Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 5).djvu/258

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LONG ASHTON. (All Saints.)

[Communicated by the Baron de Cosson.]


A complete suit of armour is reputed to have been removed from the church at the time of the restoration of the fabric, circa 1876, together with other objects of interest, such as banners, etc.


Cf. Collinson, "Hist. of Somerset," vol. ii, p. 300: "On the walls some remnants of banners and other insignia of Sir Hugh Smyth, Kt. (ob. 1680), are suspended."

NORTH CADBURY. (St. Michael.)

[Communicated by Mr. Wallis Cash.]


Close helmet, made for a funeral, XVIIth century, crested, a bird; formerly hanging in the tower near the Ewens tomb, now in the vestry (Fig. 1726).


Tradition. The funerary helmet carried at the funeral of Matthew Ewens, who made his will 2 April 1628 as "Matthew Ewens, the Elder, of North Cadbury, Esquire," in which he expressed his wish to be buried in this church, and was so buried 1629. He married Katherine Hales, and was the son of Alexander Ewens, and grandson of John Ewens of Wincanton, Somerset, ob. 1585.

Fig. 1726. North Cadbury

Fig. 1727a. Rodney Stoke

Fig. 1727b. Rodney Stoke

Over the Ewens tomb, cut in stone, is a helmet with a shield bearing az. a fess between two fleurs-de-lis or (Ewens), impaling gu. three arrows or feathered and barbed arg. (Hales).

Crest. On a mount vert a curlew rising ppr. (Ewens.)

Cf. "Heraldry in North Cadbury Manor House and Church" ("Proc. Somerset Arch. Soc.," 1890).

QUEEN CAMEL. (St. Barnabas.)

There was within the memory of the present generation a helmet in the church; it is no longer there.

There are monuments to the Mildmay family, including one to Sir Humphrey Mildmay, ob. 1690.

RODNEY STOKE. (St. Leonard.)

[Communicated by Captain A. de Cosson.]

1. Armet, typically English, circa 1520, with gorget plates added (Fig. 1727A).

2. Sword, made for a funeral, with a pommel of the end of the XVIth century or commencement of the XVIIth century (Fig. 1727B).

Tradition. The helmet hangs over the Rodney monument in the side chapel, and is associated with the funeral of Sir Thomas Rodney, ob. 1478, but there is also a tradition that both helmet and sword came from "Old Rodney Manor House."

Sir Thomas Rodney had a son, who was buried in the chapel, but there is no monument to him. [Mr. Wallis Cash courteously supplied the photograph.]

TRENT. (St. Andrew.)

[Communicated with photograph by Mr. Wallis Cash.]


1. Close helmet, of the end of the XVIth century, with gorget plates added. A ring is attached to the skull to suspend it (Fig. 1728a).