Tradition. The above are suspended on the east wall of the south side of the chancel, where they have been recently placed. Prior to this they were placed with other pieces of armour under the slab of an altar tomb in the chancel. There was formerly in the church a wooden crest, a cock's head, the crest of the Seckford family, which owned the Priory from 1580 to 1672. In the chapel at the east end of the north aisle is a vault of this family in which Thomas Seckford, Master of the Requests, was buried in 1587. He died s.p., and was succeeded by his nephew Sir Thomas Seckford, Kt. (1582-1610), who was also buried in the chapel vault. Sir Thomas was succeeded by his son, Sir Thomas, who died when at Cambridge, aged sixteen, in 1624. His uncle, Sir Henry Seckford, then inherited the estates but died in the same year.
The former existence of the crest and the presence of the helmets in the church raise a strong presumption that one or both helmets are associated with the funerals of and monuments to the Seckford family.
The present position of the helmets near the Jeffrey Pitman (ob. 1627) monument is a recent one. There is no tradition associating them with that monument or the family of that name.
Crest. A cock's head erased vert, combed and wattled gu. (Seckford.)
Cf. "N. and Q.," 6th series, vol. viii, p. 292.
A SUFFOLK CHURCH.
"From a church in Suffolk," an armet was sold at Christie's in the Seymour Lucas sale, 1903, lot 50, £102 18s., purchaser Mr. S. G. Fenton. It is illustrated in the sale catalogue.
SURREY
ADDINGTON. (St. Mary.)
[Communicated by Mr. L. C. Price.]
1. Helmet, skull genuine, the rest funerary (Fig. 1746).
2. Helmet, all funerary, except the gorget plates (Fig. 1747).
3. Sword, funerary.
4. Dagger.
5. Gauntlets (Fig. 1747).
Tradition. The above hang over the Leigh monuments (Sir John Leigh, ob. 1544; Sir Oliph Leigh, ob. 1576; Francis Leigh, ob. 1612), with which the armour is associated.
Crest. On a mount vert, a lion couchant guardant arg., charged on the breast with an annulet sa. (Leigh.)
Cf. "Surrey Arch. Assoc." (G. Leveson-Gower, "Leigh of Addington"), 1878, vol. vii, p. 77.
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Fig. 1746. Addington
BEDDINGTON. (St. Mary the Virgin and All Saints.)
Helmet, circa 1560-70; in the centre of the comb is a hole, where a spike was once fixed (Fig. 1748).
Now in the Royal Female Orphan Asylum, once the old Beddington Manor House, built by Sir
Nicholas Carew.
Tradition. This helmet is said to have belonged to Sir Nicholas Carew, ob. 1539, whose portrait in
armour is still preserved. He was beheaded. His estates were restored to his son, Sir Francis, by Mary.
In the church there are many memorials to the Carew family, but there is no tradition that the helmet was once in the church, although it is evident that it is a piece once fitted with a crest, and therefore probably formerly suspended in a church. [The Secretary of the Royal Female Orphan Asylum courteously supplied the photograph.]
CHARLWOOD. (St. Nicholas.)
Helmet, hanging on the east wall of the sacrarium.
There are brasses in the church to Nicholas Saunders, ob. 1553, and William Jordan, ob. 1625.
Crest. A demi bull holding a flower. (Saunders.)
Cf. Morris, "County Churches, Surrey," p. 48; "Vic. C. H." (Surrey), iii, p. 188.
