The Brooke Tomb

Whilst in the Chancel, the other striking feature is the large Brooke Tomb. This table tomb with recumbent effigies of George Brooke, Lord Cobham, and Anne Bray his wife, is of alabaster and black marble dated 1561.It is an exceptionally good sculpture for Elizabethan times, and was probably made by Belgian craftsmen. Its highly tinctured heraldry enriches the pale honey coloured surface of the alabaster. Small mourning figures of their ten sons and four daughters kneel along the sides of the tomb.

Of these smaller figures around the tomb, at the west end of the south side, the first of the sons is William, Lord Cobham, founder of the Almshouses (the New College) and Cobham Hall. His nephew William, Brooke was disinherited by James 1, and fought on the Parliament side in the Civil war. This perhaps accounts for the preservation of the brasses, as he would respect his family monuments and hope that he would be restored to the family estates; he was killed at the Battle of Newbury in 1643. The tomb was badly damaged in the 18th century when the roof fell in; it was restored again at the expense of Mr F C Brooke in the 1860's.

On the pier on the South side is an inscription to Sir Herbert Baker, R.A. which translated reads 'Those who study the Arts shall see the Glory of God.'