The Strife of the Roses and Days of the Tudors in the WestRogers, W. H. Hamilton (William Henry Hamilton)
History
The Strife of the Roses and Days of the Tudors in the West
Rogers, W. H. Hamilton (William Henry Hamilton)
Great Britain -- History -- Tudors, 1485-1603; Great Britain -- History -- Wars of the Roses, 1455-1485
The arms proper of Willoughby appear to be _Or, fretty azure_, and
with regard to the badge of _the rudder_, although it has been
questioned, still the evidence of investigation goes far to prove it
to be by ancestral descent, the peculiarity of this family. Leland
makes special note of their appearance at Broke-Hall, and also in
Westbury church. It first occurs in connection with Cheney on the tomb
at Edington, also with Willoughby at Callington, is well marked on the
bench-end at Beer-Ferrers, and again--out of compliment--appears in
similar situation in Landulph church, on the opposite side of the
river. It is found in Lychet-Matraver's church in east Dorset, on the
font and over the windows, accompanied by the golden _fret_ of
Matravers; here it follows Elizabeth, sister of Lord Willoughby de
Broke, who married William Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel, Baron Matravers
of Lychet, and lord of the place, who died in 1543. The church was
evidently rebuilt about that time, and displays the characteristics of
late, almost debased Perpendicular.
Another memory concerning Willoughby de Broke yet remains for us to
chronicle, and we must spirit you away, gentle reader, from Tamar's
oozy marge to the dry undulating chalk hills of central Dorset, and
invite you to enter the well-cared-for little church of Hooke.
Descending to him through his grandmother Anne Cheney, as
representative of the families of Stafford and Matravers of Hooke,
Lord Willoughby de Broke held large properties in this and the
adjoining parishes, eleven manors (as enumerated by Hutchins), and
where also he had a seat, of which, says Coker, "Humphrey Stafford who
married Matraver's heir, was the great builder of it," then the
residence of the Marquis of Winchester, descendant of the
Willoughbies; "but his successors have not thought so well of it,
wherefore it is like to run to decay." On its site now stands a modern
mansion, with a few antient vestiges interwoven, and around it is a
fair-sized park. It was in Hooke church that the first Lord
Willoughby de Broke by will endowed the priest for twenty years to
pray for his soul; and within the edifice, on the south side, is a
small chantry, which opens to the church by an arch of late character,
richly decorated with a course of quatrefoil panels having in their
centres shields, and edged on each side with a string-course of
foliage. There are no bearings on the shields. Here, doubtless, the
masses _pro bono statu_ of the deceased nobleman's soul were regularly
sung and said for the time specified. No memorial to Willoughby is
visible in the chantry, excepting a small brass, that probably had its
original station within it, but is now affixed to the opposite wall,
which records the following,--
=Of yo^r charyte pray for the soule of Edmond Semar late se'v'nt
to Robt wylughby knyght late lord Broke whiche Edmond decessed
y^e xiii day of Ianuary the yer of o^r lord m v^e xxiii on whose
soule Ihu haue mercy amen=
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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