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mutual view of both parties, and that Sowerby should contribute a penny for every twopence contributed by Thirsk, Carlton, and Sand Hutton. It may be assumed that this ordinance formed the basis of the rebuilding of the nave and tower; but the work was also helped by individual bequests. Thus Robert Thresk's feoffees no doubt paid for the erection. and furnishing of the chapel in the south aisle; and the repeated legacies to the "church works" in wills indicate that here, as in many other cases, a permanent fabric fund was established.2

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A series of bequests between 1520 and 1545 refer to the steeple building," under various terms. Whether anything was actually done to the tower at this time is not clear; and there is, on the face of it, no noticeable difference in style which would point to a long interval of time between the upper portion and the rest of the tower. In 1527 there is a bequest of half a mark to the building of the steeple, when it shal go forward.' From this it may be inferred that a special fund was set aside for the completion of the tower, the great buttresses of which suggest that a somewhat loftier tower was originally planned, but that little that little or nothing was actually done. The handsome pierced parapet of the tower and the whole church was probably the latest mediæval addition to the building.

The church contains much excellent woodwork, and the beautiful roofs of the nave and aisles, although much restored, are substantially the roofs of the fifteenth century rebuilding. The rood-screen has disappeared, but the screens or 'entercloses' of the chapels at the ends of the aisles remain, and there is some old woodwork reused in the modern font-cover. The east window of the south aisle, as already noted, contains a large amount of fifteenth-century glass. On the wall between the clerestory windows are remains of life-size paintings of the twelve apostles, with their names painted in Roman letters in oblong panels below; these appear to have been executed in the seventeenth century.

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There were several altars and images in the church. Near the high altar was the statue of our Lady in the quire." Bequests allude to the lights before the Rood and St. John, and

1 Reg. Melton, fo. 297 (245).

2 See will of Robert Marschall, p. 218. This fabric fund doubtless received John Wynter's legacy of 3s. 4d., to the re

VOL. XXII.

edificacion of the parishe churche of Thirske." (Reg. Test. Ebor., ix, fo. 375d.)

3 See wills, pp. 217 et seq.

4 Reg. Test. Ebor., ix, fo. 374d.
5 See wills, pp. 216 et seq.

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to altars or lights before the statues of Our Lady of Pity, St. Anne, St. Anthony, St. Erasmus, St. Katherine, St. Lawrence, St. Loy, St. Ninian, St. Peter, St. Sithe, St. Thomas, and King Henry VI. Of these the position of the altar of St. Anne alone is certain. There were 'porches '-i.e. chapels with enclosures of wood or stone beneath the arches of the nave-of St. John the Evangelist and St. John the Baptist. Allusions to the guild of our Lady in porticu,' and to the statue of our Lady of the porch show that the loft or upper chamber of the large south porch was, as at Cirencester, the meeting-place of the brethren of the guild, and probably contained an altar. The inner walls of the south porch are deeply scored with marks, according to the usual conjecture, of arrows, sharpened here during archery practice. The south door is contemporary with the porch and aisle, and is in an excellent state of preservation; there are few finer doors of the period in England. The parish chest, which is now placed in the nave, near the south doorway, appears to belong to the fifteenth century.

A. HAMILTON THOMPSON.

ON THE HERALDRY AT THIRSK.

There are two ancient descriptions of the heraldry in Thirsk Church. The earlier was made by Robert Glover, Somerset Herald, in 1584, when making his Visitation of Yorkshire.2 Besides the coats described later on, he notes, azure a chevron argent between three cocks gules [sic],3" two knights kneeling with these arms, argent three hedgehogs purpure, Orate pro animabus Thomae et Ceciliae, etc.," and a window to the memory of John Wright alias Osgodby, all of which have been since destroyed. The other description was made by Roger Dodsworth on Oct. 16, 1622.5 He mentions two shields, Scrope of Masham impaling Greystock, and Lascelles, sable a cross flory or, which are no longer extant.

At the present time, with the exception of two shields which also occur again in this window, all the ancient heraldic glass

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in Thirsk Church has been gathered together into the window. at the east end of the south aisle. Dodsworth tells that in his time there was "in the north quire a knight armed, kneling, behind him 8 sons, tow of them armed likewyse. On his brest Strangwaies armes. On the first son armed per pale Strangwaies and argent a lyon rampant azure. On the second son armed, per pale Strangwaies and azure a maunch or.2 His wief and 3 daughters, kneling. On her gowne paly Strangwaies and Ingleby, another paly Strangwaies and Maliverer.3 In the middest, quarterly, Strangwaies, and 2 quarter, quarterly Darcy and Mennell. Under all Orate pro bono statis Jacobi Strangwaies, militis, et Elizabeth[e] uxoris ejus." In the quire window there were the arms of Strangwayes quartering Darcy and Meynell, and in another window Orrell, argent three torteaux between two cotises and a chief sable.

The heraldry is commemorative of Sir James Strangways, of Harlsey Castle, near Northallerton, the first of his family to come into Yorkshire. According to the usually-accepted pedigree, he was the eldest son of James Strangwayes, who owned the manor of Strangeways, 3 miles east of Wigan, and Joan, daughter of Nicholas Orrell, whose arms are given in the window. The Strangwayes arms were sable two lions passant, paly of six argent and gules, or as it is phrased in the Fifteenth Roll, which seems to be the earliest time they are mentioned, "gobbone sylvyr and gowlys."5 By a wealthy marriage, a fashion followed by his descendants, Sir James Strangwayes laid the foundations of the prosperity of his family, which afterwards attained so great proportions. His wife was Elizabeth, daughter and coheir of Philip, Lord Darcy, and Eleanor, daughter of Henry, 4th Lord Fitzhugh. The other daughter, Margery, married Sir John Conyers, of Hornby."

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inscription. Two female heads there depicted may be Lady Strangwayes and one of her daughters.

5 The Ancestor, iv, 233. These were the bearings of Sir James Strangwayes. Robert Strangwayes had his lions crowned, gobbone of vj pecys." (Ibid., v, 183.)

6 March 7, 1438-9. Institution of William Boynton, clerk, in the person of Christopher Boynton, his proctor, to the free chapel of Whorleton, vacant by the resignation of Mr. Henry Chicheley, on the presentation of James Strangways, junior, and Elizabeth, his wife, one of the daughters of Philip, Lord Darcy, and of John Conyers and Marjory, his wife, the other daughter (Reg. Kempe fo. 395-)

Lord Darcy's great-grandmother was Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Nicholas, Lord Meynell of Whorlton Castle. This alliance accounts for the presence of the arms of Darcy, azure crusilly three cinquefoils argent, and Meynell, azure two bars gemelle and a chief or. These coats are not quarterly, as noted by Dodsworth, but on separate shields.

Sir James married, as his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Eure, by whom he had four children, having had seventeen by his first. He was High Sheriff for Yorkshire in 1446, 1453, and 1469; and M.P. for the county and Speaker of the House of Commons in 1 Edward IV (1461). In 1470, he and his wife, Elizabeth (probably his second wife), and daughter, Lady Welles, were admitted to the Corpus Christi Guild at York.1

The other arms in this window are England and France quarterly, and Mowbray, gules a lion rampant argent. Also three coats of the Askwith family, sable a fesse gules between three asses argent, differenced respectively by the imposition on the fess of a mitre, a mullet, and a crescent, all white. The two first shields also appear in the window at the west end of the north aisle. The family of Askwith was seated at a later period at Osgodby, in the parish of Thirkleby, about four miles south of Thirsk. The shield, differenced with a mitre, commemorates William Ascough or Askwith, Bishop of Salisbury from 1438 till June 29, 1450, when he was murdered at Edington, in Wiltshire, where he was buried. His will is dated 1449.

On a pair of stall-ends, now fixed in front of the organ, there are a couple of coats of arms: (i) Quarterly (1) and (4), a fess over all a lion rampant; (2) and (3), on a bend three billets between two balls. The latter coat has not been ascertained. The former may be for Gibson of Welburn (one of whom, Sir John, was buried at Crayke in 1639), barry of six ermine and sable a lion rampant or. (ii) Askwith, with a mullet for difference, impaling three calves. Brian Askwith, who heads the pedigree of Askwith of Osgodby in the Visitation of Yorkshire in 1612 (p. 487), married Dorothy, daughter of Ottiwell Metcalfe, of Swinethwaite and Bekards, in Wensleydale. Brian Askwith's will is dated Feb. 18, 1589-90.2 In it, after stating he was sick in body, he made a profession of faith,

1 The Guild of the Corpus Christi, York (Surtees Soc., lvii), p. 75.

2 Reg. Test., xxiv, 238.

such as suited a man whose daughter married a son of Whittingham, the strongly Protestant Dean of Durham :-"I bequeath my soule unto Almightie God, my Creatour, who, through the merittes and precious bloodshedding of his deare and onelie sonne, Jesus Christ, hath satisfied his owne justice for my sinnes, and of his great love hath provided, and through his sonne Jesus Christ, my Saviour, hath purchased an everlasting kingdome for me for ever; and my bodye to the earthe to be buried, ther to remaine untill the glorious coming of our Lorde and Saviour Jesus Christe." To his wife Dorothy the profits of his land till his son William should attain the age of 24. Stipend for son's maintenance at Cambridge or one of the Inns of Court to be provided at the discretion of his brotherin-law, John Coniers, of London, Esq.,1 and his son-in-law, Timothy Whittingham. To his good friends, John Woolmer and Thomas Wright, Esquires, the lease of Solbargh. Sons-inlaw, Francis Davell, Timothy Whittingham, and Thomas Conyers. Daughters, Agnes Davell, Elizabeth Whittingham, and Isabel Coniers. Sonne William my chaine of gold, my signet, and half my plait. Vnto my good frindes [sic] John Wolmer and Thomas Wright, Esquiers, eyther of them, an old ryall, for a remembrance of auncient frindship." Supervisors, his brotherin-law, Mr. Coniers, and his sons-in-law. Wife sole executrix. Witnesses, Fraunces Davell, Tymothie Whittingham, Leonerd Coniers, and Thomas Frear. Proved March 16, 1589-90, at Osgodbie, before Master John Gibson, LL.D., and administration granted to the executrix.

The will of his widow, Dorothy Askwith, of Osgodby, was made on Nov. 2, 1596. Her profession of religion is much briefer than her husband's, "I give and bequeath my soule unto Almighty God, my maker and redemer." Her kinsfolk and neighbours, the Metcalfes of Hood Grange, were recusants, but her branch of the family appears to have been Conformists. Her will is interesting, so the greater part of it is given here:-

"Dorothie Askwith, of Osgodby, widow. My bodie to be buried in the parish church, where yt shall please God to call me to his mercy. Unto my sonne-in-lawe, Francis Davell, two olde ryalls, and other two to my daughter Davell, and one white goblet of silver like to a chalice. To my sonne Whittingham two olde ryalls, and other two to my daughter, and one

1 Probably John Conyers, an auditor and whose son Thomas married the in London, whose mother was a Metcalfe, testator's daughter, Isabel.

2 Reg. Test., xxvi, 429.

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