In this blog, archaeologist Cai Mason and Dr Oliver Taylor, Bath Abbey’s Head of Interpretation, Learning and Engagement, share the story of a lost 18th century sculpture. The marble relief, in the form of an adorable sleeping cherub, was uncovered as part of the Bath Abbey Footprint Project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The aim of the project was to repair the Abbey’s collapsing floor and install a new eco-friendly heating system using Bath’s hot springs, creating a more sustainable and useable space.
Above: Bath Abbey Footprint excavations and the view of Bath from the Abbey's heights
A stunning discovery
During the final phase of excavations on the Bath Abbey Footprint Project between 2018 - 20, our archaeologists recovered a rather stunning piece of a 18th-century bas relief marble sculpture. The sculpture, which was clearly part of a memorial, was found face down in amongst a mass of broken 18th- and early 19th-century funerary monuments that had been re-purposed as packing material around the Abbey’s late 1860s heating system. Whilst it was obvious that the sculpture, showing an angelic cherub dozing with its head resting on an hourglass, was part of a funerary monument, there was no inscription to indicate its date or who it commemorated.
Above: A cherub in relief marble sculpture recovered at Bath Abbey
Following the trail
Fortunately for us, Dr. Oliver Taylor, Bath Abbey’s Head of Interpretation, Learning and Engagement, was on hand to pick up the trail. Dr. Taylor’s research uncovered a detailed description of the Abbey’s monuments dating from 1778 which clearly refers to this monument. The entry in J Salmon’s (1778) An Historical Description of the Church Dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul in Bath, describes a memorial to an anonymous woman identified only as ‘C.M.’ as follows:
‘A Monument, with a Pyramid of Dove Marble, and an Oval Tablet. Over which are two branches of Palm; beneath, in a Basso Relievo, is a boy sleeping by an urn, with a branch of cyprus in his left hand, resting his head on an hour-glass, with other statuary ornaments’
This memorial, which is depicted in the background of Samuel Grimm’s 1788 A Service at Bath Abbey. The ‘oval tablet’ bearing the dedication survives on the north wall of the Abbey; it reads as follows:
In Memory of C.M.
One of the most valuable Women
that ever lived;
Whose principal Happiness consisted
(altho’ she was of some rank,)
in a real & unbounded
Affection & Tenderness
for her Husband & Children;
This Monument is erected;
from the sorrow of their Hearts,
and their Love & Respect for her,
without the vanity or weakness,
of proclaiming her Virtues,
or their own Misfortune,
in so inestimable a Loss.
Lett others therefore celebrate
the Name, Family, & Condition,
of so amiable & rare a Character;
She dyed 1st Jany 1765
in the 47th Year of her Age,
and lyes interr’d
near this place.
Above: Samuel Grimm's 1788 work, A Service at Bath Abbey
In memory of C.M.
But who was ‘C.M.’? Further research by Dr. Taylor identified the woman as Catherine Malone (nee Collyer), who was baptized in St. Dionis Backchurch, London on 2 April 1718. Her father was a wealthy, and by all accounts rather eccentric, merchant who ‘made his fortune in the South Sea year’ (this is likely to be a reference to the South Sea Company, which in 1713 was granted a monopoly to transport thousands of enslaved Africans to the ‘South Seas’ and South America. Speculative investment in the company in the 1710s led to the notorious South Sea Bubble – an economic bubble that led to the ruin of thousands of wealthy investors when the company collapsed in 1720).
In 1736, Catherine married a young Irish lawyer named Edmund Malone who later became a successful barrister and member of the Irish House of Commons. Their wedding was a large and ostentatious affair, at the conclusion of which the young couple were put to bed and each of the 50 guests paraded through the room to wish them a good night! Four years later the couple, no doubt keen to move away from Catherine’s strange father, moved to Dublin where they had six children, two of whom died in infancy.
Above: The Bath Abbey Footprint project has made the space more hospitable for local residents and visitors so they can absorb the Abbey's unique history
Curative waters of Bath?
By 1759, Catherine’s health had begun to deteriorate, and the family decided that a move back to England might help. After a short stay in Highgate, London, Catherine moved to Bath, where it was hoped that the curative powers of the spa water might help with her ailments. The ‘treatments’ and lodgings in Bath did not come cheaply, as her son Edmond dryly noted: ‘the expenses at Bath left little money to spare, and the family legal practice presented the best route to a secure future’.
Unsurprisingly, ‘taking the waters’ did little to help with Catherine’s illness. She died on 1 January 1765 and, like many wealthy patrons who came to Bath in search of a cure, was buried in the Abbey. Catherine’s monument, which would have been extremely expensive, was probably commissioned by her son Edmond, who had by then become a successful lawyer and would go on to become a renowned Shakespearian scholar. Given his literary leanings, it is likely that the dedication to ‘C.M.’ – anonymous to all but her family and friends – was penned by her son.
Above: Careful excavation of the Bath Abbey floor has produced a diverse record of artefacts
A mysterious survival
Of the thousands of pieces of monumental marble that were broken up and reused as construction material in the 1860s, the sculptural frieze of Catherine’s memorial was one of the few to survive. . By then respect for this type of funeral monument had waned and the sculpture was described as ‘a very fat infant sprawling on a grave’. However, it is a delicate object that had clearly been placed face down with some care. We can only speculate as to why this care was taken, but perhaps the workmen tasked with dismantling the monument appreciated its artistry and decided to place it in a way that ensured its survival for future generations.
Dr Taylor’s full research on the monument will form part of his forthcoming book on the Abbey’s monuments.
Wessex Archaeology worked alongside a multi-disciplinary project team including Bath-based firms Feilden Clegg Bradley, Buro Happold, Mann Williams and Emery Brothers to help deliver the £19.3 million Footprint Project. The eventual publication will include a detailed description and analysis of the current archaeological works as well as collated material from all previous investigations at the Abbey from the 1990s onwards.
By Cai Mason and Dr Oliver Taylor
