Call for return of medieval brasses

Call for return of medieval brasses

The brasses were taken from Brinkley Church

Two churches in East Anglia have called for the return of priceless medieval brasses - which are in the vaults of prestigious United States museums.

Parishioners at Brundish, in Suffolk, and Brinkley, in Cambridgeshire, have called on the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to return the brasses.

The tomb brasses were stolen from the church of St Mary's, Brinkley, and St Lawrence Church, Brundish, in the 19th Century.

No-one knows how they ended up in the US.

Unaware of brasses' existence

The brasses were discovered in the US by Monumental Brass Society.

On Tuesday, Brinkley church warden John Robertson said: "Here we are, a very small Cambridgeshire village up against the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which is no small beer."

St Mary's was completely unaware of the brasses' existence until it was approached by the Monumental Brass Society which succeeded in tracing them to the US.

The society took tracings of the brasses - and matched them perfectly to the holes left in the floor from where they were removed.

Mr Robertson believes the brasses were removed when St Mary's Church was undergoing extensive renovation more than 100 years ago - but has no idea how they ended up in the US.

Return a 'long shot'

"It's now up to the parochial church council to make an official approach for their return," he said.

"It is a living loss but whether it will initiate enough interest to raise funds for a legal battle, I just don't know."

Secretary Martin Stuchfield, secretary of the Monumental Brass Society, said: "We are appealing to their consciences to allow us to have them back and we will ensure they go back of their churches of origin

"I think it is a long shot that they will come back.

"It's the culture of possession. I don't think these brasses are major - they've never been exhibited.

"They are of minor importance in the scheme of things but there view is that they have acquired these artefacts and they don't let them go lightly."