Object Details

Monument to Mary Ann Sergison

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Location
Makers
General Information
Classification
Object Parts
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History
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Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright for Photograph:

Creative Commons

Location

Street:Church Platt
Town:Cuckfield
Parish:Cuckfield
Council:Mid Sussex District Council
County:West Sussex
Postcode:RH17
Location on Google Map
Object setting:Inside building
and in:Religious
Access is:Public
Location note:Over the north door, Parish Church of Holy Trinity
In the AZ book:West Sussex
Page:71
Grid reference:N4
The A-Z books used are A-Z East Sussex and A-Z West Sussex (Editions 1A 2005). Geographers' A-Z Map Company Ltd. Sevenoaks.
OS Reference:TQ303245

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Makers

Name :Sir Richard Westmacott
     Role:Sculptor

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General Information

Construction period:1804
Work is:Extant
Owner custodian:Parish Church of Holy Trinity. Cuckfield.
Description:A canopied memorial affixed above the north doorway. Underneath the canopy is a relief sculpture of a female in Greek style dress leaning over an urn. She stands on a projecting rectangular base, supported by two foliar styled blocks, that has an inscription carved into the front.
Signatures:Inscribed letters underneath the rectangular base:
WESTMACOTT. A.R.A. SCULPTOR.
Inscription:Carved letters, front aspect of base:

NEAR THIS PLACE ARE DEPOSITED THE REMAINS
OF MARY ANN SERGISON
WIFE OF WARDEN SERGISON ESQR. OF BUTLERS GREEN IN THIS PARISH.
LT. COLL. IN HIS MAJESTYS ROYAL REGT. OF HORSE GUARDS.
AND ELDEST DAUGHTER OF WILLIAM KERR ESQR. OF NORTHANPTON, M.D.
SHE DIED SEPR. 11TH. 1804 IN THE 37TH. YEAR OF HER AGE.

O THOU, BEYOND WHAT VERSE OR SPEECH CAN TELL
MY GUIDE, MY FRIEND, MY BEST BELOV'D, FAREWELL.

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Classification

Categories:Sculptural, Funerary, Commemorative
Object type1:Relief
Object type2:Sculpture
Subject type1:Figurative
     Subject subtype1:Standing

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Object Parts

Part 1:Whole structure
     Material:White marble
     Height (cm):178
     Width (cm):90
     Depth (cm):15

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Object Condition

Overall condition:Good
Risk assessment:No known risk
Date of on-site inspection:07/01/2008

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History

History:EPITAPH:
BEING PART OF AN INSCRIPTION FOR A MONUMENT,
To be creeled by a Gentleman to the Memory of
his Lady.

FAREWELL, my best beloved; whose heavenly mind
Genius with virtue, strength with softness joined;
Devotion, undebased by pride or art,
With meek simplicity, and joy of heart;
Though sprightly, gentle; though polite, sincere;
And only of thyself a judge severe;
Unblamed, unequalled in each sphere of life,
The tenderest Daughter, Sister, Parent, Wife.
In thee their Patroness the afflicted lost;
Thy friends, their pattern, ornament, and boast;
And I - but ah, can words my loss declare,
Or paint the extremes of transport and despair!
O Thou, beyond what verse or speech can tell,
My guide, my friend, my best beloved, farewell!
(James Beattie)

Mary Anne Kerr married Colonel Warden Sergison, of Cuckfield Park, in 1802. She died childless on 10th Sept 1804. He died on 9th July 1811.

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References


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Photographs





Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright: Creative Commons




Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright: Creative Commons




Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright: Creative Commons

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