DescriptionSt Michael and All Angels, Lambourn, Berks - Tomb and Font.jpg
English: St Michael and All Angels parish church, Lambourn, Berkshire: 17th-century baptismal font and late 16th-century tomb. Sir Thomas Essex and his wife Margaret. Lady Essex was the daughter of Lord Sandys (Sandes) of the Vyne, Hampshire, and the tomb shows symbols of both families. On the helm of Sir Thomas, on which he rests his head, is a fiery salamander, crest of the Essex family, while his feet rest upon a dolphin. Text from[1] Description edited from John Footman's 'History of Lambourn Church' (1894) & P.S. Spokes' 'Coats of Arms in Berkshire Churches: Lambourn' (1935): This monument in Lambourn Church is thus described by Ashmole: "In the middle of the Chapel on the North Side of the Chancel is a fair raised monument, whereon lye the Statues in full Proportion, according to the Life, of a Knight and his Lady; he in his Surcoat of Arms over his Armour, resting his Head on a Helmet and Crest, viz.: an Eagle's Head with a Firebrand [ie. a broken hawk's leg] in his Mouth, and his Feet on a Dolphin bowed; she in her usual Habit and Attire, her Feet resting on a Goat with Wings [ie. a griffin, the Sandys family crest], and this Epitaph circumscribed on the Ledge thereof: "Here lyeth the Bodies of Thomas Essex, Knight, who deceased the 29th Day of August, in the Yere of Our Lord God, One Thousand Five Hundred Fifty and Eight, and Dame Margaret his Wif.""
On panels round the tomb are several coats of arms, which the following extract will explain: "Essex of Lamborn[e]: Arms: Quarterly of 6: , 1 and 6, Azure, a chevron Ermine, engrailed Or, between three eagles displayed, Argent; (2) Sable, a chevron Or, between three crescents, Ermine (Babthorpe); (3) Argent, on a chief Or, three fleurs-de-lis Gules (Rogers); (4) Argent, a fess Sable, a chief Gules (Cockburne); (5) Ermine, a chief per pale indented Or and Gules (Shottesbrooke)."
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