A seventeenth century memorial painted wooden panel stolen from a church in Hertfordshire in 1996 has been returned 30 years later, due to a keen-eyed Australian heraldry fanatic.
The panel is 2’8″ x 2’2″ and accommodates a vividly painted coat of arms over a neatly lettered dedication. The inscription reads:
“On the higher ende of this midle ile lyeth intered the
Physique of George Cordell Esquire, who served Queene
Elisabeth and was Sergeant of the Ewry to
King Iames & the late King Charles, in all Sixty yeeres:
Who maried Dorothy the one daughter & heyre of
Francis Prior of this parish, with whom he lives 57
Yeares & deceased the twenty fifth of Could 1653 he being
Aged 84 yeeres.”
Cordell’s and his spouse’s households had deep ties to Flamstead and after serving as courtier to 3 monarchs (the Sergeant of the Ewry was answerable for all of the linens and silverware for the royal desk), he was buried at St Leonard’s Church. This marker was mounted on the north aisle wall.
The panel disappeared from St Leonard’s Church in Flamstead in April 1996. Authorities had been notified on the time, and the theft was recorded within the database of the Artwork Loss Register in Could. For many years there was no signal of it, and finally the brand new employees and parishioners forgot in regards to the purloined panel.
Then, rapidly on New 12 months’s Eve the vicar of St Leonard’s, Reverend Jo Burke, acquired an e mail from one Richard d’Apice, member of the Australian Heraldry Society in Sydney. He had perused the net catalogue of an public sale at Dreweatts and noticed a panel painted with an elaborate coat of arms and a funerary inscription. This roused his nerdly suspicions, and a little bit detective work on-line led him to an outline of the panel within the March, 1812, concern of The Gentleman’s Journal which recorded it in St Leonard’s Church in Flamstead. The article quoted the complete dedication, so there was no mistaking it for one more piece.
After getting over her preliminary suspicions that this was a really weirdly particular new e mail rip-off, Reverend Burke had the church archivist search the church’s previous information. They discovered {a photograph} of the panel and the ALR database data. On January ninth, Burke notified Dreweatts that the lot was stolen property. The corporate instantly withdrew it 5 days earlier than the scheduled public sale.
The vendor had no thought it had been stolen and whereas Dreweatts had accomplished their customary due diligence search within the ALR database, the panel had slipped via the search thresholds. ALR despatched the vendor a letter confirming the panel had been stolen in 1996 and registered with them since Could of that 12 months. The vendor made preparations for the church to select up the panel, and two weeks later it was again dwelling in the end.
The church may be very blissful because the panel is a “fascinating piece of native historical past”. The panel is now again with St Leonard’s and in a protected location till an acceptable show technique will be bought.
Burke added: “Our archivist and member of our Parochial Church Council is a retired curator of the British Museum and continues to have museum contacts. We’re taking recommendation on find out how to show it securely.”
