CH50. Brass relief carving on a slab of marble
The memorial does not have an inscription on it, but the following notice explains this memorial to the visitor: “On the left is a memorial to JOHN, 8th Lord STRANGE, Baron of Knokyn (Shropshire), 1444 – 1479; and his wife JACQUETTA. She was the sister of ELIZABETH WOODVILLE, who was Queen of EDWARD IV & mother of the famous young ‘Princes in the Tower’. Their daughter JANE had a tomb made in 1509 for them in the chancel (near the altar), long since removed. This marble slab with brass memorial was originally the top of it, and when JANE was herself buried in it in 1513, her figure was added between theirs. Of all the brasses in this church this is the most famous, said to be the best of its kind in Greater London to survive from the medieval period.”
L’Estrange
We see here John, Lord Strange, his wife Jacquetta (also known as Janet) nee Woodville and their daughter Joan (also known as Jane) underneath a gothic style canopy. John was born in 1444 and at the age of 5 succeeded his father as 8th Lord Strange of Knockin (near Oswestry Shropshire) and fourth Lord Mohun de Dunster (Somerset). He was betrothed to his wife at the age of 6 and he died in 1479 aged 35. During his short life he was involved in various court hearings for the counties of Shropshire, Warwick, Middlesex and Oxford. He was one of 16 commissioners appointed in 1477 to enquire into the capture of swans and cygnets on the River Thames and theft of swan’s eggs. Amongst his many possessions the manor of Colham must have been important and extended over most of the parishes of Hillingdon Cowley and Ickenham. The manor house of Colham was situated in Patcotts Field West Drayton which I think is roughly where the bridge over the Grand Union Canal near West Drayton railway station is today.
The inscription that once accompanied the brass has been lost but thankfully a record of it survives from a paper written in 1800:
Under this tomb lies the noble John, Lord Le Strange, Lord of Knockin, Mohun, Wasset, Warnell and Lacy, and Lord of Colham, together with a portrait of Janet his wife, which Janet was the sister of Elizabeth, late Queen of England and wife of Edward IV. The said John died on the 15th day of October in the 17th year of the reign of Edward IV. This tomb, together with the portrait of Janet, Jane Lady Le Strange, had built at her own expense
The tomb would have originally been in the chancel but was moved during the alterations in the 1850’s.
Christine Bartlett