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WIFE, HER SOVLE IS AT REST WTH GOD FOR SHE WAS SVRE YT HER
REDEMER

LYVED & THAT THOVGH WORMES DESTROYED HER BODY, YET SHEE
SHOVLD SEE GOD IN HER FLESH SHE DYED THE 12TH OF IVLY 1600

The whole composition is mural in the chancel, the brass plate rather rough from oxidation. There is an engraving of the brass in A Guide to Ryedale, &c., page 43.

Owing to the indefinite wording of the inscription and the want of armorial bearings, it is almost impossible to identify Lady Brooke with any certainty. Mr. J. W. Clay, F.S.A., suggested to the writer the possibility of the lady being the widow of Robert Brooke, twice Lord Mayor of York, who died in 1599, and was buried in the church of All Saints' Pavement in that city. His inscription mentions his wife Joan, or Jane, and their sixteen children, whereof eleven were living at the time of their father's death. According to York custom, the wife of a Lord Mayor was styled "Lady" for the rest of her life, as the old couplet says:

"The mayor is a lord for a year and a day,

But his wife is a lady for ever and aye."

Mr. J. Challenor Smith, F.S.A., kindly took up the search at this point, and investigated the will of the Lord Mayor and that of his widow Jane, in neither of which is there any mention of Kirby Moorside. In the probate following the will of her husband the lady is styled "domina,” but not so in her own will, which bears date September 28, 1603, and was proved September 3, 1604. In this document she expresses a desire to be buried in the church of All Saints' Pavement with her husband, but the register of that church contains no entry of her burial. The plague was then raging with great violence in the city, as is proved by numerous entries in this register, so that it is possible she may have fled into the country to escape its ravages.' The registers now existing at Kirby Moorside commence in the year 1622. Mr. Smith, however, found a transcript for 1600 in the Diocesan registry at York, but the only entry of burial for July in that year is one for Agnes Lyon, widow, on the 4th of July. No transcript for 1604 could be found. It is a curious coincidence that the lady at Kirby Moorside should be represented with six sons and five daughters, and that the Lady Mayoress also had six sons and five daughters living at the time of her husband's

1 "In 1604 no less than 3512 persons died of the plague in York; the markets were all cried down, the Lord President's

Courts adjourned to Ripon and Durham, and many of the citizens left their houses." History of York.

death, but the assumption of identity can only be supported by the theory of an error in the date of the year of death recorded on the brass.

KIRKLEATHAM.
I.

THOMAS LAMBERT, 1453 (?), and wife AGNES. ENGRAVED c. 1470 (?). Size of plate

Inscription only, in raised black letter, much worn.

21 by 4 inches. Nave floor.

Orate pro ai'abz Thome Lambert et agnetis ur'is sue de
Keyrk letham

qui quidem Thomas obiit qui'to (?) die mensis septembris
Anno domini

mill'mo CCCCLEEJ (?) et dicata (?) agnes obiit... die
mensis Marcii

Anno domini mill'mo CCCCLIIEJ (?) quorum ai'abz

p'piciet'd's amen

Thomas and Agnes Lambert were, no doubt, the parents of William Lambert, vicar of Gainford and master of the college of Staindrop. In his will, proved 23 April, 1485,' he leaves "ad fabricam ecclesiæ de Lethom, pro animabus parentum meorum, lxvjs. viijd.” He had probably already placed this brass to their memory. The style of lettering and the coarse hatching of the background point to a date well into the second half of the fifteenth century.

II.

DOROTHY TURNOR, 1628.

Small round-topped plate, 11 inches in height, bearing the fulllength figure of Dorothy, daughter of John and Elizabeth Turnor, who died 26 February, 1628, aged 4 years 2 months and 6 days. She is represented standing on a pavement worked in squares, and wears a French hood, large ruff, slightly peaked bodice, a gown with lace cuffs, and a mantle or cloak hanging from the shoulders. Below is the following inscription on a plate measuring 13 by

5 inches:

HERE LYETH YE BODY OF DORATHY

DAVGHT' OF IOHN TVRNOR GENT AND
ELIZA HIS WYFE, WHO DEP'TED
THIS LYFE THE 26TH OF FEBRUARY
ANO DNI 1628. BEING OF YE AGE
OF 4 YEARES 2 MONETHES & 6 DAYS.

1 Printed in full in Test. Ebor., vol. iii, page 254.

[graphic][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small]

This brass, which lies on the chancel floor, is reproduced in the Reliquary, N. S., vol. viii (1894), page 117, together with the following account of the family :-"John Turner, the father, was originally of Norton, in the county of Hereford. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Coulthirst, and in 1623 purchased the manor and estate of Kirkleatham from Sir William Bellasis, to whom they had been granted by Queen Elizabeth. Dorothy was the third daughter of John and Elizabeth Turner, who had a large family of thirteen children. Two of her brothers rose to a certain amount of fame. John, the eldest, succeeded to the estate. He was a successful barrister, and eventually serjeant-at-law and recorder of York. William, the third son, went to London, and entered into business as a woollen draper in St. Paul's Churchyard. He there amassed a considerable fortune, and rose. to be alderman, sheriff, and in 1669 lord mayor of London, having received the honour of knighthood in 1662. In 1676 he founded the hospital at Kirkleatham."

[graphic]

III.

ROBERT COULTHIRST, 1631. Large full-length effigy of Robert Coulthirst, gent., of Upleatham, "free of ye marchantaylors of London," died August 7, 1631, æt. 90, with marginal inscription and four shields of arms. The figure measures 3 feet 10 inches in height, the shields 6 by 5 inches, and the whole composition 6 feet by 2 feet 6 inches.

ROBERT COULTHIRST, 1631.
KIRKLEATHAM.

(About one-fourteenth full size.)

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