (1435-1504), 1st Earl of Derby; and James Stanley (1478-1485), who was also Archdeacon of Chester when it was still part of the Diocese of Lichfield.

The eldest surviving son, Thomas Stanley (1435-1504), was the 1st Earl of Derby and became the stepfather of King Henry VII. He was the last of the Stanleys to style himself King of Mann. His first wife, Lady Eleanor Neville, was a daughter of Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, a descendant of Edward III and a sister of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (‘Warwick the Kingmaker’), creating a powerful alliance with the House of York. In 1472, when the House of York was back on the throne, he married his second wife, the widowed Lady Margaret Beaufort (1443-1509), whose son, Henry Tudor, later became Henry VII.

Lady Margaret Beaufort married Thomas Stanley in 1472 and founded Christ’s College and Saint John’s College, Cambridge … her coat of arms at the gatehouse of Christ’s College (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

After the death of her second husband Sir Henry Stafford, Lady Margaret Beaufort married Thomas Stanley in 1472. She founded both Christ’s College and Saint John’s College in Cambridge, and gives her name to Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. She was a daughter of John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, and had previously married Edmund Tudor (1430-1456), 1st Earl of Richmond and half-brother of Henry VI, and then Sir Henry Stafford (1433-1471), son of the Duke of Buckingham.

Haselour Hall, one of the homes of the Stanley family in Staffordshire, became one of her homes too, and the house played a role in the War of the Roses. The house is within the boundaries of Lichfield District Council, 4.6 km from Comberford and from Comberford Hall, 12 km east of Lichfield and 8.3 km north of Tamworth. Haselour Hall is the house where Thomas Stanley’s son, the future Henry VII, is said to have spent the night before his decisive victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field.

Henry Tudor, then Earl of Richmond, is said to have spent a night at Haselour Hall, after slipping away from his march from Lichfield to the Battle of Bosworth Field with a small band of his guards before his decisive victory in 1485. While he was visiting his mother, Henry entreated Stanley, his step-father, to join him in battle against Richard III. Stanley, however, refused to choose sides, opting instead to remain neutral for a while longer before making clear his allegiance. This neutrality was so important to the Stanleys, that when Richard kidnapped one of Stanley’s sons to force him to join his ranks, Stanley replied laconically: ‘I have other sons.’

The Battle of Bosworth Field was the last significant battle in the War of the Roses. On the day of the battle, it is said that Stanley watched it unfold from afar, and when Henry defeated Richard III, Stanley rode down the hill from which he was watching, took the defeated king’s crown from his head and used it to crown Henry VII, only then pledging his allegiance to the new king. It was a decisive intervention that brought an end to the War of Roses and put the first of the Tudors on the throne of England.

Thomas Stanley died on 29 July 1504, and was buried in the family chapel in Burscough Priory. His descendants included the subsequent Earls of Derby. When Lady Margaret died on 29 June 1509, she was buried in Henry VII’s Chapel in Westminster Abbey.

Haselour Hall, one of the homes of the Stanley family in Staffordshire, played a role in the War of the Roses

Meanwhile, the second surviving son of Sir John Stanley who died in 1414 was Thomas Stanley (1392-1463) of Elford. He was Sheriff of Worcestershire, Leicestershire and Staffordshire, and MP for Staffordshire, and he was the ancestor of the Elford branch of the Stanley family, which continued until 1508.

Thomas Stanley acquired the Elford estates through his marriage to Matilda Arderne (1396-1423) of Elford. The most famous member of her family was Sir Thomas Arderne, who fought with the Black Prince at Crecy and Poitiers. Matilda and Thomas Stanley were the parents of a daughter and two sons: Anne Gresley, Sir John Stanley and George Stanley.

The younger son, George Stanley (ca 1440-1509) of Hammerwich, near Lichfield, High Sheriff of Staffordshire (1473), has been identified recently with the Stanley effigy in the South Choir Aisle in Lichfield Cathedral, despite its Victorian inscription.

Elford Hall, home of the Stanley family and their descendants, was demolished in 1964 (Photograph © Lost Heritage/Staffordshire Past Track)

The elder son, Sir John Stanley (1423-1474) of Elford, was married three times. He was first married in 1428 at the age of five and with a special church dispensation to Cecile de Arderne of Harden, and eventually the were the parents of a son, Sir John Stanley (1447-1508).

His second wife was Isabel Vernon (1427-1471), daughter of Sir Richard Vernon of Haddon, Speaker of the House of Commons, and they were the parents of three daughters and a son, Sir Humphrey Stanley (1452-1505) of Pipe. His third wife was Dulcia Leigh, and they were parents of a further son, Roger Stanley. When this Sir Thomas Stanley died in 1474, he was buried in Saint Peter’s Church, Elford, and his eldest son, also Sir John Stanley, succeeded to the Elford estates.

This eldest son, John Stanley (1447-1508) of Elford, is said to have joined his first cousin’s son Thomas Stanley (Lord Stanley) and Henry Tudor, the future Henry VII, at Haselour Hall on 21 August 1484 ahead of the Battle of Bosworth Field. Lord Stanley’s decisive intervention in the Battle of Bosworth the next day brought the first of the Tudor monarchs to the throne.

Local legend says John Stanley was the father of John Stanley, the last male heir of the Elford Stanleys, who was fatally injured ca 1460 by a tennis ball that severed his jugular vein. He is depicted in a monument in Saint Peter’s Church, Elford, that was completely restored in the Victorian period. The ‘Stanley boy’ has short hair and a simple robe, his left hand holds a round object, and his right touches the side of the face, while a Latin inscription on the plinth reads Ubi dolor ibi digitus (‘Where the pain is, there is the finger’).

The legend is retold by many local historians, including Sampson Erdeswicke (1603), William Wyrley and Thomas Pennant (1781). However, Sophie Oosterwijk has examined all the historical evidence and concludes the effigy is a post-mediaeval forgery and the unusual hand gestures may have been introduced by a 17th or 18th century forger to illustrate the legend even more convincingly.

Putting legends aside, John Stanley was the father of three daughters who eventually became co-heiresses to the Elford estates: Maud married Sir John Ferrers (1438-1484) of Tamworth Castle; Anne married Christopher Savage of Worcestershire; and Margery married William Staunton. Elford passed through the female line to William Staunton then to Richard Huddlestone, then to William Smythe and finally to Sir John Bowes.

This line of descent then continued in the Bowes, Howard and Paget families until the end of the 1930s. Henry Bowes Howard (1687-1757), 11th Earl of Suffolk and 4th Earl of Berkshire, built a new hall on the site of the old Elford Hall, ca 1720-1730. Elford Hall was finally demolished in 1964.

Pipe Hall near Lichfield … once home of the branch of the Stanley family that included William Stanley of Comberford Hall (Photograph © Pipe Green Trust)

Sir John Stanley (1423-1474) of Elford and his second wife Isabel Vernon (1427-1471) were also the parents of Sir Humphrey Stanley (ca 1452-1504), of Pipe Hall near Lichfield.

Sir Humphrey Stanley of Pipe Hall married Dame Ellen Lee, daughter of Sir James Lee of Stone, and they were the parents of four sons, John, William, Humphrey and George, and two daughters, Maud (Wolverston) and Alice (Swinnerton).

Sir Humphrey Stanley died on 12 March 1504 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. But antiquarians in the 18th century mistakenly identified him with the Stanley effigy in the south choir aisle in Lichfield Cathedral. His widow, as Dame Ellen Stanley, widow of made two wills, dated 1516 and 1518, that are in the collection of papers in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, that includes the will of her son William Stanley (1474-1552), who lived at Comberford Hall.

Their eldest son, Sir John Stanley of the Pipe Hall near Lichfield, married Margaret Gerard, daughter of Sir Thomas Gerard, and they were the parents of two daughter and co-heiresses: Isabel, who married Walter Moyle of Kent, and was the mother of an only daughter Mary, who married Erasmus Heveningham; and Elizabeth, who married Sir John Hercy of Grove, Nottinghamshire.

The Stanley effigy in the south choir aisle in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A brass plate in the niche above the Stanley effigy in the South Choir Aisle in Lichfield Cathedral has long identified it as the tomb of John Stanley, son of Sir Humphrey Stanley of Pipe. But this appears to be a Victorian addition and so is not conclusive evidence of the effigy’s subject.

William Stanley (1474-1552), who lived at Comberford Hall, was the second son of Sir Humphrey Stanley of Pipe Hall and Dame Ellen Lee. He was born in Morpeth, Northumberland, in 1474, and he married the much younger Margaret Comberford (1494-1568), daughter of Thomas Comberford of Comberford and Dorothy FitzHerbert. She was a sister of Humphrey Comberford, of Comberford Hall and Master of the Guild of Saint Mary and Saint John the Baptist in 1530; Richard Comberford, putative ancestor of the Comerfords of Kilkenny and Wexford; Henry Comberford, Precentor of Lichfield Cathedral; and John Comberford of Wednesbury.

How did William Stanley come to live at Comberford Hall in the 1550s? He was then in his mid-70s and I can only speculate that this is because his eldest brother-in-law was living at on the Northamptonshire estates at Watford, Stoke Bruerne and Shutlanger inherited from the Parles family; the next brother, Canon Henry Comberford, was heavily involved in Church life; Richard may have died by then; and John was living on the family’s estates in Wednesbury.

William Stanley and Margaret Comberford had probably married late in life, when he was in his late 50s and she was in her 30s. They were the parents of an only daughter Dorothy.

Dorothy Stanley (1530-1587), who married her cousin Christopher Heveningham (1540-1574), daughter of Mary Moyle and Erasmus Heveningham. Dorothy and Christopher were the parents of Dorothy Heveningham and Sir Walter Heveningham, of Aston and Pipe, and the descendants of these lines of the Stanley and Comberford families continued to live in the Lichfield area for many generations.

But this is a story that involves continuous litigation, lost fortunes, and economic decline. And that is, indeed, a story for another day.

As an aside that brings me back to those recent visits to Oxford, the crest in the Stanley coat of arms gave rise to the popularity of the Eagle and Child as the name for public houses in England, often in former manors once held by the Stanley family. They include the Eagle and Child on St Giles in Oxford, currently undergoing extensive refurbishment. It is known for its literary associations and is affectionately dubbed ‘the Bird and Baby’.

The Eagle and Child on St Giles in Oxford, currently undergoing extensive refurbishment (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Saint Mary de Castro, a 900-year-old church within the precincts of Leicester Castle

Saint Mary de Castro Church in Leicester is a 900-year-old parish church within the precincts of Leicester Castle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

Saint Mary de Castro is a 900-year-old parish church in a beautiful quiet location within the precinct of Leicester Castle, and I managed to visit it twice during my visits to Leicester within the past two weeks. At the far end of the churchyard, a section of the mediaeval wall separates the castle from the Newarke. It stands on the course of the old Roman city wall of Leicester.

The name Saint Mary de Castro means Saint Mary of the Castle, and the name differentiates the church from the nearby Saint Mary de Pratis or Saint Mary of the Meadows, also known as the monastic church of Leicester Abbey. The unusual church name in Leicester also reminded me of the name of Castro Petre Church, the Church of Ireland parish church on a hill at the west end in Edenderry, Co Offaly, in the Diocese of Kildare.

Saint Mary de Castro was closed for some time after the spire was found to be unsafe and was taken down about 10 years. But the church is open to the public again, and there are regular Sunday and mid-week services.

Saint Mary de Castro dates from 1107, when it was founded as a chapel for the castle after King Henry I granted the lands and castle to Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester.

Saint Mary de Castro dates from 1107, but may stand on the site of an earlier Anglo-Saxon church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The chronicler Henry Knighton implies that an Anglo-Saxon college of Saint Mary had existed and that Robert merely refurbished it. Local tradition suggests the earlier church on the site long was founded by Æthelflæd, daughter of Alfred the Great.

Æthelflæd, also known as ‘Lady of the Mercians’, ruled the kingdom of Mercia and helped free the East Midlands from Danish occupation. Today she may be ‘England’s forgotten Queen,’ but she was a formidable leader in a shadowy history of the dark ages, and in Tamworth she is celebrated in sculptures, statues and stained-glass windows.

Robert de Beaumont established the church within the castle bailey as a collegiate church served by a dean and a college of 12 canons. The church was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and All Souls and he provided a chantry chapel for prayers for the souls of William the Conqueror, his queen Matilda, William II, Henry II and his wife and children, and Beaumont’s own family and relatives. To support the college, he granted the revenues of All Saints’ Church, Saint Peter’s, and other nearby churches and land in the Leicester area.

Robet’s son, Robert le Bossu, 2nd Earl of Leicester, transferred all these endowments to the new Augustinian foundation of Leicester Abbey in 1143. The collegiate church retained its dean, six clerks or priests and a chaplain, along with Robert’s grant of 20 shillings for lamps in the church, as well as parish offerings and most of the tithes.

Saint Mary de Castro Church was closed for a time ten years ago as the spire was carefully removed and put into storage (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The church has been much altered over the centuries, but some early features survive, including Norman doorways, a 13th century font, a sedilia and a piscina. The tower was built in the 13th century and a spire was added in the 15th century.

The richly carved 13th century font has small heads and winged figures decorating the bowl. There are some exceptional mediaeval carvings on the chancel arcade, and a Roman carved stone is set into the west wall of the church. The timber roof is 16th century and was restored in the Victorian period.

The church exterior has a number of grotesquely carved heads that look out over the large churchyard, said to be the oldest continuously used open space in Leicester city centre.

The richly carved 13th century font has small heads and winged figures decorating the bowl (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The early 12th century church had no aisles, and parts of its walls survive. It had a major expansion in the 1160, with a north aisle, doorways to the north and west, and an extension to the chancel. The two doorways on the north side and at the west end of the north aisle provide striking external Norman zig-zag decoration. The architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner describes the sedilia and piscina in the chancel extension as ‘the finest piece of Norman decoration in the county.’

The 13th century alterations culminated in a major reworking of the transepts and the south aisle to create an aisle wider than the nave, providing more space for local parishioners. The mediaeval Saint Mary’s was two churches at once, side by side: one served the castle, the other served the people of the town. This dual-purpose arrangement did not last, though, and eventually the two congregations were combined.

The legacy of the dual-church means the south aisle is extraordinarily wide, because it originally served as a nave. The large east window in the south aisle, with intricate tracery, was created around 1300. The tower was built inside the south aisle, apparently as an afterthought, rising to a quatrefoil frieze, four decorated pinnacles, and with a needle-like spire rising from the battlements.

The chancel at the east end of the north side of the church … note the sedilia and the piscina to the the right, reagrded by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as ‘the finest piece of Norman decoration in the county’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Geoffrey Chaucer, author of the Canterbury Tales, is said to have married his second wife Philippa Roet in the church in 1366. She was a lady-in-waiting to Edward III’s queen, Philippa of Hainault, and a sister of Katherine Swynford, later the third wife of Chaucer’s friend and patron, Prince John of Gaunt, who kept Leicester Castle as one of his residences.

The infant king Henry VI, when he was a five-year old, was knighted in the church on the Day of Pentecost 1426 by his uncle, John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford and the Regent of France. The child king then proceeded to dub a further 44 knights that same day, the first being 15-year-old Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, father of Richard III.

At the time, the Parliament of Bats was meeting at the castle. Tensions were high at the time and members of parliament were banned from bringing swords with them, and so brought bats instead.

The east end of the south aisle … some historians suggest Richard III prayed in the church the day before setting off for the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

It is suggested by some historians that Richard III may have prayed in the church the day before setting off for the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.

The collegiate status of the church lasted until the college was abolished in 1548 under the Chantry Act of Edward VI during the Tudor Reformation.

The meeting in which the Town Council of Leicester resolved to hold the town against the forces of Prince Rupert in 1645 was held in Saint Mary’s. Both Crown and Parliament forces stabled their horses in the church during the Civil War.

William Bickerstaffe (1728-1789), a charitable local schoolmaster and antiquarian, was baptised, buried and held a seven-year curacy at the church.

The doorways on the north side (above) and at the west end of the north aisle (below) are striking examples of Norman zig-zag decoration (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The church spire was completely rebuilt in 1783, but retained its crockets and three tiers of lucarnes.

The architect Sir Gilbert Scott designed three Victorian arches in 1852 to replace the unstable large brick arch built in 1800 allowing for a better view of the preacher in the pulpit. The south aisle roof was extensively repaired in the 1930s and is the widest single span timber roof of its kind in England.

The church had to close for a time about 10 years ago when the spire was found to be unsafe. The 14th century octagonal spire, which was rebuilt in 1783, had developed cracks six-metres long in four of its faces in September 2013. Structural engineers who inspected the spire agreed it was at risk of collapse.

While the church was closed in 2014, the spire was carefully removed and put into storage. But current funds are insufficient to rebuild the spire and to repair the tower.

The church has a three manual pipe organ that was originally installed in 1860 by Forster and Andrews in 1860. It was modified and restored by Joshua Porritt in 1880 and by RJ Winn in 1960.

Castle House, a landmark building beside Saint Mary de Castro Church, was sold in recent weeks (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Castle House, a landmark building beside Saint Mary de Castro Church and the site of Leicester Castle, was sold in recent weeks with an asking price of £800,000. It is made up of two principal buildings – a 15th century timber-framed gatehouse and an 18th century two-storey Georgian house.

Both houses are inter-connected, and until recently they were used as a residence for visiting High Court judges. Castle House was described as having a series of reception and dining rooms, 12 bedrooms, 11 bathrooms and seven WCs, as well as a converted coach house with two bedrooms and bathroom.

Local reports say Castle House is expected to be converted into a restaurant or boutique hotel.

• Sung Mass is on Sundays Saint Mary de Castro at 11 am, with a Said Mass (BCP) at 11 on Wednesdays. The church is open on Sundays, 10 am to 1 pm, and Wednesdays, 10:30 to 12 noon; the church is also open on Monday, 11 am to 12:30; Tuesday and Thursday, 12 noon to 2 pm; Friday and Saturday, 12 noon to 4 pm.

Thee east end of Saint Mary de Castro … the church is open during Mass on Sundays and Wednesdays and at other times during the week (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

There is more to see in Leicester Cathedral apart from the tomb of King Richard III

Leicester Cathedral … the 220-ft spire was added in 1862 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

Ever since I was in Leicester 13 years ago for an intensive course on interfaith dialogue at Saint Philip Centre’s, I had promised to return to see Leicester Cathedral and some of the other places I had missed back in 2011.

I finally returned last week, and visited Leicester Cathedral, the Roman ruins, sites associated with the mediaeval Jewish community, the castle, the Guildhall, some city centre churches – and some good coffee shops.

Leicester Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of Saint Martin, is near the centre of the mediaeval old town and is best-known today as the burial place of King Richard III. Over 100,000 people visit Leicester Cathedral every year, mainly to see the tomb of the last English monarch to die in battle.

Leicester Cathedral has been a cathedral since 1927, following the formation of a new Diocese of Leicester the previous year. In terms of size, it is the fifth smallest cathedral in the Church of England – smaller than Christ Church, Oxford, but bigger than the cathedrals in Birmingham, Chelmsford, Carlisle and Derby.

Over 100,000 people visit Leicester Cathedral every year, mainly to see the tomb of Richard III, the last English monarch to die in battle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The Middle Angles had a bishopric in 680 and the Anglo-Saxon cathedral may have stood close to or on the site of the present cathedral in Leicester.

The original diocese collapsed during the invasion by the Danes ca 870. After the establishment of the Danelaw in 886, the seat of the diocese was moved to Dorchester in Oxfordshire and became the Diocese of Dorchester.

The see later moved to Lincoln in 1072 under King William I and became the Diocese of Lincoln. At the Tudor Reformation, the Diocese of Lincoln was divided in three. In 1539 A new cathedral planned in 1539 was never built, and Peterborough became the seat of a new diocese.

The 19th century suffragan bishops of Leicester were part of the Diocese of Peterborough until the Diocese of Leicester was formed in 1926 from the archdeaconries of Leicester and Loughborough and part of the Archdeaconry of Northampton, and Saint Martin’s Church, Leicester, became the cathedral of the new see.

Seven figures in sandstone niches on the south porch or ‘Vaughan Porch’ illustrate the story of the diocese and the cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The south porch or ‘Vaughan Porch’ is currently closed off to visitors during renovations and building work. But I reyrned to Leicester earlier this week (20 May 2025) to see the seven figures in sandstone niches on the south porch who embody the story of the diocese and the cathedral (from left):

• Saint Guthlac (ca 673-713) from Lincolnshire lived when Leicester first became a diocese in 680.

• Hugh of Lincoln (ca 1135-1200) rebuilt Lincoln Cathedral in 1185, when Leicester was in the Diocese of Lincoln.

• Robert Grosseteste (ca 1175-1253), Bishop of Lincoln, was also Archdeacon of Leicester. He provided support for Simon de Montfort’s antisemitic rhetoric at a time when the Jewish community was forcibly driven out of Leicester.

• John Wycliffe (ca 1329-1384) was an early translator of the Bible into English before the Reformation.

• Henry Hastings (ca 1535-1595), 3rd Earl of Huntingdon – Mary Queen of Scots was a prisoner in his home in Lord’s Place off the High Street, Leicester, on her journey to Coventry.

• William Chillingworth (1602-1643) was an Oxford theologian, a friend of Jeremy Taylor and a nephew of Archbishop William Laud; he was Master of Wyggeston Hospital beside the cathedral, and a chaplain to the royalist army in the Civil War.

• William Connor Magee (1821-1891) was born in Cork, was a former Dean of Cork and later became Archbishop of York. As Bishop of Peterborough, Leicester was in his diocese, and he encouraged building many churches and schools in Victorian Leicester. He appointed the first suffragan Bishop of Leicester, Francis Thichnesse, in 1888.

Inside Leicester Cathedral, one of the smallest cathedrals in the Church of England (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Leicester Cathedral has a large nave and chancel with two chancel chapels, and a 220-ft spire that was added in 1862. The building has seen many restoration projects over the centuries, including work by the Victorian architect John Raphael Rodrigues Brandon (1817-1877), and the building appears largely Gothic in style today.

Saint Martin’s Church was built on the site of Roman ruins. Archaeological discoveries show evidence of a Roman building on the site, with many believing it was the site of a Roman temple.

The church is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, a fourth century Roman officer who became a bishop. It is almost certainly one of six churches in Leicester referred to in the Domesday Book (1086), when the older Anglo-Saxon church was replaced by a Norman one.

Parts of the present church can be traced to a 12th century Norman church that was rebuilt in the 13th and 15th centuries. In the Middle Ages, its site next to the Guild Hall made Saint Martin’s the civic church of Leicester, with strong ties to the merchants and guilds of the town.

Much of the present building is predominantly Victorian, including the tower, completed in 1862, and the 220-ft spire added in 1867. This Victorian work by the architect Raphael Brandon is in the Early English style, although his work in other parts of the church is in the perpendicular style.

The architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner says the tower and spire are ‘intentionally impressive’ and loosely based on the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin at Ketton in Rutland.

The East Window in Leicester Cathedral was designed by Christopher Whall (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Saint Martin’s was dedicated as Leicester’s Cathedral in 1927 with the formation of the Diocese of Leicester, over 1,000 years after the last Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Leicester fled from the invading Danes.

The tower and spire were restored both internally and externally in 2004-2005. The main work was to clean and replace any weak stonework with replacement stone quarried from the Tyne Valley.

The Vaughan Porch on the south side of the cathedral was designed by JL Pearson, who was also the architect of Truro Cathedral. It is named the Vaughan Porch because it was erected in memory of the Vaughans who served successively as vicars of Saint Martin’s throughout much of the 19th century.

Saint Katharine’s Chapel on north side of the chancel in Leicester Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The cathedral has four separate chapels, one dedicated to Chapel of Christ the King and three dedicated to different saints.

The new Chapel of Christ the King, with the Great East Window, was created at the east end of the cathedral in the former chancel as part of re-ordering the cathedral for the burial of Richard III.

The East Window, a monument to the dead of World War I, features unusual but beautiful colours of stained glass designed by Christopher Whall. Christ the King sits enthroned, with one hand raised in blessing and the other holding a starry orb, his feet resting on the earth or creation.

Surrounding the figure of Christ are eight angels with wings made from a red glass. To the left and right stand Saint George and Saint Michael the Archangel, each standing on a vanquished dragon.

The bottom row depicts the deposition from the cross in the three centre panels, with Saint Joan of Arc and Saint Martin of Tours in the side panels.

The large wooden screen separating the nave from the chancel was designed by Charles Nicholson and carved by Bowman of Stamford. The screen was moved eastward in 2015 to stand in front of the tomb of Richard III, as part of the reordering of the chancel by van Heyningen and Haward Architects.

Saint Dunstan’s Chapel on the south side of the chancel in Leicester Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Saint Katharine’s Chapel is on the north side of the east end of the cathedral, to the left of the sanctuary. Saint Katharine of Alexandria is depicted in the window above the altar. The carved panel below shows the Crucified Christ with the Virgin Mary and Saint John.

Saint Francis of Assisi and the 17th-century poet Robert Herrick are also depicted in the chapel – the chapel is sometimes referred to as the ‘Herrick Chapel’.

The two Redemption windows (2016) in the chapel, designed by Thomas Denny, tell stories from the life of Richard III.

Saint Dunstan’s Chapel, to the south of the chancel, is set aside for prayer and the reserved sacrament. Saint Dunstan was Archbishop of Canterbury in the 10th century, and scenes from his life are depicted in the south-east window.

Saint George’s Chapel at the west end of the cathedral is enclosed by a carved wooden screen. It was the chapel of the Guild of Saint George. An effigy of Saint George was kept here and borne through the streets on 23 April in an annual procession. The chapel was rebuilt in 1921 with memorials to the Royal Leicestershire Regiment.

The tomb of Richard III in Leicester Cathedral was designed by van Heyningen and Haward architects and made by James Elliott (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Richard III was killed in 1485 at the Battle of Bosworth Field in Leicestershire and was buried hastily, with little ceremony, in the Greyfriars, Leicester. Leicester City Council, the University of Leicester, and the Richard III Society, inspired by the work of Philippa Langley, began a search for his remains at a car park in August 2012. His remains were exhumed and following DNA testing were confirmed in February 2013.

Meanwhile, the cathedral completed a redesign of its gardens in July 2014, including installation of the 1980 statue of Richard III, and plans were made to reinter him in a new tomb, with a wider reordering of the cathedral interior.

After five days of commemorative events, Richard III was reburied in Leicester Cathedral on 26 March 2015 at a service conducted by Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury and the Irish-born Dean of Leicester, the Very Revd David Monteith. The last previous burial of an English monarch was of the Duke of Windsor (Edward VIII) in 1972.

The lead ossuary is inside an English oak coffin crafted by Michael Ibsen, a direct descendant of Richard III’s sister, Anne of York. The coffin lies in a brick-lined vault below the floor, under the plinth and tombstone.

The tomb was designed by van Heyningen and Haward architects and made by James Elliott. The tombstone features a cross deeply incised into a single block of Swaledale fossil stone quarried in North Yorkshire. It rests on a low plinth of dark Kilkenny limestone, incised with Richard’s name, dates and motto, carved by Gary Breeze and Stuart Buckle, and with his coat of arms in pietra dura by Thomas Greenaway.

Inside Leicester Cathedral, facing west (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The cathedral also has a set of 14th century wooden carved figures, each ‘afflicted’ with some kind of illness. One has a medieval hearing aid, while another is suffering from sore shoulders.

The cathedral has close links with Leicester Grammar School which once stood beside it. After the school moved to Great Glen, seven miles south of Leicester, the site was refurbished extensively, and the cathedral offices moved into Saint Martin’s House in 2011.

In 2021, Leicester Cathedral Revealed embarked on a project to transform the cathedral and to ensure a more sustaining and welcome future, making the cathedral fully accessible and building a space for heritage and learning.

The 1980 statue of Richard III in the gardens on the south side of Leicester Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The Very Revd Frederick MacNutt (1873-1949), who was born to Irish parents, was the first Provost of Leicester Cathedral (1927-1934), and also Archdeacon of Leicester (1921-1938). He was later a canon of Canterbury Cathedral (1938-1948).

The Very Revd Viv Faull was the first Dean of Leicester after the post was renamed in 2002. She was also the first woman dean in the Church of England. She became Dean of York Minster in 2012, and she has been the Bishop of Bristol since 2018. The present Dean of Canterbury, the Very Revd David Monteith, who was born in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, was the the Dean of Leicester in 2013-2022. The present Dean of Leicester, the Very Revd Karen Rooms, was installed earlier this year (9 March 2024).

Canon Alison Adams is Canon Pastor; Canon Emma Davies is Canon Precentor; Christopher Ouvry-Johns is Director of Music; and Rosie Vinter is Assistant Director of Music and Head of Music Outreach.

The organ in Leicester Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The cathedral choir joins the choirs of Derby Cathedral, Coventry Cathedral and Southwell Minster in the Midlands Four Choirs Festival each year. The present organ was installed by JW Walker & Sons Ltd in 1873 and was rebuilt by Harrison and Harrison in 1929 and 1972.

The cathedral tower has 13 bells, including a peal of 12. These are heard on Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings, with peals being rung on special days.

• Leicester Cathedral is open daily. The Cathedral Eucharist is celebrated on Sundays at 10:30, with Evening Prayer or Choral Evensong at 3:30. During the week, the Eucharist is celebrated at 8:30 on Mondays and at 12:30 Tuesday to Friday.

Leicester Cathedral reflected in the windows of BBC Radio Leicester (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The Lamport Crucifix: 50 Years of the Lamport Hall Preservation Trust

The Lamport Crucifix … on loan from Peterborough Cathedral in the exhibition marking 50 Years of the Lamport Hall Preservation Trust (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

‘50 Years: Take A Step Back In Time’ is an exhibition in Lamport Hall, Northamptonshire, celebrating 50 years of the Lamport Hall Preservation Trust, set up by Sir Gyles Isham in 1974.

This specially curated exhibition marks the 50th anniversary of Lamport Hall Preservation, and tells the story of the trust. The exhibition on the ground floor of the house is open from April to October.

I was invited to opening of the exhibition last Saturday evening (27 April 2024). As part of the exhibition, Catriona Finlayson and Nathan Carter Smith have produced a 100-page catalogue, for which I was invited to write this contribution on the Lamport Crucifix:

The Lamport Crucifix

Patrick Comerford

A processional cross or crucifix which is carried in Christian processions, both in church and in outdoor processions. For Christians, the Cross is the symbol of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Most churches are expected to own a processional cross, and the style and use depends on the denomination of the church, for example, with Roman Catholics and High Church Anglicans the processional cross will usually be a crucifix, whereas in Nonconformist Protestant parishes, it is likely to be an empty cross.

In some churches the processional cross is brought to the Communion Table or Chancel by a crucifer at the beginning of the service and placed on the Communion Table where it acts as an Altar cross, whereas in other churches the processional cross and the Altar cross are two separate crosses.

It is believed the cross was buried during the Dissolution of the Monasteries which saw the mass destruction of Catholic iconography. The Cross dates from circa 1475 and was found when alterations were made to the dairy [at Lamport Hall] in 1674.

It was preserved by the [Isham] family until 1905, when Sir Vere [Isham] presented it to the parish of Lamport in thanksgiving for his recovery from illness earlier that year.

At some point the cross was moved to Peterborough Cathedral for safekeeping. The exact note is not known, but it has been on display there for several decades.

The Lamport Crucifix measures 609 mm x 515 mm and is quite similar in design and size to the Bosworth Crucifix. The Bosworth Crucifix was first discovered in 1778 and was said to have been found on the field of Bosworth – the famous site of the battle between Richard III and Henry VII that decided the Wars of the Roses. The cross was carried by Richard’s supporters but was lost during the fierce battle.

The Lamport Crucifix bears some resemblance to the famous piece. However, it is more complete, with its two lower branches still intact, preserving the side figures of the Virgin Mary and Saint John. Jesus on the Cross has his head inclined towards the right shoulder. The Lamport Crucifix has enamelled strips forming the body of the cross and its Corpus may have been silver rather than gilded.

The rare 15th century cross is very reminiscent of the Bosworth Crucifix, once owned by the Comerford family and now in the collection of the Society of Antiquaries in London and a processional cross now in the Hunt Museum in Limerick.

The third cross is a similar 15th century English processional cross. It bears a remarkable resemblance to the Bosworth Crucifix and the Lamport Crucifix. This processional crucifix is dated ca 1450, is made of bronze, and is mounted on a modern wooden base.

Processional crosses of this type were made in large numbers and were exported from England. There are numerous examples from Ireland, and the finest example is said to be the Ballylongford Cross, made in 1479. The processional cross in the Hunt Museum was bought at auction in Christies in 1961 by John Hunt for £130.

It gives us great pleasure to be able to display this cross at Lamport again and it felt fitting to present it in the room which Sir Gyles [Isham] used as his chapel after his conversion to Catholicism.

Reverend Patrick Comerford is a priest in the Church of Ireland and has been a Lecturer in Anglicanism, Liturgy and Church History in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the University of Dublin (Trinity College Dublin). He writes an excellent blog on travel, local history and architecture

• ‘The Lamport Crucifix’, in: Catriona Finlayson (ed), 50 Years of the Lamport Hall Preservation Trust (Lamport, Northamptonshire, 2024, 100 pp), pp 54-57

Comberford family links with Coventry date back over 600 years to 1414

The ruins of Whitefriars in Coventry … endowed by John Comberford in his will in 1414 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Patrick Comerford

During my ‘field trip’ to Coventry, I visited both Holy Trinity Church and the former Carmelite monastic house at Whitefriars. Both reminded me of the extensive links of the Comberford family with Coventry, dating back more than 600 years to 1414.

John de Comberford, who was Lord of Comberford ca 1350-1414, also held extensive estates in Hopwas, between Lichfield and Tamworth, and owned property on Lichfield Street, Tamworth, that may have been the site of the later Moat House.

In his will in 1414, as John Comberford of Tamworth, his bequest included 3 shillings to the high altar in Saint Editha’s Collegiate Church in Tamworth, 1s 6d to the Holy Trinity altar, and 6d to each of the other altars in the church. He also left 10 shillings for masses to the Carmelites of Coventry and 10 shillings to the Franciscan mendicant friary in Lichfield.

The Carmelite Friary in Coventry was built in 1342 and was commonly known as the Whitefriars.

The surviving sandstone building, close to the Whitefriars Ringway and the campus of Coventry University, was once part of a much larger complex. It contains the one surviving side of the friary’s cloister on the ground floor, while upstairs is the former dormitory where the friars slept.

Part of the foundations of the friary church are still visible on the site. The church was 96 metres long and much of the site now lies under the ring road. The friary survived almost 200 years but it was closed in 1538 with the dissolution of the monastic houses during the Tudor Reformation.

Whitefriars was closed in 1538 with the dissolution of the monastic houses during the Tudor Reformation (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

John Hales (1516-1572) bought the former Whitefriars in Coventry from Sir Ralph Sadler in 1544 for £83 12s 6d. Hales converted part of the Whitefriars into a residence, Hales Place, and set up a free grammar school in what had been the choir. In 1545 he was granted licence to establish the free school as King Henry VIII School in the former Saint John’s Hospital in Coventry.

During Hale’s exile in the reign of Mary Tudor, Coventry Corporation moved the school from Whitefriars church to the former Hospital of Saint John the Baptist and claimed the church as a parish church.

Queen Elizabeth I made her one and only visit to Coventry in 1555, staying for two days at Whitefriars with John Hales, and she described it as a ‘fine house.’ Mary Queen of Scots was held in Coventry on Elizabeth’s orders between 25 November 1569 and 2 January 1570, and spent part of that time in Whitefriars.

The surviving building remained a house until 1801, when it became Coventry’s workhouse. It became a Salvation Army hostel in 1948 and later was part of the Herbert Museum in the 1960s.

The museum closed in the early 1990s due to spending cuts, and is no longer open to the public. The Grade II listed Whitefriars Ale House nearby is named after the monastery and was once within its boundaries.

Whitefriars Inn is named after the monastery and was once within its boundaries (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

John Comberford’s brother, Richard Comberford, was the grandfather of Judge William Comberford (ca 1403/1410-1472), the first member of the family to attain national importance.

He was a judge, MP for Newcastle under Lyme, and an important landowner in south Staffordshire in the mid-15th century, with land in Comberford, Wigginton and Tamworth, and a members of the Guild of Saint Mary and Saint John in Lichfield (1469).

William Comberford and John Cateby were asked in 1472-1473 to arbitrate in a dispute between the Mayor and Corporation of Coventry and William Briscowe or Bristowe over rights to the lands and common pasture at Whitley Manor and Whitley Common near Coventry. The dispute was ‘contended fiercely and bitterly’ and led to ‘angry words and blows, public riot and costly litigation.’

The Archdeacon’s Court in the north-west corner of Holy Trinity Church, Coventry (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

William Comberford’s grandson, Henry Comberford, may also have been Archdeacon of Coventry (ca 1558 to 1559) in the Diocese of Lichfield, although this is disputed. At the same time, Henry Comberford was the Precentor of Lichfield from 1555 until he was deprived of all his church offices in 1559.

Henry Comberford was preceded as Archdeacon of Coventry from 1509 by Ralph Colyngwood, afterwards Dean of Lichfield, and from 1512 by John Blythe, who died in 1558.

During this time, the ‘Coventry Carol’ was first written down in 1534. This maternal lament for soon-to-be-slaughtered babies was originally part of a mediaeval mystery plays, performed annually in Coventry from the late 12th century until the Coventry plays were supressed in 1579.

The Archdeacon’s Court in the north-west corner of Holy Trinity Church, Coventry, was the court of the Archdeacons of Coventry from some time before 1350. It was used as an ecclesiastical court and was set aside for dispensing ecclesiastical justice.

The memorials in the Archdeacon’s Court include a mediaeval memorial to a member of the Morton family. The memorial is decorated with a rebus, or symbolic pun on the name Morton.

The exhibits in the Archdeacon’s Court include a copy of the Bishop’s Bible, published in 1568 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

The exhibits in the Archdeacon’s Court include a copy of the Bishop’s Bible, published in 1568. This was one of the first Bibles in English, so that all could hear it in their own language. The Bishop’s Bible was sent to significant churches across the land, and Holy Trinity Church in Coventry was one of these churches. The cover of the Bible may have damaged in a fire in the north porch, but the Bible is virtually perfect inside.

Payment was made in 1589 ‘for making the seate for the Bishoppe in the Consistorie’ or Archdeacon’s Court in Holy Trinity Church.

One of the windows in the Archdeacon’s Court contains fragments of the Godiva Window, which had been destroyed during the Reformation. This stained glass panel with fragments of mediaeval glass survived the bombing of Coventry in 1940.

Fragments of the Godiva Window, destroyed during the Reformation, in a window in the Archdeacon’s Court (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Henry Comberford was succeeded as Archdeacon of Coventry in 1560 by Thomas Lever (1521-1577), a reformer and one of the founding Puritans who lived in exile during the reign of Mary Tudor.

Thomas Lever studied at Saint John’s College, Cambridge, (BA 1542, Fellow 1543, MA 1545). His time at Saint John’s overlapped with three Comberford brothers: Henry Comberford (BA 1533, MA 1536, BD 1545), his predecessor as Archdeacon of Coventry and a fellow of Saint John’s; Richard Comberford, the putative ancestor of the Irish branch of the family, who was a fellow (1534; MA 1537) and Senior Bursar (1542-1544) of Saint John’s; and Humphrey Comberford, who was also a student at Saint John’s (BA 1525, MA 1528).

At Saint John’s College, Thomas Lever was a leading figure in the theological disputes of the day in Cambridge from 1547. He preached before Edward VI in 1550, and was the Master of Saint John’s in 1551-1553.

Lever was among the Reformers who went into exile in Zurich in 1553, where he became friends with Heinrich Bullinger. He also visited Geneva to hear John Calvin lecture. When Lever returned to England, he succeeded Henry Comberford as Archdeacon of Coventry from 1559.

A mediaeval memorial to a member of the Morton family in the Archdeacon’s Court (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

A later family link with Coventry is found in ‘The Bosworth Crucifix,’ which once belonged to the Victorian book collector, antiquarian and notary, James Comerford (1807-1881). It now belongs to the Society of Antiquaries in London, and featured prominently in the exhibition ‘Making History’ (2008-2009).

The crucifix and many other Catholic relics passed from John Brown by 1793 to Joseph Carter, the sexton of Saint Michael’s Church, Coventry (later Coventry Cathedral). Joseph Carter had married Elizabeth Brown in Saint Michael’s Church, Coventry, in 1778, and she may have been related to John Brown. He died in June 1808, and his will was granted administration in the Consistory Court of the Diocese of Lichfield on 7 October 1808.

The crucifix then passed to his widow Elizabeth Carter and remained with the Carter family of Saint Michael’s Parish, Coventry. Presumably it was she who sold it to the Comerford family – probably James Comerford’s father – ca 1808-1810. However, it is still unclear how the crucifix passed from the Brown family in Coventry to the Carter family in Coventry and from the Carter family to the Comerford family.

The Bosworth Crucifix was owned by the family of the antiquarian and book collector James Comerford from around 1810. James Comerford was born in Holborn in 1807, the son of James Comerford, a Notary Public of Change Alley in Cornhill, London, who died in 1833. He appears to have been of Irish descent. However, John Ashdown-Hill, in his paper on the ‘Bosworth Crucifix’ in the Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society (no 78, 2004), wonders whether James Comerford was related to the Comerford family who lived in Saint Michael’s Parish, Coventry, in the first half of the 19th century.

The Bosworth Crucifix passed from the Brown and Carter families in Coventry to the Comerford family

Processional crosses link Peterborough Cathedral with Bosworth, Coventry and Limerick

The Lamport Crucifix or processional cross in Peterborough Cathedral … it has interesting similarities to the Bosworth Crucifix and a crucifix in the Hunt Museum in Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

I was writing two weeks ago about Frank Roper’s ‘Crucifixion’ in Peterborough Cathedral, where it is suspended from the ceiling in the centre of the nave, and where it has a commanding and striking presence behind the main nave altar platform.

Frank Roper’s Crucifixion’ is 15 ft high and weighs more than half a ton. The wooden cross, painted red with intricate interwoven gold decoration on the back, carries a more than life-size crucified Christ.

But there is a second crucifix in Peterborough Cathedral that caught my attention because it reminded me of the Bosworth Crucifix, once owned by the Comerford family and now in the collection of the Society of Antiquaries in London, and a processional now on display in the Hunt Museum in Limerick.

This rare 15th century cross was used to lead processions and belongs to the parish of Lamport in Northamptonshire. Lamport is about 65 km west of Peterborough, and about 60 km south of the site of the Battle of Bosworth.

The Lamport Crucifix shows the same sequence as the Bosworth Crucifix. The Lamport Crucifix measures 609 mm × 315 mm and is very close in size and design to the Bosworth Crucifix. However, it is more complete and it preserves the side figures of the Virgin Mary and Saint John.

There are also differences between the Lamport Crucifix and the Bosworth Crucifix. The Lamport Crucifix has enamelled strips forming the body of the cross. Its Corpus may have been silvered rather than gilded and has the head in a different posture, so that it is more inclined towards the right shoulder.

In these details, the Lamport Crucifix clearly does not come from the same mould as the Corpus of the Bosworth Crucifix. The arrangement of the foliation on the top and side roundels of the Lamport Crucifix also differs from that found on the Bosworth Crucifix.

The Bosworth Crucifix, now in the collection of the Society of Antiquarians, was once the most notable antiquarian item in James Comerford’s private collection

The Bosworth Crucifix, once owned by the Comerford family and now in the collection of the Society of Antiquaries in London, and featured prominently in the exhibition ‘Making History’ (2008-2009). It dates from the 15th century, is said to have been discovered around 1778 at or near the site of Battle of Bosworth.

The Battle of Bosworth was fought on fields several miles south of Market Bosworth, Leicestershire, on the morning of 22 August 1485, by two armies led by King Richard III and the Lancastrian pretender, Henry Tudor, who became Henry VII. It was the last significant battle in the War of the Roses, and the last battle in which an English king died on the battlefield.

This 15th-century bronze processional crucifix measures 585 mm x 280 mm. It is made of bronze alloy and would have been originally overlaid with gold. It has an outer frame forming a foliated border, damaged at each extremity of the transverse limb of the cross. At its centre is the figure of the Crucified Christ, crudely cast in a bronze alloy.

A mark at the crown of the head indicates that a nimbus was once attached to Christ’s head.

Each arm of the crucifix ends with a roundel, decorated on the front with the symbols of the four evangelists, and probably covered with idl. From the viewer’s perspective, these symbols are arranged as follows: at the top, an eagle (Saint John); at the bottom, a winged man (Saint Matthew); to the left, a winged lion (Saint Mark); and to the right, a winged bull (Saint Luke).

On the back, the roundels are decorated with what appear to be suns or stars, with rays streaming from them, and the familiar sunburst emblem of Edward IV and the House of York.

Additional branches may have carried figures of the Virgin Mary and Saint John. Attachments for these additional branches can be seen at the base of the cross, although the branches themselves are now missing.

Philip Schwyzer suggests in his book Shakespeare and the remains of Richard III (Oxford University Press, 2013) that the cross belonged to a travelling chapel royal, and that it was lost and abandoned in the chaos after the battle.

Chris Skidmore in Bosworth: the Birth of the Tudors (Hachette, 2013) suggests the crucifix was used during a private Mass for King Richard III before the Battle of Bosworth. After that Mass, the cross would have been taken off its base, mounted upon a wooden stave, and fastened into place by a hinged ring of iron to be led into the field of battle.

The crucifix was discovered around 1778 near the supposed site of the battlefield, but perhaps at Husbands Bosworth in south Leicestershire, about 18 miles south-east of the battlefield and east of Coventry. Soon after its discovery, it came into the possession of a woman who has been named as Lady Fortescue.

In his paper on ‘The Bosworth Crucifix’ in the Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society (no 78, 2004), John Ashdown-Hill, who specialises in the life of Richard III, wonders whether this Lady Fortescue may have been Lady Barbara Talbot who in 1780 married Francis Fortescue-Turville of the Manor of Husbands Bosworth. She was a sister of Charles Talbot (1753-1827), 15th Earl of Shrewsbury (1787-1827), and an aunt of John Talbot (1791–1852), 16th Earl of Shrewsbury (1827-1852) and patron of the Gothic revival architect AWM Pugin.

Lady Fortescue, or Lady Barbara Fortescue-Turville, was originally from Hoar Cross, Yoxall, about 12 km north of Lichfield and 30 km north of the Bosworth battlefield. She is said to have given the crucifix to one of her workers, John Brown, who owned the crucifix when he died in 1791 … perhaps the same John Brown of Kenilworth whose will was proved in the Consistory Court of Lichfield in 1793, although this will does not mention the crucifix.

The crucifix and many other Catholic relics passed from John Brown to Joseph Carter, the sexton of Saint Michael’s Church, Coventry (later Coventry Cathedral) by 1793. Joseph Carter had married Elizabeth Brown in Saint Michael’s Church, Coventry, in 1778. He died in June 1808, and his will was granted administration in the Consistory Court of Lichfield on 7 October 1808.

The crucifix then passed to his widow Elizabeth Carter and remained with the Carter family of Saint Michael’s Parish, Coventry. Presumably it was she who sold it to the Comerford family – probably James Comerford’s father – ca 1808-1810. However, it is still unclear how the crucifix passed from the Brown family to the Carter family and from the Carter family to the Comerford family.

The Bosworth Crucifix was owned by the family of the antiquarian and book collector James Comerford from around 1810. James Comerford was born in Holborn in 1807, probably the son of James Comerford, a Notary Public of Change Alley in Cornhill, London, who died on 11 August 1833. He appears to have been of Irish descent, although Ashworth-Hill, in his paper on the Bosworth Crucifix, wonders whether James was related to the Comerford family who lived in Saint Michael’s Parish in Coventry in the first half of the 19th century.

James Comerford is best remembered as a book collector and antiquarian. He amassed a library that included a large collection of county histories, local topographies and books of Catholic religious piety. His heraldic bookplates, with the motto So Ho Ho Dea Ne, are much sought-after collectors’ items. After his death, Sotheby’s sold his library at auction on 16-20 November 1881, realising a sale total of £8,372 13 s. His books occasionally come back on the market, but more often they are valued for his heraldic bookplates than as antique books.

The ‘Bosworth Crucifix’ was the most notable object of antiquarian interest in his private collection. In December 1881, James Comerford’s son, James W Comerford, exhibited and presented the Bosworth Crucifix to the Society of Antiquaries ‘in the name of his late father, James Comerford, Esq., FSA.’

In his bookplates, James Comerford of London also continued the tradition within the Comerford family of Ireland of claiming the Combeford arms. These claims were also advanced by my great-grandfather James Comerford (1817-1902), who visited Comberford Hall, the Moat House, Tamworth, about 12 miles from the site of the Battle of Bosworth, and Wednesbury ca 1900-1902, and described himself as a descendant of the Comberford family. He adapted the same bookplate when he privately published his personal account of the Comerford family and that visit the ancestral homes of the Comberford family of Staffordshire shortly before his death.

Shortly after the account of his visit was printed and bound, James Comerford added his bookplate and additional handwritten notes to the slim volume. The surviving copy of this small book is in the local history collection at Tamworth Library, Corporation Street, Tamworth (open shelves, T/COM), with a pencilled page of notes recording the details of his visit.

The processional cross in the Hunt Museum in Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A similar 15th century English processional cross is on display in the Hunt Museum in Limerick. It bears a remarkable resemblance to the Bosworth Crucifix that once belonged to James Comerford and to the Lamport Crucifix in Peterborough Catheral.

This processional cross is dated ca 1450, is made of bronze (the labelling in the display cabinet says gilt copper alloy), and is mounted on a modern wooden base.

The outline of the cross is decorated with projecting splays of leaves and terminates in circular medallions, each bearing symbols of three of the four evangelists – Saint Mark, Saint Luke and Saint John; the medallion depicting Saint Matthew is missing at the base.

The cross bears geometric engraving on the front and the back, with the back of each medallion engraved with a Tudor rose. Two empty sockets at the base of the cross may have carried figures of the mourning Virgin Mary and Saint John the Evangelist.

Processional and altar crosses of this type were made in large numbers and were exported from England. There are numerous examples from Ireland, and the finest example is said to be the Ballylongford Cross, made in 1479.

The processional cross in the Hunt Museum was bought at auction in Christies in 1961 by John Hunt for £130. Dr Colum Hourihane of Princeton University attributed it to Ireland, ca 1460-1480, and says it was possibly made for a Dominican foundation. He identified it with two other crosses by the same maker, one in Multyfarnham and the other in the National Museum of Ireland, from a Dominican foundation in Sligo.

Nevertheless, the similarities of this cross with James Comerford’s ‘Bosworth Crucifix’ and the processional cross in Peterborough Cathedral are so striking it would be interesting to know how Dr Hourihane came to his conclusions 20 years ago, and how the Limerick Cross came to be sold by Christies in the 1960s.

James Comerford’s bookplate … laying heraldic claims to links with the Comberford family (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)