Is this England's strangest church monument?

In the spring issue of The Arts Society Magazine, John Goodall, architectural editor of Country Life, chooses one of his favourite pieces from an English church. We find out more about his unusual choice.

In the Hare Chapel of the Church of Holy Trinity, in Stow Bardolph in Norfolk, there is a disquieting presence. Behind the door of a mahogany cabinet lies Sarah Hare. Although, it isn’t exactly Sarah Hare; it is her extraordinarily lifelike wax effigy – warts, skin blemishes, double chin and all.

Sarah was a local unmarried gentlewoman who had been born in 1689. She died in April 1744, aged 55, reputedly from blood poisoning, caused by pricking her finger when sewing.

Just the previous year she had stated in her will that:

'I desire to have my face and hands made in wax with a piece of crimson satin thrown like a garment in a picture hair upon my head and put in a case of Mahogany with a glass before and fix’d up so near the place were my corps lyes as it can be with my name and time of Death put upon the case in any manner most desirable…'

Her curious wishes were followed closely.

The half-figure effigy is life-size and comes as a shock to those opening the doors for the first time. The eyes are a startling blue and gaze intently at you. The face is framed by the curls of a wig that is thought to have been Sarah’s own, made with real hair. The hairstyle is behind the times compared to contemporary fashion, but then it took time for the latest trends to reach a country parish in the 1700s. The effigy is also dressed in Sarah’s own clothes: a white silk gown and, just as she wished, a red silk shawl.

It isn’t certain whether the mask for the effigy was made on Sarah’s death or taken from life.

Time has taken its toll on the effigy. When it was restored in 1987, it was found that rodents had been at work and eaten part of the costume, while cracking of the waxen ‘skin’ needed careful attention. It is, however, a survivor, being the only surviving wax funerary figure in England outside of Westminster Abbey.

Volunteers from The Arts Society have been recording church treasures since 1973.
If you’d like to get involved with this vital project, see: theartssociety.org/volunteering

Image credit: © Paul Barker / Country Life Picture Library