Tideswell Church: The Chancel.
This is the only remaining assured instance of the once numerous memorials to the great Foljambe family with which this church must have at one time abounded. It was, however, Lord Liverpool’s opinion that the two stone effigies, both of ladies, in the north transept of the church—the one dating from the end of the thirteenth, and the other from the latter half of the fourteenth century—represented members of his family. In this he is supported by local tradition, but the question can probably never be settled. In the south transept are two effigies of later date to a knight and his lady on a table tomb. These have been claimed to represent Sir Thurston de Bower and his wife Margaret, who died about the close of the fourteenth century. This monument was considerably restored and renovated in 1873, and a marginal inscription added naming the effigies. It is, however, quite possible that Lord Liverpool’s conjecture as to these effigies also representing members of the Foljambe family is correct.[34]
Thomas, the elder of the two sons of John Foljambe, the benefactor to the church, died without issue in his father’s lifetime; John was succeeded by his younger son, Roger, who is mentioned in various charters of the reign of Richard II. His son and heir, James, died in Roger’s lifetime, but left a son, Edward Foljambe, who was at Tideswell, Wormhill, and Elton in 1416. He took part in the Battle of Agincourt, and was knighted, and dying about 1446–7, left two sons. These sons were: Roger, who succeeded him and died in 1448, leaving three daughters; and Thomas, who died shortly before his brother, without issue. Thereupon, the entailed estates of Tideswell, Wormhill, etc., came to Thomas, son and heir of Thomas, younger son of Sir Godfrey Foljambe, of Darley.
The Darley estates passed, as has been already mentioned, in the time of Edward III. to Sir Godfrey Foljambe, the younger son of Sir Thomas, of Tideswell. Sir Godfrey was a man of considerable repute; he acted as seneschal to John of Gaunt, and was for some years Constable of the Peak; he also represented Derbyshire in the Parliaments of 1339–40, 1363–4, and 1369–71. Sir Godfrey Foljambe, who held the old Gernon manor in Bakewell parish and much other property, died in 1376, at the age of 59. A remarkable monument of beautiful finish is to be seen in Bakewell Church, against one of the nave piers, to his memory, and that of his second wife, the co-founders of a chantry in this church.
Sir Godfrey and his wife are represented in half-length figures of alabaster, carved in high relief, beneath a double-crocketed canopy. The knight is represented in plate armour, and having on his head a conical helmet or bascinet, with a camail of mail attached to its lower edge. The lady wears the reticulated head-dress or cowl. Over the knight are the arms of Foljambe—sa., a bend between six escallops, or—the same being represented on his surcoat; over the lady are represented the arms of Ireland—gu., six fleurs-de-lis, arg., 3, 2, 1. The monument is complete as it stands without any inscription, but in 1803, Mr. Blore, the antiquary, placed here a slab of black marble with the following inscription in gilt letters: —
“Godefridus Foljambe miles et Avena un: ej. quæ postea cepit in virum Ricardum de Greene militem dno dnaque manerius de Hassop, Okebroke, Elton, Stanton, Darley-over-hall, et Lokhowe, cantariam hanc fundaverunt in honorem sanctæ Crucis ao. rr. Edri tertii xxxix + Godefrus ob: die Jovis pr: post fest: ascens. dni ao: regis pdci 1o obiitq Avena die Sabbi pr: p: nativ: b: Mariæ Virg: ao. rr. Ric. II vio.”
This may be translated: —
“Sir Godfrey Foljambe, Knight, and Avena his wife (who afterwards married Richard de Greene, Knight), Lord and Lady of the manors of Hassop, Ockbrook, Elton, Stanton, Darley-over-hall, and Locko, founded this chantry in honour of the Holy Cross, in the 39th year of the reign of King Edward III. Godfrey died on the first Thursday after the feast of the Ascension, in the 50th year of the aforesaid King, and Avena died on the first Saturday after the feast of the nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the 6th year of the reign of Richard II.”
At the bottom of this slab is the word “Watson,” which is in itself sufficient to stamp this inscription as of modern date; for the old monumental sculptors were never guilty of the offence of advertising themselves on the inscribed slabs that they erected. It has been stated that Mr. Blore obtained this inscription from a document in the British Museum where the original epitaph was quoted. This, however, is an impossibility, for a contemporary inscription could not possibly have contained the blunders of this supposed transcript. The date of the foundation of the chantry is wrong, and it was, moreover, founded by Sir Godfrey Foljambe in conjunction with his first wife Anne, and not with his second wife Avena. The family from which Anne, the first wife, came is not known, but his second wife, Avena, was the daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Ireland, of Hartshorne, by Avena, daughter and heiress of Sir Payn de Vilers, of Kinoulton and Newbold, Notts.