In a busy week at church between two weddings we were delighted to welcome Jonathan Moor, a member of the Monumental Brass Society, who visited to make a rubbing of John Wilcotes and his wife Alice, whose brasses in the chancel date from 1410.
John Wilcotes has an interesting history as he was a lawyer to Henry IV and Henry V, as well as Sheriff of Oxford and a Member of Parliament. Alice was his first wife and was the owner of the land at Great Tew at the time.
While brass rubbing used to be a widespread hobby there are now only a handful of people still making rubbings. A class from the village school was able to watch Mr Moor as he completed his full scale rubbing.
