Boughton House is the Northamptonshire home of the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch. Nearby is the church of Warkton, which houses four great monuments to the duke’s ancestors in a purpose-built chancel. These monuments are those of John, second duke of Montagu (d. 1749)and his wife, duchess Mary (d. 1751), both by L.F. Roubiliac, unarguably the greatest sculptor to work in mid-eighteenth-century Britain; of duchess Mary (d. 1775), their daughter, by Peter Matthias Van Gelder; and of Elizabeth, Duchess of Buccleuch and Queensbury (d. 1827), by the Scottish sculptor Thomas Campbell. The monuments constitute a case study in different attitudes to classicism in sculpture.
Roubiliac produced a fine wall monument at Framlingham and I have long been interested in his work. In connection with a Heritage Lottery Fund Bid for funding to conserve and clean the monuments at Warkton, I was asked by Gareth Fitzpatrick MBE, Director of Collections and Archives of the Buccleuch Living Heritage Trust, to study the monuments and to undertake some preliminary research through the archives. The results have been spectacular and will be published shortly, throwing new light on the Roubiliac monuments and on that by Van Gelder as well as on the building of the chancel itself.
However, I have been unable to find any engraving, drawing or photograph of the monuments showing the iron screens which originally stood in front of them, but which were destroyed in the Victorian ‘restoration’ of the church by the Rev. Henry Stobart. The local historian Alan Toseland has kindly confirmed that he does not know of any surviving representation of the monuments with the screens. To me, it seems incredible that no-one depicted or photographed the monuments from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries. In fact, I know that the architect Edward Blore did draw them, but cannot find these particular drawings yet (I have looked in the British Library). The surviving ironwork on the exterior of the church, in front of the east window may show what the other screens looked like. This is where I need your help. Do you know of any depiction showing the screens in place? Comment here or contact me directly at pgl1@le.ac.uk
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