The Memorial Inscriptions in the Church
of the Holy Cross and St. Lawrence at Waltham Abbey
This Millennium Project records all the inscriptions to be found inside the Abbey
Church. It is the result of a great deal of painstaking research and
close scrutiny of every memorial still extant (over 200 of them), begun
by Dr. Kenneth Bascombe in 1984 and completed by Grenville Weltch in
2009. There are over 800 entries in the personal name index. Layout and presentation was by Lawrence Greenall.
A detailed floor plan of the church shows
the location of every inscription so that visitors can quickly locate
any memorial with ease, and each entry is clearly laid out in a logical
progression around the church, so that the work can also act as a
portable guide for the casual browser.
There are numerous line drawings and photos,
especially of the more difficult to access memorials, and every coloured
coat of arms and hatchment has been reproduced in full colour to aid
heraldic research.
Transcriptions of Latin and Middle English
texts are faithfully reproduced and have also been translated into
modern English.
As well as the memorials in the main body of
the church, this work also details all the inscriptions to be found in
various windows, the Lady Chapel, the West Porch, the Ringing Chamber
and Bell Chamber, and the Vestries.
Some now missing memorials are also
discussed, and background notes support interpretation where needed,
although this work concentrates on the transcriptions as far as
possible. A companion volume looking at the families and individuals
commemorated in these inscriptions is in early stages of preparation.
Grenville Weltch will also be delivering the
second of his lectures on the people recorded in the church on 18th
March 2010 - see our Lectures
page for more information.
This project breaks away from our usual
format of loose-leaf sheets in a folder. It is presented as a bound A4
book.
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