Cadaver Tombs

A Cadaver Tomb is a monument where an effigy of the deceased is shown, often resting underneath an effigy of the person as in life. The cadaver was represented as an emaciated corpse, almost skeletal, either shrouded or partially or totally exposed from its shroud. The cadaver was a depiction of the inevitibility of death, no matter how great a person's earthly status, and was often adorned with gruesome additions such as verminous creatures feeding on the remains, such as snails, lizards, snakes, worms, beetles and frogs.

Cadaver tombs in the UK were a fashion almost exclusively reproduced between 1420 and 1480, and surviving examples are relatively rare, there being about 150 recorded.

Examples of cadaver tombs:

Bristol Cathedral Bristol Avon. 16th Century
St John's College Chapel Cambridge Cambridgeshire. 15th Century
Cathedral Church of All Saints Derby Derbyshire. 15th Century
Exeter Cathedral Exeter Devon. 15th Century
Exeter Cathedral Exeter Devon. 16th Century
Church of St. Andrew Feniton Devon. 15th Century?
Church of St Peter Edensor Derbyshire 17th Century
Church of All Saints Bishop Burton near Beverley East Yorkshire. 17th Century
church?? South Dalton East Yorkshire. 17th Century
Church of St James Dursley Gloucestershire. 15th Century
Tewkesbury Abbey Tewkesbury Gloucestershire. 16th Century
Church of St Etheldreda Hatfield (also known as Bishop's Hatfield) Hertfordshire. 17th Century
Cantebury Cathedral Cantebury Kent. 15th Century
Church of St Stephen Hackington near Cantebury Kent. 16th Century
Church of St. Mary and St. Hardulph Breedon-on-the-Hill Leicestershire. 16th Century
Cathedral Church of St. Mary Lincoln Lincolnshire. 15th Century
Cathedral Church of St. Saviour Southwark London. 15th Century
Church of St. Peter and St. Paul Salle Norfolk. 15th Century(cadaver brass).
Church of St. Peter Spixworth Norfolk. 17th Century
Church of St Mary Hemingbrough North Yorkshire. ?
Church of St Giles Holme, near Newark Nottinghamshire. 15th Century
Church of St Mary Ewelme Oxfordshire. 15th Century
Church of St. Mary Tenby Pembrokeshire (Wales). 15th Century
Church of St. Peter & St. Paul Exton Rutland. 17th Century
Church of St John The Baptist Frome Somerset. 15th Century
Wells Cathedral Wells Somerset. 15th Century
Church of St. Mary Worsborough South Yorkshire. 16th Century
Church of St. Nicholas Denston Suffolk. 15th Century
Salisbury Cathedral Salisbury Wiltshire. 16th Century
St. Peter’s Church of Ireland Drogheda, Co. Louth Eire. 16th Century
Musee Calvet Avignon France. 15th Century
Grote of Onze Lieve Vrouwe Kerk Breda Netherlands. 16th Century
St Jans Kathedraal s’Hertogenbosch Netherlands. 16th Century

Other Depictions of Death on Monuments

Church of St Nicholas Hurst Berkshire. 17th Century
Church of St Mary Amersham Buckinghamshire. 17th Century
Church of St Mary Amersham Buckinghamshire. 17th Century
Cathedral Church of St. Mary the Virgin Truro Cornwall. 16th Century?
Church of St Mary and All Saints Chesterfield Derbyshire. 17th Century?
Church of St James the Great Chipping Campden Gloucestershire. 17th Century
Church of St Mary Magdalene Sherborne Gloucestershire. 18th Century
Church of St Mary Magdalene Sherborne Gloucestershire. 17th Century
Westminster Abbey Westminster London. 18th Century
St. Pauls Cathedral City of London. London. 17th Century
Church of All Saints East Barsham Norfolk. 17th Century
Church of St Margaret Stratton Strawless Norfolk. 17th Century
Cathedral Church of St Paul Liege Belgium. 17th Century
Cathedral Church of Our Lady Rouen France. 16th Century
Trier Cathedral Trier (on the Mosel) Germany. 17th Century?

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