My Authors
Read all threads
Across the mid-Wales you’ll find cheerful cherubs, buxom and bucolic, “with cheeks like apples from a Herefordshire orchard”. Their golden curls light up dark church corners.
They’re the work of the Brutes – a family of masons working in central Wales in the 18th century.
#thread
Working from their home in Llanbedr, Brecknock, the Brutes dominated the late-Georgian funerary monument market in central Wales, creating some of the finest – and most fun - monuments of the time.

2/7

📸: St Issui, Patricio
Their style is distinctive. It’s characterised by cheerful cherubs and a “vigorous, if primitive, interpretation of Baroque ornamentation, with flowers, especially tulips and daisies, garlands, and sprays of foliage”.

3/7
We know three generations of Brute masons signed their work: Thomas (1698-1767), his youngest son Aaron (1731-1801) and Aaron’s eldest son John (1752-1834).

4/7
The Brutes took advantage of the good local sandstone and created chest tombs and headstones, ledgerstones and mural tablets. 80 Brute memorials have been identified to date, 40 for Thomas, 24 for Aaron and 16 for John. Though many more may be unsigned, unrecorded or lost.

5/7
What’s especially interesting are the Brute’s clients: their monuments commemorated surgeons, midwives, shoemakers, dyers, cord-winders – not the aristocrats of the area.

6/7
We have at least three Brute monuments at our church in Llancillo, Herefordshire signed by Aaron and his father, Thomas, one is anonymous Brute. There are some really great examples at St Issui, Patricio and St Martins, Cwmyoy too.

7/7
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh.

Keep Current with Friendless Churches

Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3.00/month or $30.00/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!