Tomb chest of John Merton (d.1537) in the north wall of the chancel of St Michael's church, Whichford.
"The recess in the north wall of the chancel between the windows is of the 15th or 16th century and has jambs and four-centred arch of a double-ogee moulded order and a hood-mould. In it is a high-tomb with a Latin inscription to
Dominus John Merton, rector and chaplain to Thomas Stanley, Earl of Derby. The date of his death is not filled in, but was 1537. The top slab of alabaster is incised with his effigy in mass vest ments; on his right is a chalice and wafer and on his left a book. The sides of the stone base are treated with quatrefoiled panels inclosing shields and other carvings; the quatrefoil at the west end is carved with a pouch or book and
gasinges (pair of spectacles). The middle south panel has a foliage centre, the other two have shields bearing chalices. That at the east end has a blank shield."
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"The Alabaster slab of John Merton is easily one of the two finest slabs of English priest surviving from the early years of the 16th
century, the other being that of Prebendary John Stone who died in 1524, whose slab was engraved at about the same time as the Merton slab and can be seen at Aldbourne in Wiltshire.
F.A.Greenhill in his ‘Incised Slabs’ (1976) states:
The Alabaster slab of John Merton who was rector, chaplain to Thomas Stanley, Earl of Derby, died in 1537( but slab was engraved c. 1510 ) at Whichford, Warwickshire, portrayes him in exceptionally beautiful Mass vestments, including an alb with very loose sleeves, but the figure is important by reason of two tabs of fur at the neck, falling over and partially obscuring the apparel of the amice. These can only be part of the fur lining of the cassock. The head is pillowed on a cushion powdered with tiny stars, to dexter of it is a chalice with paten and wafer, and to the sinister a missal with exceedingly choice and exquisitively tooled binding.
The tomb chest of which the Merton slab forms the lid bears, inter alia, the curious sculptured representation of a pair of spectacles with a book. The Birmingham Archaeological Society's Transactions (1921) state: about the John Merton Incised Slab:“An incised alabaster slab of oolite. The slab shows the priest between elaborate perpendicular shafts with caps and bases carrying a canopy with an embattled top. He lies with his head on a tasselled cushion on the right of which is a Chalice with wafer, on the left a book. His hair is rather long, covering the ears, cut round over the forehead; the tonsure is large. He is dressed in Eucaristic vestments; the amice apparently lined with fur, the chasuble with enriched edges, and the alb with
apparels at the wrists and feet. The stole and maniple have fringed ends. Round the edge of the slab is the inscription :
His iacts dns Johis Mert(u)n quondam rectoist(us) ecc(Il)e(sie) net non
ecc(I)e(sie) nec non capella(n)us Tho(m)e Stanlei comit(is) de derbi q(ui)
obit ... ...tah(?) dei ... ....The top of the slab is left blank for the date, which has never been filled in. The tomb chest has two narrow cusped panels between three square panels on the south side, each containing a quatrefoil; in the centre of each of the side ones is a square panel with a narrower cusped panel on each side. Within the cusped circle at the east end there is a shield on which was probably painted a coat of arms, at the west end a shield on which is carved a book and a pair of spectacles an unusual thing to find on a monument; they are pince-nez, much like those on a wood figure of sixtenth century date preserved in the museum at Oscott.
John Merton was appointed rector on October 10th 1507, and he presumably remained there until his death, which was probably in 1537, the date of the appointment of his successor.
Dugdale mentions the monument and gives the inscription extended”
NOTES.
To dexter = to the right. To sinister = to the left.
Alb - a white vestment reaching to the feet:
Amice - a white line cloth worn on the neck and shoulders under the Alb;
Cassock - a long garment reaching the feet, black except in Royal appointments, when red;
Chalice - wine cup used in the Eucharist:
Chasuble - an ornate slevelesss outer garment,
Maniple - a vestment formerly worn by a priest celebrating the Eucharist, consisting of a strip hanging from the left arm;
Missal - book of texts used in Catholic Mass throughout the year;
Paten - plate for holding the bread during the Eucharist; Stole - along narrow garment embroidered, and in the liturgical colour, worn round the neck and reaching to the knees;
Cusp - a projecting point between two small arcs."
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