The Markham Chantry Chapel at St Mary Magdalene Church, Newark contains an exterior panel depicting the ‘dance of death’. Essentially the skeleton – pointing at a grave and holding a carnation which symbolises the shortness of life – is reminding people that life is short and they should repent of their sins. The young man with the purse is a reminder that death comes for everyone – no matter how full their pockets. It was a popular theme after the Black Death of 1348. It’s thought that this particular example dates from early in the sixteenth century.

It’s a rare survival as it was clearly not something that Protestant England approved – verging as it does upon the perception of Catholic superstition. During the seventeenth century William Dowsing visited approximately 250 churches in East Anglia merrily destroying anything that smacked of anything even remotely superstitious. Some artefacts were hidden, others protected by layers of whitewash, originally designed to destroy them. There is no indication why the Markham Chantry Dance of Death survived Nottinghamshire’s purge.

The chantry chapel itself dates to 1505. The idea was that priests said masses everyday for the repose of the souls of the men and women the chantry chapel was dedicated to and who, in this case, were buried beneath the chapel. Essentially, Robert Markham made financial arrangements in the form of a financial endowment so that money was paid to the church for the priests to say mass for his and his wife, Elizabeth’s, salvation. Often chantry chapels were dedicated to specific saints – a favourite of the donor. The dance of death would not only remind visitors to the church to mend their own ways but also to pray on behalf of Robert and Elizabeth Markham.