Birmingham.
_The Lisle Family_ (Vol. vii., pp. 236. 269.).--MR. GARLAND'S Query has
induced me to inquire, through the same channel, whether anything is
known about a family of this name, some of whom are buried at Thruxton
in Hampshire. There are four monuments in the church, two of which are
certainly, the others probably, erected to members of the family. The
first is a very fine brass (described in the Oxford _Catalogue of
Brasses_), inscribed to Sir John Lisle, Lord of Boddington in the Isle
of Wight, who died A.D. 1407. The next in date, and I suppose of much
the same period, is an altar-tomb under an arch, which seems to have led
into a small chantry. On this there are no arms, and no inscription. The
tomb is now surmounted by the figure of a Crusader, which once lay
outside the church, and is thought to be one of the Lisles, and the
founder of the original church. On the north side of the
chancel two arches looked into what was once a chantry chapel. In the
eastern arch is an altar-tomb, once adorned with shields, which are now
torn off. This chantry stood within the memory of "the oldest
inhabitant;" but it was pulled down by the owner of the land
appertaining to the chantry, and of its materials was built the church
tower. One of its windows forms the tower window, and its battlements
and pinnacles serve their old purpose in their new position. A modern
vestry occupies part of the site of the chantry, and shows one side the
altar-tomb I have last mentioned. This side has been refaced in Jacobian
style, and the arms of Lisle and Courtenay, and one other coat (the same
which occur on the brass), form part of the decoration. Two figures
belonging to this later work lie now on the altar-tomb, and many more
are remembered to have existed inside the chantry. The mixture of this
late Jacobian work with the old work of the chantry is very curious, and
can be traced all over what remains of it. The initials T. L. appear on
shields under the tower battlements.
I should be glad to find that these Lisles would throw any light on the
subject of MR. GARLAND'S inquiry; and if they do not, perhaps some of
your readers can give some information about them.
The coat of arms of this family is--Or, on a chief gules, three lioncels
rampant of the first.