Manual Ref* SUmsOF001 Show 6 images 873
Title*

Memorial for Sarah Wyard
County Suffolk   District Council Mid Suffolk District Council 
Civil Parish or equivalent Offton  Town/Village* Offton 
Road Bildeston Road 
Precise Location Cemetery of St Mary's 
OS Grid Ref TM067496  Postcode IP8 
Previous location(s)  
Setting Cemetery  Access Public 
Artist/Maker Role Qualifier
Not known  Stonemason(s)   

Commissioned by

 John Wyard 

Design & Constrn period

 1848 

Date of installing

  

Exact date of unveiling

  

Category
Abstract Animal Architectural
Commercial Commemorative Composite
Free Functional Funerary
Heraldic Military Natural
Non-Commemorative Performance Portable
Religious Roadside, Wayside Sculptural
Temporary, Mobile Other  

Object Type
Building Clock Tower Architectural
Coat of Arms Cross Fountain
Landscape Marker Medallion
Mural Panel Readymade
Relief Shaft Sculpture
Statue Street Furniture War Memorial
Other Object Sub Type: Tomb monument

Subject Type
Allegorical Mythological Pictorial
Figurative Non-figurative Portrait
Still-life Symbolic Other

Subject Sub Type
Bust Equestrian Full-length
Group Head Reclining
Seated Standing Torso
Part Material Dimension
Tomb chest  Limestone  1.6 long 1 high, 70 cm. wide 
Top  Limestone  1.5 long 50 cm high 70 wide 
Horse  Limestone  70 cm long 45 high 
Base  Stone slabs on bricks  3 long, 2 wide 50 cm high 

Work is
Extant Not Sited Lost

Owner/Custodian

 Offton Parish church Parochial Council 

Listing status
Grade I Grade II* Grade II Don't Know Not Listed

Surface Condition
Corrosion, Deterioration Accretions
Bird Guano Abrasions, cracks, splits
Biological growth Spalling, crumbling
Metallic staining Previous treatments
Other  
Detail:

Structural Condition
Armature exposed Broken or missing parts
Replaced parts Loose elements
Cracks, splits, breaks, holes Spalling, crumbling
Water collection Other
Detail:

Vandalism
Graffiti Structural damage Surface Damage
Detail: Much in surprisingly good condition, the figure lying on the ground is now very difficult to make out

Overall condition
Good Fair Poor

Risk
No Known Risk At Risk Immediate
Signatures/Marks  
Inscriptions Inscribed in plaque to south: SACRED/ to the memory of/ SARAH THE BELOVED WIFE OF/ JOHN WYARD/ SHE WAS BORN 16th AUG 1795/ AND DIED 11th OF MAY 1848/ MAY THE EARTH REST SOFTLY ON HER GENTLE FRAME; to the north facing the entrance: SACRED /to the memory of JOHN WYARD/BORN THE 8TH MARCH 1791/AND DIED 7TH. JANY 1867/ MAY HIS SPIRIT REST IN PEACE; on northern side: SACRED/ TO THE MEMORY OF/ AMY/ THE BELOVED/DAUGHTER OF/JOHN and SARAH WYARD/ BORN ….1827/ DIED MAY 1881; and short south: SACRED TO/ THE MEMORY OF/ JAMES BROWN/ WYARD/ BORN APRIL/ 1813/ DIED JUNE/ 1889; a further inscription on the top, facing the church, is no longer legible. 

Description (physical)

 The striking monument was commissioned by John Wyard following his wife’s death in a riding accident. He must have planned it as a family tomb, since his plaque is similar, but less elegantly lettered than that for his wife. A horse, standing besides a small bush, looks down at a now illegible figure on the ground, covered by a blanket, and accompanied by a weeping woman. The figure on the ground must be Sarah Wyatt, mourned by her daughter Amy, who was twenty-one at the time of her mother’s death. The combination of standing horse, its head bent in mourning and grieving woman, although here she stands, was inspired by one of the period's most popular sculptures, John Graham Lough's The Mourners, exhibited at the 1844 Westminster Hall exhibition, and reproduced in a cast at the Great Exhibition of 1851 

Description (iconographical)

 The combination of standing horse, its head bent in mourning and grieving woman, although here she stands, was inspired by one of the period's most popular sculptures, John Graham Lough's The Mourners, exhibited at the 1844 Westminster Hall exhibition, and reproduced in a cast at the Great Exhibition of 1851 

Photographs

 Date taken:  7/3/2009
Date logged: 

Photographed by:
Sarah Cocke

On Site Inspection

 Date:  7/3/2009

Inspected by:
Richard Cocke

Sources and References

 Brought to our attention by Simon Knott; www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/offton.htm accessed 06/03/2009;the cast is reproduced @ forum.sydenham.org a walk at the foreign court accessed 28/06/2010; Read, B., Victorian Sculpture, New Haven and London, 1982, 208 

Database

 Date entered:  10/3/2009

Data inputter:
Richard Cocke