monuments, and go to one of the south chapels of the great church
of Chesterfield, which was the burial place of the family for more
than two centuries. In this chapel of the south aisle of the quire,
long known as the Foljambe chapel, there used to be a brass to Thomas
Foljambe, who was the first of the family to acquire Walton. There were
also brasses to his son, Thomas Foljambe, of Walton, who married Jane,
daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Ashton; and also to his son, a third
Thomas Foljambe, who died childless in 1468. But these three brasses
disappeared in the seventeenth century.
Among the Osberton muniments are letters testimonial from the
commissary of the Bishop of Lichfield, dated 27th May, 1469, granting
to Henry Foljambe, of Walton, and John Foljambe, administration of the
goods of Thomas Foljambe, of Walton, deceased, in the estate, the same
having been appraised by James Hyton, dean of Scarsdale, and others,
and proclamations made at mass in Chesterfield church.
The oldest of the memorials now left is a finely wrought table
or chest tomb (of the kind usually misnamed “altar-tomb”), which
commemorates Henry Foljambe, brother and heir of the third Thomas
Foljambe, of Walton, who married Benedicta, daughter of Sir Henry
Vernon, of Haddon. On the sides of this tomb are many sculptured
figures of squires and ladies under rich canopies, representing the
seven sons and seven daughters of Henry and Benedicta. The names of
these children were Godfrey, Thomas, Henry, Richard, John, Gilbert,
Roger, Helen, Margaret, Joan, Mary, Benedicta, Elizabeth, and Anne. An
agreement was entered into between the executors of Henry Foljambe, in
conjunction with his widow and children, and Henry Harpur and William
Moorecock, of Burton-on-Trent, “to make a tomb for Henry Foljambe,
husband of Bennett, in St. Mary’s quire, in the church of All Hallows,
in Chesterfield, and to make it as good as is the tomb of Sir Nicholas
Montgomery at Colley, with eighteen images under the table, and the
arms upon them, and the said Henry in copper and gilt upon the table
of marble, with two arms at the head and two arms at the feet of the
same, and the table of marble to be of a whole stone and all fair
marble.” This agreement is dated 26th of October, 1510; £5 was paid in
hand, and another £5 was to be paid when all was performed; it seems
probable that this contract referred only to the stonework of the tomb.
The brasses on the top of this table-tomb, consisting of the effigies
of Henry and his lady, together with a marginal inscription brass,
were for a long time missing, but were re-supplied by the late Lord
Liverpool; the shields bear the arms of Foljambe, Vernon, Loudham, and
Bretton.
Near to this table-tomb is a floor-slab bearing the brasses of a knight
and his lady. This is the tomb of Sir Godfrey Foljambe IV., eldest son
of the last-mentioned Henry, and his wife Catherine, daughter of Sir
John Leeke, of Sutton-in-the-Dale.[36] He was born at Walton on
Easter Day, 1472. By his will, made in 1531, he desires:
[36] The manner in which covenants of marriage were coolly made
at the period by parents of the landed class, on behalf of their
children, is remarkably illustrated by a covenant drawn up on 9th
June, 1489, between Henry Foljambe, of Walton, and John Leake, of
Sutton-in-the-Dale. By this document it was arranged that Godfrey
Foljambe, son and heir of the said Henry (or in the event of his death
Thomas Foljambe, second son), was to marry Catherine, daughter of the
said John Leake, or in the event of her death, Muriel, the second
daughter. It was further covenanted that John Leake, son and heir of
the said John, was to marry Jane, daughter of the said Henry Foljambe.
“My carcass to be buried in the Chappell of Saint George, besides my
lady my wife in Chesterfield ... my funeral mass and dirge, with all
other suffrages and obsequies to be done and ministered for my soul
according as worship requires, after my degree, that my sword, helmet,
with the crest upon the head, and my coat of arms be hanged over my
tomb and there to remain for ever.”
[Illustration: Tomb of Henry Foljambe, 1510; and Kneeling Figure of Sir
Thomas Foljambe, 1604.
Tomb of Godfrey Foljambe, 1594.
[_From Ford’s “History of Chesterfield,” 1839._]]
The knight is depicted in plate armour, his head resting on his
helmet and his feet on a stag; his surcoat bears the quartered arms
of Foljambe, Loudham, and Bretton. The lady wears the low-pointed
head-dress, with falling lappets, of the sixteenth century, and is clad
in a long mantle, which bears the arms of Leeke; the gown is confined
at the waist by a girdle, fastened with a clasp of three roses, and
round the neck is a chain with a pendant cross. Sir Godfrey died in
1541, and his wife in 1529. This Sir Godfrey was thrice high sheriff of
the county, namely, in 1519, 1524, and 1536.
Against the east wall of the Foljambe chapel is an elaborate mural
monument to Sir James Foljambe, the eldest son of the fourth Sir
Godfrey, who died in 1558. This monument was erected by his grandson,
and is a costly and elaborate example of the fashion of mural monuments
that then prevailed. Bateman, the Derbyshire antiquary of last century,
wrote of it as a specimen of “cumbrous style and horrible taste.” But
although it clashes with its Gothic surroundings, it is quite possible
to admire the beauty and workmanship of some of the component parts.
The kneeling figures of Sir James, his two wives and thirteen children,
are all represented. This Sir James Foljambe enjoyed a plentiful
fortune from his father, but had it much augmented through marriage.
His first wife was Alice, daughter and co-heir of Thomas Fitzwilliam,
of Aldwark,[37] who was slain at Flodden Field, 1515; she brought
him considerable landed property at Aldwark, and in other parts of
Yorkshire. By her he had issue, Godfrey, George and James, twins, and
three daughters, Frances, Cecily, and Mary. Sir James’ second wife was
Constance, daughter of Sir Edward Littleton; by her he had issue, a
son Francis, two other sons, and four daughters. The Latin epitaph,
composed by Sir James’ grandson, is expressed in grandiloquent terms.
Sir James is therein described, according to a translation by Lord
Liverpool, as “a man highly adorned by piety, by the integrity of his
manners, by the heraldic bearing of his ancestors, and by his own
virtues.” By inquisition taken at Chesterfield after his death, it was
found that he died seized of 40 messuages, 7 watermills, 200 acres of
meadow, and £5 rents in Brampton, half the manor in Bremington, the
manors of Elton and Tideswell, as well as a great variety of lands,
messuages, and rents in more than a score of other townships in
Derbyshire.
[37] His brother, Godfrey Foljambe, married Margaret Fitzwilliam, the
other co-heiress.
His eldest son, Godfrey, was twenty-four at the time of his father’s
death. He was subsequently knighted, and died in 1585. He married
Troth, daughter of William Tyrwhitt, of Kettleby. The table-tomb to
the fifth Sir Godfrey and his wife bears their recumbent effigies in
alabaster. Sir Godfrey wears a double collar ruff, and ruffles round
the wrists; he is clad in the plate armour of the period, and is
bare-headed; the head rests on the helmet, whilst a lion supports the
feet. The lady is in ruff and mantle, her head on a cushion and a dog
at her feet. Round the margin of the tomb are twenty shields, bearing
the various Foljambe alliances, whilst at the foot is a shield of all
these Foljambe quarterings impaling Tyrwhitt, whose arms are three
tirwhits or lapwings. An elaborate Latin epitaph appears on a mural
slab above the altar-tomb. Sir Godfrey is there described as “highly
adorned by his innocence, his integrity, his faith, his religion, and
his hospitality.”
[Illustration: Chesterfield Church: Foljambe Chapel.]
Against the south wall of this chapel is the table-tomb and monument
of Godfrey Foljambe, the only son of Sir Godfrey Foljambe V., who
erected the elaborate monuments to his parents and grandparents. He
also erected the monument to himself during his lifetime. He died
in 1594; but the sculptor placed on the margin the true date of the
execution of the work, which was 1592. The sculptured work round this
tomb is a beautifully modelled example of renaissance carving, and has
been considered worthy of special illustration in Mr. Gotch’s recent
important work, _Early Renaissance Architecture in England_.
On the floor near by there is a large alabaster slab bearing the
incised effigy of a man in armour, with a much mutilated marginal
inscription. It appears, from church notes of the eighteenth century,
that this is the monument of George Foljambe, of Brimington, who died
in 1588; he was the second son of Sir James Foljambe. In this chapel
there is also to be seen the exceptional kneeling figure of a knight
in plate armour, which is described and engraved in the _Gentleman’s
Magazine_ for 1794. It has undergone various mutilations and
restorations. There is some difficulty in deciding whom this monument
is intended to represent; but it seems probable that it was erected to
the memory of Sir Thomas Foljambe, who was buried at Chesterfield in
1604. He was the son of Francis Foljambe, the eldest son of Sir James,
by his second wife; he was succeeded by his brother Francis, who was
created baronet in 1622.
One of the most painful features of the troubles of the Elizabethan
recusants, or adherents to the unreformed faith, who were numerous
in this county, was the deliberate way in which family feuds were
promoted, and the bribe of inheriting forfeited estates held out to
conforming relations who would give information as to recusancy.[38]
[38] See Cox’s _Three Centuries of Derbyshire Annals_, i. 251–276.
Among the Talbot papers at the College of Arms is a letter from Francis
Leeke to the Earl of Shrewsbury, dated February 2nd, 1587, wherein he
states:—
“I was this day at Tupton where I found the Lady Constance Foljamb.
I did impart to the Lady Foljambe my comitione to comitte her to the
chardge of my cousin Foljamb. Her answer was that she was by age, and
the sikeness of the stone, not abell to travell either on horseback
or on foot, and so desired me to let your Lordshipp understand:
whereuppon she yet remeenethe at Tupton till your Lordshippe’s
pleasure be further knowne.”
The Earl answers that her commitment is necessary, and on February 16th
of the same year, receives a letter from Godfrey Foljambe stating that
he had apprehended “the Lady Constance Foljambe, my grandmother, and
now have her in my custodie, whom, by God’s help, I shall safely keep.”
The zeal of the conforming grandson was not altogether disinterested,
for when he set her at liberty, twenty months later, by order of
the Council, he retained for his own benefit “her living, goods,
and chattels.” On September 22nd, 1589, the Lady Constance wrote to
the Earl thanking him for her release. From another source comes an
interesting evidence of the endeavours of the aged lady, within a few
days of her release, to conform sufficiently so as to escape renewed
custody at the hands of her grasping grandson. In the common place book
of Roger Columbell, of Darley Hall, occurs this note:
“Mem. Godfrey Foljambe of More Hall, myself, my brother Blunt were at
Tupton in the Lady Constance Foljambe’s house, the 28th September,
1589, when all the morning prayers, saving the ij. lessons omitted
for want of a byble & the collect for the daye, for want of skyll to
find it out, was distinctley read with the Latinne also by Nicholas
Harding; her man-servant, & Elianor Harrington, hir waytinge woman
beinge present, who reverently and obediently behaved themselves
during all the service tyme, as we aforenamed with Edward Bradshawe,
John Browne, and John Hawson, are to witness whensoever we shall be
called by other or otherwyse as by a byll under our hand according to
my sade cousen Foljambe of More Hall appeareth.”
Sir Francis Foljambe, Bart., sold Walton Manor House and the Derbyshire
estate to Sir Arthur Ingram in 1633. From that time Aldwark became the
chief residence of the family. Sir Francis died, leaving no male issue,
in 1640, and the representation of his family devolved on his third
cousin, Peter Foljambe, who was able to prove his descent and claim to
the family estates. He lived at Steveton, one of the inherited estates
in the parish of Sherborn, Yorkshire, and died in 1668. It is from the
Foljambes of Aldwark and Steveton that Cecil George Savile Foljambe,
Baron Hawkesbury 1893, Viscount Hawkesbury and Earl of Liverpool 1905,
who died in 1907, was descended.
REPTON: ITS ABBEY, CHURCH, PRIORY, AND SCHOOL
By Rev. F. C. Hipkins, M.A., F.S.A.
Very early in the annals of England the name of Repton appears. In the
_Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_ it is mentioned three times:—(1) A.D. 755, “In
the same year Æthelbald, King of the Mercians, was slain at Seccandune
(Seckington, Warwickshire), and his body lies at Hreopandune (Repton)”;
(2) A.D. 874, “In this year the army of the Danes went from Lindsey to
Hreopedune, and there took up their winter quarters”; (3) A.D. 875, “In
this year the army departed from Hreopedune.”
Professor Skeat thinks that “the name signifies Hreopa’s down, _i.e._,
Hreopa’s hill-fort. Hreopa being the name of some Anglo-Saxon warrior,
not otherwise known.”
In _Domesday Book_ the name is spelt Rapendun, and many variations as
to the spelling of the name appear in mediæval and modern documents.
[Illustration: Repton: Parish Church and Priory Gateway.]
Stebbing Shaw, in the _Topographer_ (ii., 250), writes: “Here was,
before A.D. 600, a noble monastery of religious men and women, under
the government of an Abbess, after the Saxon Way, wherein several of
the royal line were buried.”
Tradition says that this monastery was founded by St. David about the
year 600, but as no records of the monastery have been discovered,
we cannot tell with any precision when it was founded, or by
whom. Penda, the pagan King of Mercia, was slain by Oswin, King of
Northumbria, at the battle of Winwadfield in the year 656, and was
succeeded by his brother Peada, who had been converted to Christianity
by Alfred, brother of Oswin, and was baptized, with all his attendants,
by Finan, Bishop of Lindisfarne, at Walton, in the year 632 (Matt.
Paris, _Chron. Maj._). King Peada is said to have brought into the
midlands four priests, Adda, Betti, Cedda (brother of St. Chad), and
Diuma, who was consecrated first bishop of the Middle Angles and
Mercians. In the year 657 Peada was slain “in a very nefarious manner
during the festival of Easter,” and was succeeded by his brother
Wulphere.
Tanner, _Notitia_, f. 78; Leland, _Collect_, vol. ii., p. 157; Dugdale,
_Monasticon_, vol. ii., pp. 280–2, agree that the monastery was founded
before the year 660, so that either Peada or his brother Wulphere may
have been the founder.
One of the earliest references to Repton Abbey and Abbess is found
in a life of St. Guthlac, written by Felix, a monk of Croyland, at
the command of Æthelbald, King of the Mercians. Guthlac, after a nine
years’ life of plunder, obtained by fire and sword, repented of his
life,
“And one sleepless night, his conscience awoke, the enormity of his
crimes, and the doom awaiting such a life, suddenly aroused him; at
daybreak he announced to his companions, his intention of giving up
the predatory life of a soldier of fortune, and desired them to choose
another leader. So, at the age of twenty-four, he left them, and came
to the abbey of Repton, and sought admission there.”
This happened in the year 694, when Ælfritha was abbess. She admitted
him, and under her rule he received the mystical tonsure of St. Peter,
the prince of the Apostles.
For two years he submitted himself to the discipline of the monastery,
but, attracted by the virtues of a hermit’s life, he left the abbey
in the autumn of 696, “when berries hung ripe over the stream,” and
drifted down the Trent till he reached the Lincoln Fens, where he
built himself a hut, and lived in it till he died in 714. It is related
that Eadburgh, Abbess of Repton, daughter of Aldulph, King of the East
Angles, sent a shroud and a coffin of Derbyshire lead for his burial.
_The Memorials of St. Guthlac_, edited by Dr. Walter de Gray Birch,
contain the full text of Felix’s life of the Saint, interleaved
with eighteen cartoons, reproduced by autotype photography from the
well-known roll in the British Museum.
The next event is connected with Wystan, patron saint of Repton. In
an appendix to the _Chronicon Abbatiæ de Evesham_, written by Thomas
de Marleberge, Abbot of Evesham (published among _The Chronicles and
Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle-Ages_),
there is a life of St. Wystan. Wystan was the son of Wimund (son of
Wiglaf, King of Mercia); his mother’s name was “Elfleda”; his father
died of dysentery when he (Wystan) was young. On the death of Wiglaf,
Bertulph, “inflamed with a desire of ruling, and with a secret love for
the Queen-Regent,” conspired against his nephew Wystan. A council was
summoned to meet at a place known from that day to this as Wistanstowe,
in Shropshire. Hither came Bertulph and his son Berfurt. Beneath his
cloak Berfurt had concealed a sword, and whilst giving a kiss of peace
to Wystan he drew it and smote him with a mortal wound in the head, and
so, on the Eve of Pentecost, A.D. 850, “that holy martyr, leaving his
precious body on the earth, bore his glorious soul to heaven.” The body
was conveyed to the Abbey at Repton, “tunc temporis famosissimum,” and
buried in the mausoleum of his grandfather.
Here the body rested till the days of Canute (1016–1035), who
transferred the relics to Evesham Abbey. In the year 1207 its central
tower fell, smashing the presbytery and all that it contained,
including the shrine of St. Wystan. The monks recovered the relics,
and at the earnest request of the prior and canons of Repton granted
to them “a portion of the broken skull and a piece of an arm bone.”
The bearers of the precious relics were met by a procession of prior
canons, and others from Repton; “with tears of joy they placed the
relics, not as before in the mausoleum of St. Wystan’s grandfather, but
in a shrine more worthy, more suitable, and as honourable as it was
possible to make it in their own Priory Chapel.”
About twenty years after the murder of St. Wystan, the Danes again
invaded the land. During the reign of Alfred, in A.D. 874, they
penetrated up the river Trent into the heart of Mercia, and took up
their winter quarters at Repton, as we read in the _Saxon Chronicle_.
Here they made a camp, a parallelogram of raised earth, still _in
situ_, by the side of the river Trent. Its dimensions are: north side,
75 yards 1 foot; south side, 68 yards 1 foot; east side, 52 yards 1
foot; west side, 54 yards 2 feet. Within the four embankments are
two rounded mounds, and parallel with the south side are two inner
ramparts, and one parallel with the north. The local name for it is
“The Buries.” The next year, 875, they departed, having, as Ingulph
relates, “utterly destroyed that most celebrated monastery, the most
sacred mausoleum of all the Kings of Mercia.”
For about a century the site of the monastery remained desolate, until
the reign of Edgar the Peaceable (959–975), when, as the Rev. Dr.
Cox writes, “Probably about that period the religious ardour of the
persecuted Saxons revived ... their thoughts would naturally revert to
the glories of monastic Repton in the days gone by.” On the site of
or close to the ruined abbey a church was built, and dedicated to St.
Wystan. In _Domesday Book_ Repton is entered as having a church with
two priests, which proves the size and importance of the church and
parish in those early days.
According to several writers it was built of stout oak beams, and
planks, on a foundation of stone, and its sides were made of wattle,
composed of withy twigs, interlaced between the oak beams, daubed
within and without with mud or clay. The floor of the chancel,
supported on beams of wood, was higher than the present one, so it had
an upper and lower “choir,” the lower one being lit by narrow lights,
two of which, blocked up, can be seen in the south wall of the chancel.
When the church was reconstructed of stone the chancel floor was
removed, and the lower “choir” was converted into the present crypt by
the introduction of a vaulted stone roof, which is supported by four
spirally-wreathed pillars, five feet apart, five feet six inches high,
eight square responds, slightly fluted, of the same height and distance
apart, all with capitals, with square abaci, which are chamfered off
below.
As the responds are not bonded into the walls of the crypt, the
question has been asked if the walls might have pertained to the abbey,
and formed the mausoleum referred to on previous page.
Round the four walls is a double string-course; below which the walls
are ashlar, remarkably smooth. The vaulted roof springs from the upper
string-course; the ribs are square in section, one foot wide, no
diagonal groins. The whole roof is covered with plaster; traces of red
colour wash can be seen on the capitals and roof.
There were square recesses on the east, north, and south sides,
projecting two feet two inches from the face of the walls, six feet
two inches wide, with openings in them two feet wide, used as windows.
These recesses were capped with triangular shaped roofs, which served
the double purpose of protecting them, and also formed buttresses for
the walls. Similar triangular roofs are to be seen at Barnack and
Brigstock.
[Illustration: Repton Church: Saxon Crypt.]
In the west wall there is also a recess, formed by an arch; in this
recess there is a smaller triangular-shaped opening, about 18 inches
high. Many suggestions have been made as to its use: (1) it was
a “holy hole” for the reception of relics; (2) an opening in which
a lamp, let down from the chancel above, could be kept lit; (3) “a
hagioscope,” through which the crypt and its contents could be seen
from the nave of the church. Two passages led from the western angles
of the crypt to the church above.
In the December, 1896, number of the _Archæological Journal_ there is
an article by Mr. Micklethwaite in which he refers to the fact that the
crypts at Brixworth, Repton, and Wing are alike in one respect—they
each have recesses, which he calls “arcosolia,” or arched chambers,
intended to receive tombs. At Repton and Wing there are three; at
Brixworth, two. Repton and Wing extend two feet two inches from the
face of the walls; those at Brixworth are in the thickness of the
walls. In the year 1898 I excavated the earth on the south side, and
found the foundations as before given; under a slab in the recess, a
skeleton was found. The recess on the east side was destroyed when a
flight of stone steps was made leading down into the crypt. Six of
these steps are still _in situ_. The recess on the north side was
destroyed, and replaced by an outer stone staircase, with holy water
stoup in the wall, and a thirteenth century door.
All the various styles of architecture are to be seen included in the
walls of Repton church. Saxon or Norman in the chancel, crypt, walls,
and foundations of the present nave as far as the second pillars.
During the year 1854 the Saxon pillars and arches of the church were
removed for the sake of uniformity! The pillars are preserved in the
south porch.
During the last restoration of 1885–6, the foundations of this part of
the church, and those of the Early English period, were laid bare.
The Decorated style is represented by the pillars and arches of the
nave, the north and south aisles, and the tower with its steeple.
Bassano, in his _Church Notes_, records this fact:—
“An^o 1340. The tower steeple belonging to the Priors Church of this
town was finished and built up, as appears by a Scrole of Lead, having
on it these words—‘Turris adaptatur qua trajectu decoratur. M c ter
xxbis. Testu Palini Johis.”
The Perpendicular style is represented by the clerestory windows, of
two lights each, the roof of the church, and the south porch.