Coffin
Category
Stone
Date
1200 - 1350
Materials
Purbeck stone
Order this imageCollection
Mottisfont, Hampshire
NT 770033
Summary
Coffin or sarcophagus, Portland Stone, c.1200-1350
Full description
As a site of Christian worship, Mottisfont Priory was the site of several burials, and human remains were found during National Trust building works in the mid-1990s. This coffin, made of Portland Stone, is likely to have been the resting place of a wealthy individual, or a high-ranking Priory official. It would have originally been covered with a lid which may have displayed an effigy of its occupier. The coffin bears many similarities to the coffin of William Brewer the Younger (d.1232) the son of William Brewer the Elder, founder of Mottisfont Priory, which survives at Torre Abbey in Devon. For such a high-status burial, it is possible that this might have been the resting place of Maud Chaworth (1282-1322), wife of Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster (c.1281-1345) who was buried in the Priory Church, although with so little evidence, its occupier will probably never be known.
Provenance
Excavated during work to Mottisfont Abbey in 1836 and by descent to Peter Barker-Mill. Sold with Mottisfont Abbey and Estate to Gilbert and Maud Russell, 1934 and transferred to the National Trust in 1957 from Mrs Russell under the Memorandum of Wishes.
References
Prosser, 1833: G. F. Prosser, Select Illustrations of Hampshire Comprising Picturesque Views of the Nobility & Gentry Lodge Entrances &c., London 1833.