Visiting All Saints’ Church in Lamport village and a former private chapel in Lamport Hall

All Saints’ Church, Lamport, dates from the 12th century, with additions in the 13th century and major alterations from the 17th to the 19th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

Our recent visit to Lamport Hall in Northamptonshire included the opening celebrations to mark 50 years of the Lamport Hall Preservation Trust, with a new exhibition and special events.

Lamport is a hidden gem, nestled in the Northamptonshire countryside midway between Northampton and Market Harborough. Lamport Hall faces out onto the parish Church of All Saints, a Grade I listed building on the north side of the High Street in the village.

All Saints’ Church was first built in the 12th and 13th centuries. It has a mediaeval tower but the remainder was rebuilt and added to in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. As might be expected, the church has many monuments to members of the Isham family who lived at Lamport Hall from 1560 to 1976.

The church is usually locked, although I understand a key is available at Lamport Hall on days the hall is open to the public. Charlotte and I were in Lamport only for that Saturday evening event, and we never managed to see inside the parish church before making our way back to the train station in Northampton. However, there is a beautiful description of the church by the architectural historian Bruce Bailey in the exhibition catalogue, to which I have contributed a paper on the ‘Lamport Crucifix.’

The earliest part of All Saints’ Church is the stocky mediaeval tower, but the remainder of the church was built in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

The Lamport Crucifix … once on display in All Saints’ Church, Lamport (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

There is no reference to a church or priest in the entry for the parish in the Domesday Book (1086). This may indicate the absence of a church building at that stage or, alternatively, only the absence of a resident priest.

All Saints’ Church dates from the 12th century, with additions in the 13th century and major alterations from the 17th to the 19th century.

The church is built of limestone ashlar and lias stone beneath a lead roof. The design is traditional, with a west tower, nave with aisle, chancel, and south chapel.

The oldest part of the church is the lower section of the tower, which shows the round-headed, narrow windows with deep splays that are associated with the Norman period. The upper section of the tower, the tower arch, and the nave arcades date from the 13th century.

Much of the church interior was commissioned by Sir Justinian Isham (1610-1675), the second baronet, of Lamport Hall, who added the chancel in 1652 and 20 years later added the north chapel in 1672 as a place of burial for members of the Isham family. It was built by a local mason, Henry Jones, probably using plans first drafted by John Webb, Inigo Jones’s principal assistant.

Sir Justinian’s great-grandson, another Sir Justinian Isham (1687-1737), the fifth baronet, travelled extensively in Italy and was heavily influenced by the classical architecture he saw there. When Sir Justinian died in 1737, he left money in his will to remodel the 17th century interiors in the Italianate style. The result is elegant without being overpowering, although it overshadows the mediaeval elements of All Saints’ Church.

This major rebuilding under William Smith of Warwick began in 1737, when classical pilasters and an Italianate east window were introduced, the chancel was rebuilt and the aisles were built. The chancel and south porch are by Francis Smith of Warwick, or his family.

Other features in the church include a delicate Georgian plastered ceiling in the nave, created by John Woolston. It has three large roundels, the centre one depicting an ‘eye of God’ with doves. Over the chancel arch is a royal coat of arms to George II, also in plaster. The pulpit dates from the 18th century.

The 19th century south vestry dates from 1879. It was designed by the Gothic Revival architect George Frederick Bodley (1827-1907), who was also closely associated with William Morris and the Pre-Raphaelites and a lifelong friend of Charles Eamer Kempe. Bodley also designed the font and its Victorian wooden cover, and the small organ chamber.

The main points of interest inside All Saints’ Church, as might be expected, are a series of memorials, from the subdued to the grandiose, to members of the Isham family, who lived at Lamport Hall from 1560 to 1976.

There are earlier brasses to John Isham, who died in 1595, and his wife Elizabeth, who died in 1594. Near the high altar is a small tablet to John Isham, who died as an infant in 1638.

The most ornate of the Isham tombs in the chancel is of Sir Justinian Isham (1687-1737), the fifth baronet, with a large bust of the dead man that overpowers the rest of his memorial. There are wall tablets to John Isham (died 1746) and to the Revd Dr Euseby Isham (1697-1755) who was the Rector of Lamport, Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford, and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University.

The East Window by William Warrington in All Saints’ Church, Lamport (Photograph © Historic Houses https://www.historichouses.org/)

The last addition to the church is the unusual East Window depicting the Resurrection and designed by William Warrington (1796-1869).

Warrington’s firm operated from 1832 to 1875 was one of the earliest working in the English mediaeval revival. His windows became the preferred choice of AWN Pugin for most of his earliest churches (1838-1842), and his clients included Norwich Cathedral and Peterborough Cathedral.

The Lamport Crucifix dates from ca 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, and it has been on display there for several decades.

Sir Gyles Isham (1903-1976), the twelfth baronet who founded the Lamport Hall Preservation Trust 50 years ago, is buried in the churchyard by the path leading to the Old Rectory.

When he inherited Lamport Hall, the house was in a dilapidated condition, and Sarah Stronger recalls in the catalogue that while Lamport Hall was being restored and renovated, he lived for six years in the Old Rectory.

Gyles Isham became a Roman Catholic and as a devout Catholic and Sarah Stronger recounts that ‘religion was highly important to him. He became a Knight of Malta in 1957, and took the oath of obedience to become a Knight of Obedience in 1968.

He transformed the Cabinet Room in Lamport Hall into his private chapel, and there was a standing invitation to anyone who wanted to join him at Mass at the hall and to join him for a glass of sherry afterwards.

The ‘Lamport Crucifix’, which I have described in the exhibition catalogue, is on display in the cabinet room. So, while Charlotte and I did not manage to see the interior of All Saints’ Church, Lamport that evening, we had our own private viewing of Sir Gyles Isham’s private chapel in Lamport Hall.

• Lamport is part of the Faxton Group of Parishes, two benefices with seven parishes and nine villages in the Diocese of Peterborough. The Revd James Watson is the Rector. The pattern of services is under review at the moment, but the Eucharist (Common Worship Holy Communion) is being celebrated in All Saints’ Church, Lamport, next Sunday (12 May, Easter VII) at 9:30.

The Lamport Crucifix on display in the Cabinet Room, the former chapel in Lamport Hall, Northamptonshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

An evening of celebrations at Lamport Hall marks 450 years of family history with a new exhibition

Lamport Hall is celebrating 50 years of the Lamport Hall Preservation Trust (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

Charlotte and I were in Lamport Hall last week to mark the opening of celebrations to mark 50 years of the Lamport Hall Preservation Trust, including a new exhibition and special events.

We were there because I had been invited to contribute to the new exhibition catalogue, with a short paper on the Lamport Crucifix, which is on loan to Lamport Hall from Peterborough Cathedral as one of the central exhibits.

We caught the train from Wolverton to Northampton, and then had to take a taxi to Lamport, which is midway between Northampton and Market Harborough. Lamport Hall is a hidden gem nestled in the Northamptonshire countryside, yet only a short drive from the motorway network.

Lamport Hall is Grade I listed building of architectural significance, with an impressive collection of art and furniture, wonderful gardens, and a year-round calendar of events.

Lamport Hall is nestled in the Northamptonshire countryside (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Sir Richard Leonard Vere Isham, who spoke at the opening of the exhibition last weekend, succeeded as the 15th baronet in 2021 and represents a long line of Isham baronets whose family have been part of Lamport Halll since the mid-16th century.

For over 400 years, from 1560 to 1976, Lamport Hall was home to the Isham family, one of the oldest families in Northamptonshire. The family surname is pronounced ‘Eye-shum’, and derives from the village of Isham, Northamptonshire.

The fortunes and the trials of each generation of the Isham family have left their mark on the house. As a result, the collections have remained virtually untouched throughout the centuries, providing a snapshot of life in a country house.

Lamport Hall was developed from a Tudor manor house, and the house was architecturally worked on by John Webb, Smith of Warwick and William Burn. It is now notable for its classical frontage, and architecture alterations were made in the 19th century by women who have been called ‘two feisty wives’.

Lamport Hall was home to the Isham family for over 400 years, from 1560 to 1976 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

John Isham, a wealthy wool merchant, built a manor house on the Lamport Estate in 1568. His grandson, Sir John Isham (1582-1651), High Sheriff of Northamptonshire, became the first baronet in 1627 during the reign of Charles I. He extended the house considerably, although all that remains of his building is a section of the present stable wing.

His only son, the second baronet Sir Justinian Isham (1610-1675), fought as a Royalist in the Civil War and sat as MP for Northamptonshire after the Restoration of Charles II. He built the main existing house in 1655, when he commissioned John Webb, a pupil of Inigo Jones, to design a large two-storey home.

Sir Thomas Isham (1657-1681) was 19 when he succeeded to the family title as the third baronet and to Lamport Hall. Immediately he set off on a ‘Grand Tour’ of Europe with his cousin and tutor, the Revd Zacchaeus Isham. They stayed on the Continent for 2½, spending a large part of their time spent in Italy collecting art works. The treasures he collected on his Grand Tour as a teenage baronet are part of the collections at Lamport Hall.

On his return to England and to Lamport Hall, Sir Thomas became engaged to Mary van de Bempde, daughter of a Dutch merchant. But he died of smallpox on 26 July 1681 before the marriage could take place. He was buried several days later on 9 August in Lamport, and was succeeded by his younger brother Sir Justinian Isham II (1658-1730), the fourth baronet, who was an MP for Northampton and for Northamptonshire.

Sir Charles Vere Isham had a particular interest in gardening at Lamport Hall (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Sir Justinian Isham III (1687-1737) and Sir Edmund Isham (1690-1772), the fifth and sixth baronets, were brothers and both sat as MPs for Northamptonshire. This Sir Edmund Isham made the next major additions, when the south-west front and the north were completed in 1741.

The main gates date were designed in 1824 by Henry Hakewill for Sir Justinian Isham, the eighth baronet (1773-1845). During his time, the south-east front was rebuilt was completed in 1842.

His son, Sir Charles Vere Isham (1819-1903), the tenth baronet, inherited Lamport Hall at the age of 26 in 1846 when his elder brother Justinian died. He had a particular interest in gardening and his garden featured in many of the journals of the day. Of particular interest at the time was the rockery he created. He is also credited with beginning the tradition of garden gnomes in England when he introduced a number of terracotta figures from Germany in the 1840s.

Later, Sir Charles commissioned a new façade for Lamport Hall, with a porch to the north-west front that is now the distinctive main entrance. This was completed in 1862, and the tower was built about the same time.

A number of rare volumes of Elizabethan prose and poetry were found in an attic in 1887, including first editions bound in sheepskin of John Milton ‘s Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained.

Sir Gyles Isham (1903-1976), the twelfth baronet, was a Shakespearian and Hollywood actor. He was an officer in Libya during World War II when he succeeded to Lamport Hall and the family title in 1941. When he returned to Lamport Hall in 1950, the house had considerably deteriorated and he began major renovation works. He was also High Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1958.

The exhibition catalogue recalls how he opened the ground floor to the public 50 year ago in 1974, and was instrumental in setting up the Lamport Hall Preservation Trust. Following a long period of neglect and misfortune, an impressive restoration project was undertaken, returning Lamport Hall to its former glory.

When Sir Gyles died in 1976, he left Lamport Hall and its contents and collections to the Lamport Hall Preservation Trust, which continues to care for the hall and gardens today.

The stables at Lamport Hall featured in ‘The Crown’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Lamport Hall today includes fine rooms, a wealth of outstanding furniture, books, china, paintings and family portraits.

The High Room with a magnificent ceiling by William Smith. The library includes 16th-century volumes. The Lamport Cross, which is on loan from Peterborough Cathedral, is on display and the early 19th century cabinet room, which takes its name from Neapolitan cabinets that depict mythological paintings on glass. Sir Gyles turned the cabinet room into his private chapel when he became a Roman Catholic.

Lamport Hall also offers a setting for weddings and corporate events. The events throughout the year include antiques fairs, the Festival of Country Life, study days, and a gardening academy. The hall is also home to Lampy, England’s first and only surviving garden gnome imported from Germany in the 19th century.

Lamport Hall was the setting to depict Clarence House in the Netflix series The Crown, and the stables doubled for the stables at Windsor Castle.

Lamport Hall is open to the public and has a full year-round programme (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

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)