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A religious figure in Tudor dress, St John Fisher, wearing a simple tunic robe with a stole round his neck. He holds a palm leaf in his left hand held across his body at waist level. The right hand is raised in blessing. He is wearing a cap on his head. Behind him, to the left, is a tall building like a church with a spire. The statue is constructed in three sections traceable from the lines around it. The figure stands on a small plinth above the entrance doors, protruding from the brick wall. The statue and plinth are in concrete. Beneath the plinth is a coat of arms; in the left half is a diagonal cross with a creature like an insect or lobster in the centre; in the right half are three leaves and a curved animal, a dragon or fish. Above is a hat with a cord coming from it on either side with very elaborate tasselling hanging down; five rows of tassels from a single one at the top down to a row of five at the bottom. There is a scroll below the crest but if it had a motto on it, it is worn away, lettering eroded.

The ecclesiastical hat has been used in heraldry since the fourteenth century. The scarlet cardinal’s hat dates from 1245, and would be sent from Rome to the new cardinal with some ceremony. It is a low flat hat with a wide brim, and in heraldry it is placed above the shield with 15 tassels (fiocci) hanging down on either side. These are arranged in five rows with one tassel at the top, and rows of two, three, four, and five tassels beneath, forming the shape of a triangle. The number of rows of tassels, which had varied, was fixed at five in 1832.

St John Fisher 1469-1535 Born in Yorkshire, educated at Cambridge and connected thereafter with the life of the University, becoming Chancellor and having the unique distinction of being appointed to the post for life.(1) He became one of the leading theologians in Europe. In 1504 he was appointed Bishop of Rochester. He upheld the cause of the Catherine of Aragon when Henry VIII wished to have his marriage to her annulled, and subsequently, with Sir Thomas More, refused to take the Oath of Supremacy acknowledging the King to be head of the English Church and repudiating the authority of the Pope. They were both imprisoned in the Tower of London. On 20 May 1535 Fisher was created a cardinal by Pope Paul III, apparently in an attempt to induce leniency in Henry, however it had the opposite effect and enraged the King. ‘Henry forbade the cardinal's hat to be brought into England, declaring that he would send the head to Rome instead.’(2) Fisher was tried on 17 June 1535 for treason, condemned and executed a few days later on Tower Hill. He was buried in the churchyard of All Hallows, Barking, without rites or a shroud but two weeks later his body was removed and buried beside that of Sir Thomas More in the church of St. Peter ad Vincula by the Tower. His head was exhibited on London Bridge for two weeks, then thrown into the Thames. ‘In the Decree of 29 December, 1886, when 54 of the English martyrs were beatified by Leo XIII, the best place of all is given to John Fisher. In 1935, Pope Pius XI canonised him’.(2) In art, Saint John Fisher is shown robed as a cardinal, with haggard ascetic features, or with an axe or his hat at his feet (White.)(3) White, K. E. (1992). Guide to the saints. NY: Ivy Books [not seen].

circa

raw year

Condition

At risk

Inscriptions

Signatures

Statue and plinth

Concrete

233cm high approx x 81cm wide approx x 61cm deep approx

Plaque

Concrete

60cm high x 46cm wide

Accretions

Slightly dirty. Plinth stained on under surface

Corrosion, Deterioration

Plaque slightly stained and dirty, also eroded

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None