IRON ACTON. (St. James the Less.)
[Communicated by Mr. A. F. Sieveking and the Rev. R. Jeffcoat, M.A.]
1. Helmet, Elizabethan, crested, an arm.
2. Spur.
3. Part of a coat of arms.
Tradition. Associated with the funeral of Sir John Poyntz, ob. 1680, hanging on the east wall of the Poyntz chapel. Arms. Barry of eight or and gu. (Poyntz.) Crest. A cubit arm, the fist clenched ppr. vested in a shirt sleeve arg.
TORTWORTH.
[Communicated by the Rev. R. Jeffcoat, M.A.]
1. Close helmet, XVIth century, Elizabethan.
2. Close helmet, XVIth century, Elizabethan, with a later addition of the mezeil.
3. Close helmet, XVIth century, Elizabethan, roped comb, barred.
Tradition. These three helmets were found in an old chest in the church, and have been placed over the Throckmorton tomb. WESTBURY-ON-TRYM. (Holy Trinity.)
[Communicated by the Rev. R. Jeffcoat, M.A.]
Burgonet, believed to be a genuine piece, of a late form and patched up. Tradition. None. There are monuments and brasses to Miles Wilson, ob. 1567; Richard Harris, ob. 1583; Richard Hill of Redland, ob. 1627; Sir Richard Elsworth, ob. 1686; and Giles Hungerford, ob. 1689. FROM A CHURCH IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE. A piece of large ringed mail (vide ante, vol. ii, Fig. 513). The custom, at the funeral of a great person, of a chival de dule being led before the corpse, and of the claim by the church to retain it as a mortuary, dated from very early times. The claim was converted by statute (21 Hen. VIII) into a money payment. In the will of William de Beauchamp (ob. 52 Hen. III) the testator left his body to be buried in the church of Friars Minors, at Worcester, and ordered that coram corpore meo unum equum, ferro copertum should be led. This piece of mail is made up of such large rings, that it may have been part of the mail used to protect a horse, and its preservation in a church may perhaps be explained by the custom referred to. Cf. Bloxam, "Fragmenta Sepulchralia," p. 132; De Cosson and Burges, "Helmets and Mail," p. 121, Fig. 179. HAMPSHIRE ALDERSHOT. (St. Michael and All Angels.) 1. Close helmet, Elizabethan, crested, a lion's head (Fig. 1624). 2. Close helmet, Elizabethan, crested, a lion's head (Fig. 1625). Tradition. Associated with the White family. On the north wall of the chancel is a monument to Ellen, ob. 1606, first wife of Sir R. Tichborne, and on the south wall is a monument to Mary, ob. 1640, wife of Sir Walter Tichborne, leaving seven sons and six daughters. Both were co-heiresses of Robert White, who died seised of the manor of Aldershot. Arms. Per fess az. and or, a pale counterchanged, three plates, two and one, each charged with two bars wavy vert, and as many lion's heads erased, one and two gu. (White.) Crest. A lion's head erased quarterly or and az.
Cf. "Vic. C. H." (Hants), iv, p. 2.
