"In an aisle, north of the chancel where nothing remains of the
old glass, tradition is that two maydes of Brook built it
(probably Alice and Joan coheiresses of Sir John Paveley (1361)
of Brook,--the one married Sir John St. Loe, the other Sir John
Cheney). In a chappelle south of the chancell, are left in one
windowe some _Rudders of Ships_ or the cognizance of the Lord
Willoughby of Brook. In an aisle north of the tower, called
Leversidge aisle, were these two escutcheons now gone,
viz.--Cheney impaling Paveley, Cheney as before impaling _a lion
ramp_: quartering _a cross flory_, not coloured."
How surely and regularly history, at least the history of human nature
repeats itself. Our forefathers, as it is often discovered in the
repair or rebuilding old churches, did not scruple when alteration or
enlargement of the fabric was needed, to break up the gravestones, or
coffin-lids, of their predecessors, this also at the period when a
religious thrall exercised its full power over them, while at the same
time it encouraged the laying down similar memorials to those they
were destroying. In a succeeding age when this influence had lost its
spell, and greedy, selfish ends, had absorbed, or stifled completely
such traces as remained, a remorseless and almost revengeful
desecration followed, buildings were razed, monuments ruthlessly
defaced or destroyed, and sepulchres violated, as if those who had
left them such interesting and sacred heritage, had been a succession
of malefactors deserving the utmost reprobation and contempt. The
great despoliation over, the same spirit of heedless, callous
unconcern, although in lesser degree, has shewn itself as largely
existent through the succeeding centuries, down to these later times
of pseudo-ecclesiastical revival, which in too many instances
continues to exhibit in a still more exaggerated form, all the latent
traits of thoughtless destruction, that had its place in days of old.
Thus much for our investigation of Westbury church and its garishly
garnished Chantry, but before we leave this part of the world, we have
another interesting structure to visit, where, if we mistake not, a
most important memorial concerning the antient lords of Broke Hall is
to be found.
Our steps lead us out of Westbury by the north west, and passing along
under the great White Horse, boldly figured on the high hill by our
right, and through the village of Bratton, a turn in the road a short
distance beyond, brings us at once in full view of the large and
antient Conventual Church of Edington. It is no province of ours here,
to describe the great architectural attractions of this fine and still
well-preserved fabric, but a glance at the uniquely-shaped tower
windows, gives us a clue to what we may expect to find within, for the
tracery in their heads, have an unmistakable resemblance to a _cross
fleurie_, or rather _recercelee_ would best describe its shape, the
coat-armour of the family of Paveley.
Entering the church by the south porch, a survey of the south aisle
arcade, brings the eye at once to the memorial we are in search of.
The monument is under the second arch of the nave, west of the
transept, in the south aisle. It consists of a high tomb with canopy,
flanked by an entrance-doorway forming part of one composition,
extending the whole breadth of the arch. This was originally one of
the enclosing screens of a Chantry, the other two, east and west,
dividing it from the aisle having been removed. In the wall of the
aisle opposite the tomb, is a two-storied piscina, which was formerly
within the area of the Chantry, and against the east division
doubtless stood the antient altar.
The cover-stone of the tomb is Purbeck marble, and on it are the
indents of a knight and lady, but not of large size. The knight's head
appears to have rested on a helmet with lambrequin, and an animal was
at his feet. The lady in long robe and head on a cushion. Two shields
were above their heads, and two more below their feet. There was no
ledger-line.
Below the tomb are traceried panels with shields in their centres, on
them is carved these arms:--1. _A rudder._--2. _Four fusils in fess,
each charged with an escallop_ (CHENEY).--3. _Four escallops, two and
two_ (ERLEIGH?). These charges are exactly repeated on both sides.
The canopy is of square form, flanked by buttresses pinnacled on their
faces, and the groining within shews five fan-traceried pendants. At
the east end is a large niche, the west is open. The doorway is
surmounted by a rich ogee crocketted canopy with finial, and is
panelled above.
A continuous cornice surmounts both tomb and doorway, of vine foliage
and mouldings, crested originally by the Tudor flower, only a part of
which now remains. It is broken on each side by four angels holding
shields. On the north side are two single angels supporting the arms
of Cheney, at the west corner are two angels holding a larger shield
quarterly of four:--1 and 4 (CHENEY); 2 and 3, _a cross fleurie_
(PAVELEY). On the south side the single angels display the arms of
Paveley, and the pair at the end Cheney impaling Paveley. Over the
inner doorway _the rudder_ is again carved--here at Edington its
earliest appearance.
In the churchyard, near the porch, is a large broken Purbeck marble
stone, probably removed from the pavement of the Chantry within.
On it are the indents of a knight, and lady in horned head-dress,
under an ogee crocketted canopy, flanked by pinnacles, evidently of
contemporary date with the tomb. Above the figures are two shields,
below their feet the space is powdered with scrolls, and a ledger-line
enclosed the whole.
[Illustration: CHENEY MONUMENT, EDINGTON CHURCH, WILTSHIRE.]
As usual with influential families resident near large ecclesiastical
foundations, and having considerable landed property in the district,
the Paveleys, who were the Lords of Westbury Hundred, were doubtless
largely connected with the welfare of the Monastery, and as liberal
donors toward the building of the Abbey Church. The armorial story
told on the tomb, points to its being the memorial of Sir Ralph
Cheney, who married Joan, one of the daughters and coheiresses of Sir
John Paveley, and succeeded in her right to Broke. He died 2 Henry
IV., 1401. The great William of Edington, consecrated Bishop of
Winchester, 1345, and afterward Chancellor and Treasurer to King
Edward III., was born here, and became a considerable benefactor to
the village and Monastery. His surname has not been recovered, but
surmised to have been Cheney,--at any rate in a deed dated 1361, the
Bishop is described as "guardian of the heiresses of Sir John
Paveley,"--and one of these, Joan, as we have observed, married Sir
Ralph Cheney, and as a consequence with great probability she found
sepulchre here with her husband, in their Chantry in the Abbey Church.
Back to the railway station again, and a place among the cohort of the
iron horse, for a long journey is before us, even from the open,
breezy chalk-plains of Wiltshire, to the marge of the majestic Tamar
in westernmost Devon, and the granite-bouldered precincts of east
Cornwall, where we hope to get further clue to the haunts of
Willoughby when in the flesh. Here, we are leaving what was probably
his first home and earliest associations before ambition dawned on his
future path; there, we shall visit his later possessions when the sun
of fortune had shone on him, and he basked in its rays of honours and
wealth. There also our pilgrimage will eventually lead us to that last
house, the which he in common with earth's humblest denizen must
share.
Before, however, we proceed further on our way to what we may term his
second home, it behoves us to say something anent the antecedents and
coming of the knight himself, and how the name of Willoughby
originally became located in the west country. Like many a younger son
rejoicing in a titled extraction, coupled with probably only a slender
portion of the family patrimony, the wooing of a distaff--who, beside
let us hope, being endowed with her full share of love's talisman,
personal attractions, enjoyed also the further potent charm of being
an heiress to boot--brought the father of our knight from the fens of
Lincolnshire to the distant altitudes of Wilts, and in winning the
hand of Anne Cheney for a wife, subsequently became in her right the
Lord of Broke. A similar errand sent his son away to the boundary line
that divides Devon from Cornwall, and with the well-dowered Blanche
Champernowne of Beer-Ferrers for his helpmate, there to find his
future home, and where we propose to look for him again, after we have
gossiped over his lineage awhile.
In common with many of our old titled names, Sir John de Willoughby
its first possessor in this country was a Norman knight to whom the
Conqueror gave the manor of Willoughby in Lincolnshire.[2] His
descendant Sir William in the reign of Henry III. married Alice
daughter and coheiress of John Bec or Beke of Eresby, summoned to
Parliament as Baron Beke of Eresby 1295-6. He was succeeded by his son
Robert, who inherited at the decease of his grand-uncle Anthony Beke,
Bishop of Durham, the great possessions of that prelate, and 7 Edward
II., was summoned to Parliament as Baron Willoughby de Eresby.
[2] Burke.
His great-grandson was Robert, fourth Lord Willoughby; he married
first Alice daughter of Sir William Skipwith, and secondly Margaret
daughter of William, Lord Zouch, who died in 1391.[3] His third son
Sir Thomas by Alice Skipwith, married Elizabeth daughter of John de
Nevill, Lord Nevill of Raby, and Elizabeth Latimer his second wife,
only daughter of William, fourth Lord Latimer of the first creation,
who died in 1388. Sir Thomas was succeeded by his son Sir John
Willoughby, who married Joan Welby, described as an heiress, and their
son was the Sir John Willoughby, who married Anne daughter of Sir
Edmond Cheney, of Broke, Wilts; whose son was Sir Robert Willoughby,
the first Lord Willoughby de Broke, and subject of our little memoir.
There were three other sons, William of Turners-Piddle, Dorset, who
died in 1512, and was buried at Bere-Regis; Thomas, who married Isabel
Bedyke of Silton, Dorset, died 1523, and ordered his body to be buried
in the church there; and Edward, Dean of Exeter Cathedral, and Canon
of St. George's, Windsor, who died in 1508. Also two daughters,
Cicely, Abbess of Wilton, who died in 1528, and Elizabeth, married to
William Carrant, of Toomer in Henstridge, Somerset.
[3] The fine and almost perfect memorial brass of this lady is in
the chancel of Spilsby church, Lincolnshire. She is habited in
cote-hardie with mantle over, crenulated head-dress with
coverchief, two dogs with collars and bells at her feet, her head
rests on richly embroidered cushions. On the ledger-line is this
inscription,
=Hic jacet Margeria que fuit uxor Roberti de Wylughby de Eresby
que obiit xviij die mensis Octobris an'o d'ni mill'imo ccc
nonagesimo p'mo cui' a'ie p'p'ciet' deus=
and these arms: 1. MORTIMER.--2. UFFORD and BEC quarterly, as
borne by Lord Willoughby de Eresby.--3. Ros.--4. Wells.--5.
Bohun.--6. Zouch.--7. Beaumont.--8. Willoughby impaling Zouch. At
the angles are the emblems of the four Evangelists. There are also
two other splendid figures, probably the succeeding baron and his
lady, in the same chancel.
Thus far for the coming of the knight; our next care will be to trace,
as far as means available enable us, his progress and actions during
the eventful days in which he lived. The strife between the contending
factions of the Red and White Roses, in his younger years was strongly
predominant, and so thoroughly had the fierce rivalry for supreme
power permeated society, that probably it was almost impossible to
remain neutral, while men so blindly, yet withal so devotedly, risked
their lives and fortunes in partizanship with the contending claimants
of the divine right. To choose a side was an absolute necessity,--
"Under which king, Bezonian? speak or die!"
was the question of the hour, and had to be answered with all its
contingent risk. In the west country the adherents of the Red Rose
seemed to have the preponderance, the detestable craft and cruelty of
Richard III. doubtless had its effect of estranging from sympathy with
him, all except just those who were allied to his rule by the hollow
tie of self-interest, and the usual glamour of adhering to the powers
that be, no matter how arrived at or constituted, or what its actions
were.
The first important social function we find Sir Robert Willoughby
discharging, is that of Sheriff of Devon, 21 Edward IV., 1481, being
the year preceding the one in which his friend Sir Giles Daubeney held
the same office. And then, in harmony with the prevailing distracted
state of public affairs we have described, we next observe him in
active sympathy with the claims of the Red Rose, and consequent
enlistment in the cause of Richmond of York, in the company of
a large number of west country gentlemen, the Marquis of Dorset
(representative of Bonville), Giles Daubeney, the Courtenays, John
Cheney, Walter Hungerford, and others, in their rising and march to
Salisbury, in order to effect a junction with, and aid the movement in
Wales of the ill-fated Duke of Buckingham, in 1483. But the
extraordinary swollen state of the Severn--"an inundation so
remarkable that for a hundred years afterward it was called the _Great
Water_, or _Buckingham's Water_, said to have lasted ten days, and
that men, women, and children were carried away in their beds by the
violence of it"--placed a barrier between their forces from effecting
a junction, leaving the unfortunate Stafford in Richard's power, who
forthwith consigned him to the scaffold at Salisbury, and sent Sir
Robert and his companions in speedy flight to the south coast, and
thence 'beyond seas' over to Richmond in Brittany, thereby escaping a
similar sanguinary fate, which would have been remorselessly meted out
to them. For this defection his lands were seized, and Broke and
Suthwyke were bestowed by Richard on his favourite Sir Richard
Radcliffe.
Our clue as to his movements, for a short time, becomes one of surmise
rather than of actual proof. At the dispersal of Buckingham's
followers, Sir Robert and his attainted companions fled to Brittany,
and he remained probably with them at Vannes or the neighbourhood,
until the Earl of Richmond set out on his final expedition from
Harfleur to Milford-Haven. This he doubtless accompanied, although no
special mention is made of his name, nor as to his taking part in the
engagement at Bosworth, where however he must have been present from
circumstances that followed. Dugdale says "he was a successful sharer
in the benefit of that great victory," another thing to that of
sharing its danger.
A much more important event however, identifying the presence of Sir
Robert at Bosworth, or immediately near, and shewing the confidence
the victor placed in him, was Richmond despatching the knight, the day
after the battle, and before Henry left Leicester, with a detachment
of horse to the castle of Sheriff-Hutton in Yorkshire, to convoy the
unfortunate Earl of Warwick (son of the Duke of Clarence and nephew of
Edward IV.), then a prisoner there, to the still safer and more
dangerous custody of the Tower of London, only to emerge eventually
from thence to his death on the scaffold.
This mission is thus described by the old chronicler Hall. Henry in
order
"to obsist the first likely mischiefe, sent before his departure
from Leycestre Sir Robert Willoghby knight to the maner of
Sheryhutton in the County of Yorke for Edward Plantagenet Erle of
Warwike sonne and heire to George Duke of Clarence then beyng of
the age of xv yeres, whom Kyng Richard had kept there as a
prisoner durynge the tyme of his vsurped reigne. Sir Robert
Willoghby accordynge to hys commission receaved of the conestable
of the castle the Erle Edward, and him conueighed to London,
where the youngelynge borne to perpetual calamitie was
incontynent in the towre of London putt under safe and sure
custody."
The circumstances connected with the inveiglement of this poor
boy,--who for fifteen out of the twenty-four years he had lived, had
been a close prisoner, and so shut out from all knowledge of the outer
world, that he was said "not to know a goose from a capon,"--into a
confession of complicity with Perkin Warbeck's attempt, and then his
barbarous murder,--for it was nothing less,--on Tower Hill, is one of
the darkest of the many selfishly revengeful crimes that stain with
indelible cruelty the reign of the first Tudor king, as the equally
detestable slaying of the lad's aged sister the Countess of Salisbury,
in 1541, appals by the horror of its incidents, the second. "The truth
was," says Rapin, "the real crime that cost him his life, was his
being the last male heir of the house of York." He was beheaded 14
Nov., 1499, and Sir Robert lived to witness the wretched fate of the
noble youth he had four years previously brought a captive to London,
and in his death the extinction of the hope of the White Rose.
At the conclusion of Henry's first Parliament in 1485, in company with
his friend Sir Giles Daubeney, Sir Robert had the honour of the
peerage conferred on him, by the title of BARON WILLOUGHBY DE BROKE,
but the writ of summons does not appear to have been issued until 12
August, 1492. About the same time he was constituted one of the king's
Privy Council. In 1489, he was created a Knight of the Garter, being
the two hundred and forty-fourth on the roll of that noble order.
Lord Willoughby de Broke's first important public function appears to
have been his despatch from Portsmouth by Henry, with an army "to the
number of eight thousand choice men and well armed, who, having a fair
wind, in a few hours landed in Brittany" in March, 1489, professedly
to protect at her own proper costs and charges the girl-duchess Ann,
then about twelve years old, from the aggression of the French king,
Charles VIII., who was encamped with a hostile force within her
territory, but which province he eventually added to his kingdom,
together with the hand of its young mistress.
Here he remained in inglorious ease until November, when the little
army, with the exception of the five hundred left to occupy the
"cautionary towns" until payment for the expedition was made,
returned; during which time, and for a considerable portion of the
year ensuing, a game of dissimulation and feints at fighting was
carried on between the three monarchs, Henry, Charles, and Maximilian,
practically over the destiny of the young Duchess.
Then the scene of this playing at war shifts suddenly from Brittany to
Flanders, where the subjects of Maximilian--the proxy husband of
Ann--at Ypres and Sluys were in open revolt, respecting "an
unpalatable edict concerning coin," and to aid whom Charles VIII. had
sent Marshal d'Esquerdes with large succours of help, thus attacking
the would-be bridegroom and his child _fiancee_, on each side, and at
once; a game that proved successful in the end.
Maximilian in his turn sent ambassadors over to the wary calculating
Henry, then holding the scales between the monarchs, as he was at the
same time also engaged in negociations with Charles, who was
procrastinating and not intending to give any definite answer, nor but
little frightened at Henry's preparations, as he was well assured
within himself how matters would eventually terminate.
Henry was however seriously annoyed at the French king's
dissimulation, and despatched with all speed a little expedition of a
thousand men over to Calais, the command being entrusted to the Lords
Morley and Willoughby de Broke. Lord Daubeney was at that period
Governor of Calais, and to this force he added another thousand men,
drawn from the garrisons of Calais, Hammes, and Guisnes; and they had
"secret instructions to aid Maximilian and raise the siege of Dixmude"
where the citizens, soldiers, and their allies were encamped. The
English soldiers appear to have stolen an effective surprise upon the
Flemings and their French allies in the night, for they had apparently
no idea of the attack, and routed them with great slaughter, said to
have been eight thousand in number, while only a hundred or thereabout
of the English were killed, a statement to be received with caution,
as Lord Morley, Sir James Tyrrell, Captain of Guisnes, Sir Humphrey
Talbot, Marshal of Calais, Sir Gilbert Talbot, and others, were among
the slain. The pursuit over, the English army retired to Newport,
where Marshal d'Esquerdes appears to have followed and attacked them
without result. As this was the first touch of real hostilities, such
as they were, between Henry and Charles, for the time it "bred a great
coldness" between the belligerent monarchs.
But the coldness did not last long, and meanwhile a complete tangle of
matters enveloped these three royal players, over the destiny of their
hostage the girl-princess of Brittany, secretly wedded by proxy to
Maximilian, practically a prisoner in her little kingdom, unprotected,
and in the eyes of the French king a very desirable alliance for him,
and so incorporate that province under the crown of France, of which
nation it formed an integral portion. Ambassadors came over from the
Duchess to sound Henry's intentions of protection toward her, others
were despatched across in February, 1491, to the French king by
Henry, and these were followed again by further ambassadors from Ann,
vainly waiting in London for an answer. So things progressed, and
Charles who by his agents was busily plying the young Duchess with his
suit, in his turn amused the English envoys, until he found he had won
her and had the game in hand; then he cut the knot of the difficulty
by marrying her 16 Dec., 1491, and Henry's ambassadors returned
discomfited.
This climax came as a bomb-shell among the great personages.
Maximilian was furious at the loss of his bride, and threatened
immediate invasion of France for so deadly an affront; this however
did not much trouble Charles. What he was most concerned with was the
attitude of Henry who was also greatly enraged, and who, beside openly
boasting he should at once prepare for war against him, was also
influencing Ferdinand of Spain--whose daughter Katharine was espoused
to his son Arthur--to join him in the conflict. Thus France was
threatened on three sides at once, Charles however had little fear of
Maximilian or Ferdinand.
In the meantime Henry had another trouble nearer his door, with the
Scotch, and no settlement appeared to be in view, while the
complication in France continued, the French king being probably
moving behind to prevent. Ambassadors again came over from Charles to
negociate, but Henry who had the ulterior object of getting well paid
for what he was about to do, and the old debt due by Ann of Brittany
discharged, aided by liberal subsidies from Parliament, assembled an
army of twenty-five thousand foot, and sixteen hundred horse, and on
the second of October crossed over to Calais, to make conditions on
his adversary's soil, never meaning to fight, but by show and menaces,
see what he could get.
The conduct of this large flotilla, which arrived at Calais the same
day, was under the command of Lord Willoughby de Broke, as Lord High
Admiral; a notable piece of seamanship for the age, and shewing that
at the time England had a considerable reserve of shipping.
Henry with all the 'pomp and circumstance' of war marched out to
Boulogne, then, instead of fighting, the inevitable ambassadors on
both sides duly met, and a treaty of peace was signed at Etaples on
the third of November. The French king perfectly well knew his
antagonist's mercenary longings, and that himself and his army were
only there to exact the last golden crown possible, for the conclusion
of the matter by monetary consideration was an understanding between
them before Henry left England. So Charles agreed to pay Henry an
immense sum in discharge of his wife's debt, and also another large
amount, arrears of the yearly pension agreed to be paid by Lewis XI.
to Edward IV., his wife's father. Thereon the English king retired
with his army and treasure, or the promise of it, back to London, the
French monarch returned to his young bride at Paris, and the
undisputed possession of her dowry the Duchy of Brittany, and
Maximilian was left to shift for himself. After this manner therefore
ended the war concerning Brittany which began five years before in
1487.
This appears to have been the last foreign service in which Lord
Willoughby de Broke was engaged. We do not find his name among the
generals[4] of the king's army employed in the suppression of the
Cornish revolt at Black-Heath, nor otherwise engaged at home, until
the landing of Perkin Warbeck at Whitsand Bay in September, 1498, when
he held a command in the royal forces under Henry in his march to the
west to meet the plebeian pretender to his crown. Lord Willoughby de
Broke came to Taunton with Lord Daubeney and others commanding the
troops, and after Perkin's return as a captive from Beaulieu, went on
with Henry to Exeter. There the king dealt with the insurgents
personally, many of whom came with halters round their necks sueing
for pardon, and having punished some, to use his own words, "grant
unto the residue generally our grace and pardon, and our
Commissioners, the Earl of Devon, our Chamberlain, and our Steward of
Household, have done, and do daily, in our County of Cornwall."
[4] Lysons says he _was_ one of the Commanders against them.
The 'Steward of Household' was Lord Willoughby de Broke, and he was
peculiarly fitted for the duty, not only on account of his
relationship by property with the County, but also by virtue of his
position as Steward of the Duchy of Cornwall. This was apparently his
last public employment of any note, and probably age was stealing on
him, as he died four years afterward.
Of the offices and honours conferred on him by Henry, we find those of
Lord Steward of the Household, Steward of the Duchy of Cornwall, and
alternately that of Captain-General or Marshal of the land forces, and
as an Admiral of the fleet, in the king's expeditions to France, also
a chief Commander of the forces when engaged at home. He was called to
the Privy Council, created a Baron by writ of summons, and
subsequently elected a Knight of the Garter.
He twice served the office of Sheriff of Devon, in 1481, and again in
1488. Lysons says "in the reign of Henry VII. the mines of silver and
gold (in Cornwall) were leased to Sir Robert Willoughby."
Thus far have we proceeded with Lord Willoughby de Broke's public
services abroad and at home; our next care must be to glance at his
domestic surroundings, and what constrained him to leave his old
ancestral place of Broke Hall amid the breezy altitudes of north
Wilts, and find his way to the sheltered banks by Tamar's marge, in
south Devon. Nothing in any way singular or unusual, simply that
potent cause which has tempted many a young man to stray far away from
his father's roof-tree, brought Robert Willoughby down to
Beer-Ferrers,--the search for a wife,--and the lady he selected was
endowed with one, at least, most attractive charm, eagerly sought
after by mediaeval knight--and not altogether lost sight of, by suitors
in these, in some respects not much-improved mercenary, unchivalric
modern days of ours,--she was an heiress, largely dowered with the
home possessions of an antient race, of whom she was there the sole
representative in right of her grandmother, one of three sisters,
coheiresses, its last descendants; while on her father's side she was
also the only survivor of a branch of another of the most
time-honoured names in the county.
Blanche Champernowne was the pleasant name of the distaff that Robert
Willoughby won for his bride. She was the only daughter of John
Champernowne of Beer-Ferrers by Elizabeth Bigbury his wife, which John
succeeded his elder brother Roger who died without issue. He was the
second son of Alexander Champernowne (who died 30 June, 1441), by his
wife Joan, daughter and coheiress of Martyn Ferrers, who, says Pole
"was the last of y^t name of Ferrers, Lord of Beere-Ferrers."
Alexander was son of Sir Richard Champernowne of Modbury, by his first
wife Alice daughter of Thomas Lord Astley, and whose second wife was
Katharine daughter of Sir Giles Daubeney.
The family of De Ferraris or Ferrers, whose 'name and blood' Blanche
Champernowne represented, deserves a short genealogical notice here.
They had from very early date been settled in the parish of Beer, one
part of which, says Pole, "takes his name of ye family of Ferrers, th'
ancient inhabitants, from whence all the Ferrers in Devon and Cornwall
issued." Ralph de Ferrers was its lord in the reign of King Henry II.,
to him succeeded Henry, Reginald, and Sir William who married Isolda
daughter of Andrew Cardinham, leaving issue Sir Roger, Sir Reginald,
and Sir Hugh the ancestor of the Churston descent. Sir Reginald, of
Beer, married Margaret sister and coheiress of Sir Robert le Dennis of
Pancrasweek, and had issue Sir William who married Matilda daughter of
Roger Carminow. They were followed by their son Sir John, who was
succeeded by his son Sir Martyn, who, says Pole, was "the last of that
name of Ferrers, Lord of Beere-Ferrers; a person of great honour and
integrity, one of the principal persons entrusted with the guard of
this shire," corroborated by Risdon, who adds, "he was put in special
trust, with others, for the defence of the sea-coast against the
invasion of the French in King Edward the third's time."
Sir Martyn left three daughters, Elizabeth married to Hugh Poynings,
Lord St. John of Basing, Leva to Christopher Fleming, Baron of Slane
in Ireland, and Jone "to whom the mannor of Beer-Ferrers fell in
porcion" to Alexander Champernowne. Further notices of this family
will occur on our visit to the little sanctuary in the village, which
they appear to have originally built, and wherein several interesting
memorials to them remain. Their allusive arms were, _Or, on a bend
sable, three horse-shoes argent._
Concerning this prettily named heiress Blanche Champernowne and her
family, the prosaic and literal old itinerant Leland, gives us further
notice, and, if his description of her be correct, takes much of the
romance out of it,--
"There was another house of the Campernulphes more auncient,
caullid Campernulphe of Bere. The last of this house left a
doughter and heire caullid Blanche, maried first onto Copestan of
Devonshire, and after devorcid and maried onto the Lord Brooke,
Steward onto Henry the VII, and he had by her a 700 markes of
lande by yere.
"John Willoughby that cam out of Lincolnshire and maried the an
heire general of the Lord (of) Broke, and after was Lord Brooke
hymself, lyeth buried at Hedington, and was a benefactor to that
house. As I remembre, the sunne of this Lord Broke was Steward
of king Henry the VII House, and his son was the third Lord
Brooke of that--. N.B.--and he had a sunne by his firste wife,
and that sunne had ij doughters maried to Daltery and Graville.
He had by another wife sunnes and doughters. The sunnes toward
yong men died of the sweting syknes."
The genealogy is here somewhat confused, but Leland appears to have
been trusting to memory only.
We have made pilgrimage to, and described what remains of the old
ancestral home of the knight in Wiltshire, and our steps next lead us
to the locality of the new one he possessed by right of his wife at
Beer-Ferrers in Devon. Like all places situate on the estuaries of
large rivers such as the Tamar, that are tidal, and fringed by creeks
that run considerable distances inland, Beer-Ferrers on the land side
is only to be reached by a circuitous route from Plymouth, and
therefore we elect the easier and more direct approach to it, by aid
of the iron horse to Saltash, and thence by boat.
The tide is well up, and a pleasant breeze soon speeds us on our way.
We pass the Budshead creek, that extends inland to Tamerton-Foliot,
and are soon opposite a second and somewhat larger opening that runs
up to Maristow, where, at its far end, the sparkling Tavy, fresh from
the granite boulders of Dartmoor, delivereth her waters into the salt
bosom of the lower Tamar. At about mid-distance up the creek on its
northern shore, a small compact village, with a square battlemented
church tower rising in the midst, has its place on the bank that
slopes gently down to the water's edge. Thither we steer our way, and
making fast our little craft to the pier, or 'quay' as these landing
places are locally termed, find ourselves at Beer-Ferrers.
And where shall we discover this new home, you say, that Lord
Willoughby de Broke acquired by right of Blanche Champernowne, and
when in the flesh possessed and resided in, with surrounding park, and
for which mansion or manor-house, his wife's ancestor Sir William de
Ferrers had a license to castellate from king Edward III. in 1337, a
concession subsequently renewed to his widow the Lady Matilda, and
continued to his son Sir John?
Even in Leland's time, immediately after the decease of the last Lord
Willoughby de Broke, it seems to have disappeared, for he notes:--"on
the east side of this creek is Buckland. And on the west side is Bere,
_where the Lord Broke's house and park was_." We believe nothing now
remains to mark its former site but a few undulations in the turf. A
graphic picture of the lawlessness of the era of Lord Willoughby de
Broke's earlier residence at Beer-Ferrers, and the amenities of social
life exhibited between the "bettermost folk" of that district, and
comparatively neighbours also, is shewn in an account preserved among
the muniments of the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, describing attacks made
on the person, servants and residence of his ancestor Richard Edgcumbe
of Cotehele (M.P. for Tavistock in 1468) by Robert Willoughby of
Beer-Ferrers, and thus described by the Earl to the members of the
Royal Archaeological Society in 1876:--
"The document is rather amusing, dated 1470, and is apparently
the rough copy of a complaint or information by this Richard
against Robert Willoughby, who lived across the water at Beer
Ferrers, of injuries done to him at sundry times. This paper
which is remarkable for its wonderful spelling and for the
careful way in which every hostile act is estimated at its money
value, contains no less than thirteen items or charges, each
specifying some distinct outrage on the part of the said
Willoughby and his followers, numbering on one occasion '_three
score persons, in form of war arraied, with jackes, salettes,
bowys, ar'ws, and byelys, who at various times and places
contrewayted the said Richard to have mordered him and with force
of armes made a great affray and assawte upon him and his
servants sometimes to the gret jeperdy and dispayre of his
liff_,' always to his hurt and damage of so many pounds. And on
another occasion attacked Cotehele House itself and carried off a
very miscellaneous collection of articles to the hurt and damage
of the said Richard of a great many pounds; and at other times
took divers of his servants and kept them for a week at a time in
prison at '_Bere Ferrers_,' and '_bete_' and grievously wounded
others, especially one William Frost, to the hurt and damage to
the said Richard of L20 and more. It is a curious fact that
fifteen years later this Willoughby (as Lord de Broke) and
Richard Edgcumbe held high places together in the court of Henry
VII."
Richard Edgcumbe had a narrower escape however from the vengeance of
Richard III., after the suppression of Buckingham's revolt, in which
he was a partizan, being strongly attached to the fortunes of the Red
Rose. A party of armed men in Richard's interest, headed according to
tradition by Sir Henry Bodrugan, otherwise Trenoweth, of St. Gorran in
Cornwall, an adherent of the White Rose, made search for him in his
own beautiful home of Cotehele. Carew describing the event says,
"he was driven to hide himself in those his thick woods, which
overlook the river, what time being suspected of favouring the
Earle of Richmond's party, against King Richard the III., he was
hotely pursued, and narrowly searched for. Which extremity taught
him a sudden policy, to put a stone in his cap, and tumble the
same into the water, while these rangers were fast at his heeles,
who looking downe after the noyse, and seeing his cap swimming
thereon supposed that he had desperately drowned himselfe, gave
over their farther hunting and left him at liberty to shift away,
and ship over into Brittaine: for a grateful remembrance of which
delivery, hee afterwards builded in the place of his lurking, a
Chapell."
After the victory of Bosworth, and Henry was seated on the throne, it
came to Edgcumbe's chance to turn the tables on his adversary, and
this he did most effectually. Tradition further relates, according to
Lysons quoting from Tonkin, that,
"Sir Henry Bodrugan was in arms in Cornwall against the Earl of
Richmond, (Henry VII.) that he was defeated on a moor, not far
from his own castle by Sir Richard Edgcumbe and Trevanion, and
that he made his escape by a desperate leap from the cliff into
the sea, where a boat was ready to receive him, and fled to
Ireland, when all his large estates, including Bodrugan Castle,
described by Borlase "that there was nothing in Cornwall equal to
it for magnificence" were forfeited to the Crown. Most of
Bodrugan's estates, including the manor of St. Gorran (whereon
was the castle) were granted to Sir Richard Edgcumbe, and now
belong to his descendants."
Two very remarkable and almost identically coincident escapes. The
place where he jumped over the cliff at Dodman's Head, is still known
as "Bodrugan's Leap."
Edgcumbe was Comptroller of the Household, and of the Privy Council to
Henry VII., and died returning from an embassy to France, at Morlaix
on his way home, in 1489. Willoughby, Lord de Broke was his superior
officer as Lord Steward of the Household to the same monarch; thus at
Court they were closely associated with each other. Subsequently 22
Henry VII. (1497), Lord de Broke obtained of the king a grant in fee
of the manor of Trethewye in St. Cleer, and all the lands there, part
of the forfeited possessions of Sir Henry Bodrugan, and which were
situate near his other property at Callington. So these worthies
divided the spoil of their unfortunate neighbour.
As it hath happened to us aforetime, in many of our wanderings, in
search of the former earthly habitations of those we were essaying to
bring back to the stage of our thoughts, so also here,--successively
of Ferrers, Champernowne and Willoughby,--all traces of their olden
home have disappeared, and only a site with a name and a tradition
remains to identify where stood their antient dwelling-place.
Therefore our steps lead us back to that hallowed spot, where they, in
common with us all, found their last and final home of eternal rest,
there to seek for such memorials of them as may yet remain.
The church of Beer-Ferrers is an antient structure, the chancel and
transepts of interesting early-decorated character, and but little
disturbed from their original condition. But although used for
parochial worship in the ordinary sense of the word, the little
sanctuary was of old something more than that, being dignified
ecclesiastically as a foundation of collegiate character, and termed
an Arch-Presbytery. Of these somewhat uncommon religious
establishments there were two in Devon, the other being at Haccombe,
founded (about the same time) 1341, by Sir Stephen de Haccombe. This,
at Beer-Ferrers, was founded by Sir William de Ferrers, who having
rebuilt the church was desirous of making it Collegiate. For this
purpose he assigned a sufficient endowment for an arch-priest and four
other priests, who were to live in common under the same roof; and
provision was also made for an assistant deacon, or sub-deacon, or at
least a clerk. The Community were to perform the daily and nightly
office in the church, and to offer up perpetual prayers for the
prosperity of the Founder and his Lady Matilda during their lives, and
for their souls after death. Also for the souls of Reginald de Ferrers
and his wife Margery (parents of the Founder) and the souls of Sir
Roger and Lady Joan de Carminow (parents of his wife) and the bishops
of Exeter living or dead. Bishop Grandison confirmed this foundation
17 June, 1333. The Founder did not long survive his charitable work,
for it is found in that prelate's register (vol. ii., fol. 219) that
his relict and executrix Matilda obtained from the bishop 15 Dec.,
1338, an acknowledgment of having well and faithfully administered to
her husband's property, and that only the sum of twenty pounds
remained in arrear, "_ad completionem cantarie de Biry_." (Oliver.)
A glance into the chancel, although five centuries have flown, brings
us face to face with the Founder and his wife. There--marvellously
preserved--humbly postured on one knee, his glowing tinted
proportions, amid the crimson interlacery, and quarrels of
pale-pencilled leaflets, that fill the east window, arrayed in gilded
chain-mail, silver genouilleres and sword-hilt, with the armories of
his race, the dark bend and gleaming horse-shoes traversing both
ailette and surcoat. In his raised hands he bears the offering of a
grand church, having three spires, and over his head runs a legend
that apparently reads "(SYR) E WILL'S FERREYS ME FECIT." Fronting him
in the adjoining light, with hands uplifted in prayer, kneels his wife
Matilda Carminow, in snowy wimple and cover-chief, pink boddice and
sleeves, with the broad bend of her husband's arms embroidered on her
golden robe. The inscription above her head, seems to be confused and
undecipherable. Studding the borders of the lights, interspersed among
other ornaments, are the arms of Ferrers and Carminow, and a grand
escutcheon similarly charged, and encircled with beautiful
green-foliaged ornament occurs below.
Thus much for the history of the foundation of the arch-presbytery as
depicted in the window; immediately beneath on the north side of the
altar, upon a raised tomb of plain character, rest the recumbent
effigies of the Founder and his wife, carved in stone, and habited
almost exactly in duplicate of the figures limned on the glass above.
Over them rises a beautiful pyramidal canopy, cusped below, flanked by
pinnacles rising from the ground, the whole richly foliaged and
finialed. In the upper spandrels are angels swinging censers.[5] But
the peculiarity of this memorial consists in the lower portion of the
canopy being cut through the wall, and opening to the side-chapel or
chamber that adjoins the chancel on that side, where its elevation is
repeated, as in the church, but with much less ornament.
[5] There appears to be only two examples of this fine style of
monument found in the county, the other occurring in the Chapel
of St. James, in Exeter Cathedral.
In the transept, which appears to be coeval with the chancel, in the
east wall is a piscina, and the moulding immediately adjoining, marks
the position of an altar that once had its position there. In a recess
beneath a finely moulded arch at the north end under the window, is
the effigy of a knight in chain-mail and surcoat, with shield, and
hands grasping his sword, cross-legged,--the head raised and supported
on a large bascinet-shaped helmet. The legs are destroyed to the
knees, and of the lion on which his feet rested, only the paws remain.
This figure is of contemporary date with the Founder in the chancel,
with great probability is a Ferrers, and may represent his father, who
was on the bede-roll of the foundation.
Here concludes our notices of the memorials of Ferrers, the first of
the influential families Blanche Willoughby represented. Our next
care, will, if it may be, to note any traces of the equally antient
race that succeeded them at Beer, and gave to her, her maiden name of
Champernowne.
One only, humble but characteristic, remains, now ousted from its
original position in the pavement of the church, to the yard outside,
where it must speedily pass to decay. It is a flat stone, on which is
incised a Calvary cross on degrees, having at the intersection the
Sacred Heart _rayonne_, inscribed with the Sacred Monogram. Below is
this inscription,--
=Hic iacet Roger Champnow'e Armiger
cui' a'i'e p'p'cietur de' ame'=
This was the eldest brother of John Champernowne, to whom he succeeded
at Beer, and uncle to Blanche Willoughby. Roger died 14 November,
1422.
Following these, our investigations naturally carry us on to note such
remembrances of Willoughby as occur in the sacred edifice. There are
several, actual and inferred, but our jottings must be stayed for the
present, as the first memorial to that noble race is found
elsewhere,--and our steps will return here after a while to conclude
them.
Again we have recourse to our little craft, and crossing the bright
Tamar, land on the Cornish side, and thence by a circuitous and
winding lane of considerable length, find ourselves on the high road
about halfway between the old half-maritime, half-inland borough of
Saltash, and the equally antient half-mining, half-agricultural
borough of Callington. As we steadily climb the gentle but continual
ascent that leads to the old tinners' town, a grand and varied
prospect surrounds us. Immediately in front looms the immense
pyramidal mass of Hingston Down and Kit Hill rising over it, in all
near eleven hundred feet above the tidal marge of the blue sea that
gleams behind us, its crest garnished with many a tall chimney stack,
the out-growth of that glamour of wealth so invincibly dear to the
Cornishman's heart, that is always coming, but so seldom arrives, and
whose witchery has been handed down from countless generations even
long before old Leland's foot passed over it, and he made note of it
as "being a hy hylle, and nere Tamar yn the easte part, baryn of his
self, yt it is fertile by yielding of tynne both by water and dry
warkes." Hence the distich,
"Hengston Down well yrought,
Is worth London Town dear ybought,"
but whose smokeless chimneys now stand as the witness-ghosts of the
hundreds of thousands of buried treasure sunk aforetime within its
vast bosom, yet nevertheless rich to a degree in mineral wealth, and
boundless resource of granite and clay of the finest quality, from
which considerable returns have been made. To the right in the far
distance rise the shadowy tors of Dartmoor in successive range,
melting back and merging into the grey realms of cloud-land. On the
left, clear cut into the bright evening sky, appears the magnificent
boldly outlined mass of the Caradons, behind which the sun has just
dipped, and a blue aerial haze of singular beauty and varying density,
stretches down their side and unites them to the broad valley beneath.
We pass the skirt of Viverdon Down, an immense common, susceptible of
better cultivation, but now a fastness for game only, and rough food
for young animals; albeit gay in its appointed season with wealth of
heather and gorse, and, if neglected by man, glorified by the unseen
touch of the Infinite,--
"How full of love must He
In all things be,
Who strews with beauty e'en the waste and wold,
Who gives the moorland lark
His purple heath-bower dark;
The mountain bee, his wilderness of gold."
Quietly continuing our way, a short distance further brings us to the
apex of the ascent, and as we begin to descend, before us is the
'tynner's towne' of Callington, with its granite-built,
expressively-pinnacled church tower rising well above the clustering
houses that surround it.
Here, at Callington, Lord Willoughby de Broke held another large
property by right of his wife as a descendant of Ferrers, and also at
South-Hill, as being himself the representative of the family of
Stafford. Lysons says,--
"The manor of Callington was in the Ferrers family when the
market was granted in 1267 by Henry III.; Joan daughter of Martyn
Ferrers, brought it into the Champernowne family, Lord Willoughby
de Broke became possessed of it by marrying their heiress. It
appears that he occasionally resided, and that he died, at the
Manor-house of Callington, for he directed in his will he should
be buried in the church of that parish in which he should die.
From Willoughby it passed by successive marriages to Paulet,
Marquis of Winchester (who married his grand-daughter Elizabeth),
Dennis, Rolle, Walpole, and Trefusis. At Southill, two-thirds of
the great manor or franchise of Callilond or Kalliland, to which
the church of Southill is appendant, which belonged formerly to
the baronial family of Stafford, and passed by a coheiress to
Willoughby Lord Broke, and now vested in Trefusis."
Where the Manor-house mentioned by Lysons was situate cannot now be
determined, but it is surmised to have been a building, which has long
wholly disappeared, and was called Chickett-Hall, that formed Lord
Willoughby de Broke's residence at Callington, and where he presumably
departed this life. He was patron of the important benefice of
South-Hill, and in its daughter church of Callington he was buried.
But according to Sir R. C. Hoare he died at Wardour Castle, Wilts,
which he had purchased.
Lord Broke made his will 19 August, 1502, and "_ordered his body to be
buried in that parish wherein he should happen to die appointing that
part of the issues and profits of Mitton and Kelmesham, &c., Co.
Worcester, and the Manors of Helmingham, Thorpe-Latimer, Skredyngton,
Heckington, Ledynghall and Swynehead in Com: Lincoln (then lately
belonging to Lord Latimer) should be employed, by the space of twenty
years next after his decease, to the finding of a priest to sing in
the parish church of Hoke in Com: Dorset, for that term, taking for
his salary every year ten marks, and to the relief of fourteen poor
men and women, by the space of the said twenty years, to pray for his
soul, as also for the soul of Blanche his wife, and the souls of his
father and mother_." Probate, 25 December next ensuing. (Dugdale.)
Lord Willoughby de Broke is buried on the north side of the chancel of
Callington church, and his monument--perhaps the finest of its kind in
Cornwall--consists of his effigy recumbent on a high-tomb, both
composed of alabaster. He is habited in complete plate armour, collar
and apron of mail, and broad-toed sollerets, and is armed with sword
and misericorde. The hands are in gauntlets, the head--which rests on
a helmet--is uncovered, the hair cut short across the forehead, but
flowing by the sides of the face, to the shoulders. The helmet is
mantled, and surmounted by the crest _a Saracen's head affronte,
couped at the shoulders, ducally crowned, and with ear-rings_. The
feet are on a lion, and behind the soles, are two monks, or weepers,
their heads bowed and inclining toward each other, resting on one
hand, with the other they hold a rosary. The Garter appears below the
left knee, and over the armour he wears the Robe and Collar of the
Order, on the left shoulder is embroidered the Shield encircled by the
Riband, the Collar is composed of roses within a garter, and
garter-knots alternate, and from it is suspended the George.
The tomb below is formed of panels filled with rich tracery, having in
their centres shields with carved armorial bearings, and twisted
pillars were at the corners; of these two remain. No inscription is
visible, it was probably only painted on the verge of the
ledger-moulding, but traces of colour and gilding are faintly
discernible on the figure. The effigy is in a fair state of
preservation, but wretchedly disfigured on the surface, by legions of
names and initials, barbarously cut into, and scratched on it.
The shields,--two of which are encircled by the Garter,--are charged
with the arms borne by Lord Willoughby de Broke, as derived from
Willoughby de Eresby with due difference. Quarterly: first grand
quarter 1 and 4, _Sable, a cross engrailed or_ (UFFORD); 2 and 3,
_Gules, a cross moline argent_ (BEC or BEKE), at the intersection _a
crescent for difference_; second, _Gules, a cross patonce or_
(LATIMER); third, _Gules, four fusils argent, on each an escallop
sable_ (CHENEY); fourth, _Or, a chevron gules, within a bordure
engrailed sable_ (STAFFORD). On the styles between the panels appears
the _rudder_, surmounted by the _rose_ of his patron Henry VII.
It is singular that no armorial alliance allusive to his wife appears
on the tomb, but only his own family achievement with its proud
distinguishment conspicuously displayed, finds place thereon. Yet
Blanche Champernowne was an heiress of no mean descent, and richly
dowered also, being the representative of the two very antient races
of Ferrers and Champernowne, west country names of remote descent, and
wide-spread renown, whose property she inherited. The more to be noted
also, as he was presumably buried and his monument occurs in the
church at Callington, whose manor formed a portion of her possessions.
Where Lady Willoughby de Broke was buried does not appear. At
Beer-Ferrers the _horse-shoes_ of Ferrers do find position of equal
consequence with her husband's, but largely super-imposed with the
_rudders_ of Willoughby. Champernowne does not appear in either
church, but on her descendant's tomb at Alcester, both Ferrers and
Champernowne are carefully marshalled among the elaborate heraldic
display.
Stay thy foot, friend of mine, a short while, ere thou passest out of
the sacred enclosure, and scan yon venerable churchyard cross--how
rich is Cornwall in these reminders--slightly leaning, yet hale in the
strength of the almost imperishable granite, and with the age-worn
imagery of the Great Sacrifice, still plainly discernible, insculped
on one of the faces of its pediment. There it was before the
honour-bedizened noble--whose tomb we have been just surveying--found
his way to Callington to enjoy the portion of his great possessions,
situate near it; and who shall say he may not many a time have bowed
his head in silent prayer, and crossed himself reverently at the sight
of its solemn appeal, when in life he passed in front of it, as he
entered the adjoining sanctuary for worship, ere he finally found
therein his grave. And here also it is to-day, speaking the same
eternal lesson to us, who are seeking to gather back from the woof of
the Past, ravelled threads of his memory; and there it will doubtless
be found, when we also are merged into the things that were. Such is