‘Nonsuch like them’: John Lord Lumley’s monuments and his garden at Nonsuch Palace in Cheam
When
Where
Lumley Chapel, Cheam
Church Rd, Cheam, Sutton SM3 8QH
This pop-up event has been organised by Andrew Skelton and John Phillips. It is related to the forthcoming Symposium (Tombs of the Aristocracy, August 2025) in that it features further monuments created by John Lord Lumley, connected to the Fitzalan family whose monuments we will see in the Fitzalan Chapel at Arundel Castle during the Symposium. This visit will take in the small medieval gem that is the Lumley Chapel (Churches Conservation Trust), as well as the nearby Whitehall Historic House (London Borough of Sutton Heritage Service), which is of Tudor origins, where there will be a tour and talk about John Lord Lumley’s garden at Nonsuch Palace. Before the event starts, there will be a rare chance to see St Dunstan’s parish church, which is being opened specially for us.
The main reason for this event is to introduce John Lumley, Baron Lumley. As the son-in-law of Henry Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, Lumley was instrumental in the latter’s commemoration at Arundel, and both Lumley and the Fitzalan Chapel at Arundel Castle are focal points of this year’s Symposium. Remarkably, Lumley also created an extensive retrospective display of memorials at Chester-le-Street for his ancestors and for his immediate family at in the old Parish Church at Cheam – three quite outstanding individual monuments which have survived in situ despite threats to demolish the building over the years. The chapel contains these memorials, and also a monumental statuary display from the 17th to the 19th centuries which covers all four walls.
Lumley and his family lived at Nonsuch Palace, over a mile to the west, where he developed the gardens of his father-in-law Arundel. The second part of the event will be a tour of a nearby contemporary building, Whitehall, where you will be able to see a small display on Nonsuch, and enjoy a short talk on Lumley’s gardening activities – with its wonderful statuary – given by our guide, John Phillips, former Heritage Officer for the London Borough of Sutton.
Finally, this is also a rare opportunity for the public to view St Dunstan’s Parish church, built around 1864-6, which is immediately next door to the Lumley Chapel. We have arranged for the church to be open between 1pm and 1.30 on the day, before we assemble outside the Lumley Chapel next door. There are few monuments in it – one of many reasons for the survival of the Lumley Chapel in the mid 19th century is that the authorities did not want any monuments transferred from the old church to the new – so the Lord of the Manor’s private chapel was considered a suitable repository for them!
Please note that there are two downward steps to enter the Lumley Chapel.
The cost is £10 per person. Please email churchmonuments[at]gmail.com to register your interest and for payment information.
