John Farnham appears to have been also a kind of captain of free-lances, warring in the pay of foreign princes on the Continent. An alabaster bas-relief on the wall of the chapel (like the tomb itself, recently restored) shows him leading his men on to the siege of a castle. A quaint epitaph in verse tells us something of what he was:
John Farnham here within this tombe enterred doth remaine,
whose life resigned up to God, the heavens his soul containe;
and if you do desire to knowe his well deserved praise,
go aske in court what life he ledd, and how he spent his days,
where princes great he truly served with whõ he stood in grace,
for good conceit and pleasaunt wit favour’d in every place.
Beloved of the noblest sorte, well liked of the rest,
unto his friend a faithfull friend, and fellowe to the best,
In warres he spent his youth, for youth the best expense of dais,