{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O374486"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O374486/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017KA4073/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017KA4073/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2017KA4073","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O374486/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O374486","accessionNumber":"REPRO.1888-425","objectType":"Grille (copy)","titles":[{"title":"Eleanor Grille","type":"popular title"}],"summaryDescription":"This is a wrought iron copy, commissioned by the V&A from J Starkie Gardner, authority on ironwork, writer and maker, of the earliest fully documented example of decorative ironwork surviving in Britain. The original grille is still in Westminster Abbey surrounding and protecting the tomb of Eleanor of Castile, the wife of Edward I. The executors of Eleanor's Will record it as commission to Thomas of Leghtone (Leighton, probably from Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire) who was paid £12, plus £6 for transport installation. The sharp prickets on the top were almost certainly to protect the tomb from people climbing onto it. This copy was commissioned within the context of the V&A commissioning or collecting reproductions in plaster, iron or photographs, of great works of art and design.\r\n\r\nEleanor of Castile married Edward I on 1 November 1254. She was crowned alongside him on 19 August 1274. They had sixteen children of which a son and five daughters survived her. She died at Harby near Lincoln on 28 November 1290 and was buried in Westminster Abbey on 17 December 1290 with great ceremony. Edward marked her funeral procession by erecting with twelve monumental crosses between Lincoln and Westminster. Her Westminster tomb survives, including a gilt bronze effigy cast by William Torel and surrounded by the magnificent wrought iron grille.","physicalDescription":"Wrought iron copy of the late 13th century grille surrounding the tomb of Queen Eleanor in Westminster Abbey.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"x40240"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"wrought iron","id":"AAT11012"}],"techniques":[{"text":"forging","id":"AAT54033"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Wrought iron copy of wrought iron grille","categories":[{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Ironwork","id":"THES251837"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2017KA4073"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"54ST","id":"THES49761"},"free":"","case":"WS","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Grille","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"19th century","earliest":"1800-01-01","latest":"1899-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Grille, wrought iron copy of the 13th century grille surrounding the tomb of Queen Eleanor in Westminster Abbey, England, 19th century.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Gardner, John Starkie. <u>Ironwork. Part 1: From the Earliest Times to the End of the Medieval Period</u>. London, 1892.","id":"AUTH317862"},"details":"plate 25, p.83","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Gardner, John Starkie. <u>Ironwork. Part 3: A complete survey of the artistic working of iron in Great Britain from the earliest times</u>. London : Published under the authority of the H.M.S.O., 1922. 198 p., 46 p. of plates, ill. ISBN 0905209028.","id":"AUTH317254"},"details":"fig. 10, p.25","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Geddes, J. <u>A Master Smith of the Middle Ages: Thomas of Leighton</u>, Country Life, Aug. 14th 1975.","id":"AUTH318888"},"details":"pp. 396-397","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Ayrton, Maxwell and Arnold Silcock. <u>Wrought iron and its decorative use</u>. London : Country Life, ltd ; New York, C. Scribner's sons, 1929. 4 pl., 196 p., ill.","id":"AUTH317256"},"details":"fig.34, p.25-6","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Trinder, B. The Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron: A Guide to the Museum and Old Furnace. Ironbridge, 1979. p.4."},{"reference":{"text":"Geddes, J. <u>Iron</u>, English Medieval Industries: Craftsmen, Techniques, Products, ed. J Blair & N. Ramsay. London & Rio Grande, 1991","id":"AUTH318890"},"details":"pp.167-88","free":"esp, pp.180-1"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Copy","id":"THES48865"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"\r\nTOMB GRILLE \r\nWrought iron,\r\nEngland, about 1888\r\n\r\n\r\nThis is a copy of the wrought iron grille in Westminster Abbey surrounding the tomb of Eleanor of Castile, wife of Edward I (d. 1290). The original grille is one of the earliest fully documented examples of decorative ironwork surviving in Britain. \r\n\r\nThe original is exceptional, both as a medieval survival and because the maker is known. The executors of Eleanor’s will record it as a commission to Thomas of Leghtone (probably Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire). He was paid £12 for its construction and 20s for transportation and installation.\r\n\r\nThe prickets on top of the grille were for candles to be burnt for 250 years in the Queen’s memory.\r\n\r\n   \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nMuseum No. REPRO.1888-425\r\n","date":{"text":"05/02/2025","earliest":"2025-02-05","latest":"2025-02-05"}},{"text":"CHANTRY GRILLE (Reproduction)\r\nWrought iron\r\nCommissioned by the V&A from J Starkie Gardner\r\nEngland, about 1888\r\n\r\nThis is a copy of the wrought iron grille surrounding the tomb of Eleanor of Castile, wife of Edward I (d.1290), in Westminster Abbey. This was made by Thomas of Leighton and is the earliest fully documented example of decorative ironwork surviving in Britain.\r\n\r\nMuseum number REPRO.425-1888\r\n\r\n","date":{"text":"03/05/2017","earliest":"2017-05-03","latest":"2017-05-03"}},{"text":"CHANTRY GRILLE (Reproduction)\r\n\tWrought iron\r\n\tEngland (Coalbrookdale?); 19th century\r\n\tRepro.425-1888\r\n\r\n\tA 19th century copy of the 12th century chantry grille surrounding the tomb of Queen  Eleanor (dates?) in Westminster Abbey","date":{"text":"07/1994","earliest":"1994-07-01","latest":"1994-07-31"}}],"partNumbers":["REPRO.1888-425"],"accessionNumberNum":"425","accessionNumberPrefix":"REPRO","accessionYear":1888,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-02-25","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":false}}