There was once a Brass Rubbing Society which was a students' organisation in the University of Oxford, but it no longer exists (to our knowledge). However, it is because of the activities of this society that the Ashmolean has a large collection of rubbings.
Further information regarding brass rubbings, including many of those held in the Ashmolean Museum, can be obtained from the following sources.
Online Resources
Monumental Brass Society
The Momumental Brass Society has an extensive website about brasses and incised slabs at www.mbs-brasses.co.uk. As well as information about the Society, its activities and publications, it has several sections which act as a research resource for those interested in brasses. This currently includes an introduction to brasses and incised slabs, themed picture library and exhaustive bibliography, including sections for all UK counties and many foreign countries. To this they hope to add a topographical index to all MBS publications.
The London Brass Rubbing Centre
The London Brass Rubbing Centre (in St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square) has a large (around 90) collection of facsimile brasses that people are able to make rubbings from. They have a range of rubbings (from all of our brasses) ready-made on black or white paper, with either single or multi-coloured waxes used (the most popular is gold wax on black paper).
For those wishing to make their own rubbings, the prices start at £2.90 and at the upper end of the price range (£15.00) they can make a full size replica of Sir Robert de Bures.
The telephone number of the centre is 020-7930-9306 and they are open every day (except Christmas Day & Good Friday) from 10am-7pm (Mon-Wed), 10am-10pm (Thurs-Sat) and 12-7pm (Sundays)
If you would like further information please contact Jo Brodie
Index of Collections in the Westcountry Studies Library
This website contains an index of the collections of monumental brass and stone rubbings held in the Westcountry Studies Library. The site lists over 1300 items from across Britain.
An index of the Museum's Brass Rubbings
An alphabetical index of names of the brass rubbings dated prior to 1600 has been compiled and can be found at www.sca.org. This is the site of the Society for Creative Anachronism which is a medieval re-enactment society. If you would like more information you can contact the society at their membership page.
Reference Books
(The Museum has no access to genealogical information or to any details contained in these works, which will be widely found in reference libraries.)
- Incised Monumental Memorials of the Middle Ages (1847) and
The Monumental Brasses of England, a series of Engravings upon Wood, with brief descriptive notices (1849). - Cambridge Camden Society, Illustrations of Monumental Brasses of Great Britain (1840-46).
- Herbert Haines, A Manual of Monumental Brasses, comprising an introduction to the Study of these Memorials, and a list of those remaining in the British Isles, 2 volumes (1861, reprinted 1970).
- John Page-Phillips, Macklin's Monumental Brasses (1969), a revised version of Macklin's original The Brasses of England (1907).
- Oxford University Brass Rubbing Society, Oxford Journal of Monumental Brasses, vol. I (1897-9); vol. II (1900), and Oxford Portfolio of Monumental Brasses (1898-1901).
- Mill Stephenson, A List of Monumental Brasses in the British Isles (1926) with an Appendix by M.S. Giuseppi and Ralph Griffin (1938).
- Victoria and Albert Museum, Catalogue of Rubbings of Brasses and Incised Slabs, 2nd Edition (1929, reprinted 1969).
- Sally Badham and Malcolm Norris, Early Incised Slabs and Brasses (1999)
Further Information
Find out more about:
- Brass Rubbing Collection Online - searchable database of the collection
- British Antiquitarian and Archaeological Arrchive at the Ashmolean
Sarah Glover
January 2012
