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XII. Observations on Incised Sepulchral Slabs, with Descriptions of two remarkable examples, representing Knights in the cross-legged attitude, which exist at Avenbury, in Herefordshire, and Bitton, in Gloucestershire. Communicated by Albert Way, Esq., Director, in a Letter to Sir Henry Ellis, Secretary
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 June 2012
Extract
In the church of Avenbury, a village situated near Bromyard, in the county of Hereford, on the confines of Worcestershire, a curious sepulchral memorial is preserved, of which, as far as I am aware, no description or representation has been given. The county of Hereford, hitherto little visited by persons whose researches are directed to architectural and monumental antiquities, presents a rich field for observation in the interesting details which are to be found in the churches,—such as sepulchral effigies, painted glass, and sculpture; antiquities of every period, the greater part of which have remained unnoticed, are also to be found in various parts of the county, and they well deserve careful investigation.
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References
page 268 note * It appears, by the Testa de Nevill, that there was a fee in Avenbury, held by military service, of the Earl of Hereford, as part of the Honor of Kington; and the tenant thereof seems to have derived his surname from the place of his habitation. The following entries are to be found in that record. (Hereford, p. 65 a, and 67 b.)
“In Avenbir due hide, quas Wal
de Avenebir tenet pro uno feodo, de Co
Hereford, de honore de Kington, de ve
feoff', 
vic’ milit'.
“Feoda Com’ Hereford, p 
re. Wal
de Avenebur tenet in Avenebur unū feod'.”
No evidence has, however, been adduced to authorise the conjecture that the cross-legged effigy, which is still to be seen at Avenbury, was designed as the portraiture of Walter de Avenbury, or of one of his descendants. The Inquisitio post mortem 48 Edw. III., states that Thomas le Rous held the manor of “Avenebury” by service of half a knight's fee; and that he died on Sat. next after the Feast of St. Stephen, 32 Edw. III., leaving Juliana, his heiress, wife of Andrew Herle. These are the only documentary evidences which I have been able to discover in connexion with this place.
page 269 note * Mabiote Ireys, date late in the XIIIth cent, is given in Introd. Vol. II. as existing at Stroud, in Gloucestershire. Thorpe, however, gives it as formerly to be seen at Stroud, in Kent. (Cust. Roff. 737.)
page 269 note † It has been commonly supposed that cross-legged effigies represented Knights of the Temple; some interesting remarks on this subject, by Weston Styleman Walford, Esq., may be found in the Archæological Journal, Vol. I., p. 49.
page 270 note * The Sepulchral Brasses still existing, which represent cross-legged knights, may be enumerated as follows: Sir Roger de Trumpington, who died about A.D. 1289, at Trumpington, Cambridge; Sir Robert de Bures, 1302, at Acton, Suffolk; Sir Robert de Septvans, 1306, at Chartham, Kent; a Knight of the family of Bacon, at Gorleston, Suffolk; another, of the Fitzralph family, date circa 1320, at Pebmarsh, Essex; and the curious figure at Minster, in the Isle of Sheppey, supposed to represent Sir John de Northwode, who died about A.D. 1317. To this catalogue may be added the following list of sepulchral slabs, to which similar representations had been affixed, as apparent by the indents, or casements wrought out on their surface to receive the plates of metal. In Suffolk, such a slab is to be seen at Letheringham, and one at Stoke by Neyland; in Norfolk, one at Emneth; two in Cambridgeshire; and one is noticed by Gunton, in his History of Peterborough, as having formerly existed at that place.
page 272 note * In one of the earlier Volumes of the Minutes of the Society a communication may be found, dated May 24, 1733, and addressed by Maurice Johnson, Esq., jun., by which it appears that in the middle aisle of Wyberton Church, in Lincolnshire, there was, at that time, to be seen a flat black marble slab, upon which were engraved the figures of Adam de Franton, who died 28 Dec. 1325, and his wife Sibille, with escutcheons of their arms. At Morthoe, in Devonshire, there is a slab of Purbeck marble, upon which is graven the figure, as it is supposed, of William de Tracey, Rector of Morthoe, about the year 1322. In the church of Brooksby, in Leicestershire, may be seen a similar memorial which exhibits the figures of William Villers, who died 1370, and his two wives, Johanna, who died 1350, and Agnes, 1400. The incised memorial at Grafton-Regis, in Northamptonshire, which represents Sir John de Wydeville, who died about the year 1392, is known by the engraving which has been given in Gough's Sepulchral Monuments: it is placed upon a raised tomb, and has by that means been preserved from injury. A similar tomb exists in the curious sepulchral chapel at Mavesyn-Rydware, in Staffordshire, upon which is to be seen the portraiture of Sir Robert de Mavesyn, who was slain at the Battle of Shrewsbury, in 1403. Many examples might be enumerated of the incised tombs designed during the fifteenth century, amongst which I would mention the figure of John Cherowin, Constable of Porchester Castle, who died in 1441, still to be seen in the chancel at Brading, Isle of Wight; the memorial of John Lawe, Canon of the Collegiate Church of all Saints, Derby; those of Abbot Laurence, 1486, and Abbot John Barwicus, 1526, in the church of Selby, Yorkshire; Andrew Jones, 1497, in the Crypt at Hereford Cathedral, and the slabs at Alansmoor, Herefordshire; Elmore, Gloucestershire; Darley, Derbyshire; Stoke Dry, Rutlandshire; Newbold-on-Avon, Warwickshire, and many other churches in the midland counties.
page 274 note * A faithful representation of this fine tomb has been given by Mr. Shaw in his “Dresses and Decorations.”