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Jaime
Kaminski
Sussex Archaeological Society
Barbican House
169 High Street
Lewes
BN8 1YE
According to Pevsner, the Dacre Tomb at Herstmonceux is "the one really spectacular piece in the church". The effigies on the tomb had traditionally been taken to represent Thomas Fiennes, second Baron Dacre of the South (c. 1470-1533) and his son, Sir Thomas Fiennes (c. 1490-1528). But in these Collections in 1916, J. E. Ray cast doubt on that attribution, and on other aspects of the monument. Based on its style and heraldry but without undertaking any structural investigation, Ray demonstrated that the effigies had originally belonged to the tomb of Thomas Hoo, Lord Hoo and Hastings (d. 1455) and his half-brother Thomas Hoo (d. 1486) at Battle Abbey. In 1969, the restoration of the tomb provided an opportunity to test Ray's ideas. This article, written by the Master Mason who undertook the work, not only confirms most elements of Ray's hypothesis, but also provides important new evidence of the approach of those who created the monument as it now stands.