When the Puritan iconoclasts took their hammers to the carved tomb effigies of the parish churches of Britain they must have been particularly pleased to come upon those made of alabaster. This soft, slightly translucent stone, a marble-like variety of gypsum, would yield very easily to their blows, and noses, hands and any other decorative protrusion would easily be detached. You can visit churches throughout the land and find examples of this kind of assault. Sometimes restorers have rebuilt that which was lost: elsewhere the vandalism remains for all to see. The photograph shows two such effigies in the Priory Church of St Mary, Abergavenny. They are Sir Richard Herbert of Coldbrook d. 1469 and his wife, Margaret. They can be found in the Herbert Chapel alongside six other tombs dating from the early C14 to the late C17.
photo © T. Boughen Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2
