Memorials of old Derbyshire

by Unknown

There has been much confusion as to the date of the founding of the chantry of the Holy Cross in Bakewell church—Lysons gives the date as 1365, whilst Glover assigns it to 1371; but the one has been deceived by an inquisition taken on the death of one of the chaplains or trustees of the chantry property, and the other by a confirmation deed of the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield. The true date is 1344, as is proved by a variety of original documents now extant at the Public Record Office.[35] There was a gild of some importance in connection with this well-endowed chantry. The ordinances to secure the regular attendance of the chaplain of this foundation were rigorous. He was to reside constantly in the chantry house which adjoined the churchyard. This house was only pulled down in the year 1820. He was never to be away from Bakewell for as much as three days without licence from the Lord of Hassop for the time being, and if the lord was not in residence, he was to obtain leave from the vicar of Bakewell. If the chaplain was ever away without licence for so long a time as fifteen days he was to be at once removed, and another chaplain was to be presented by the Lord of Hassop for institution by the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield.

The site of the chantry of the Holy Cross was at the east end of the south aisle. This interesting mural monument is placed against one of the piers between the south aisle and the nave. It is not quite certain whether this is the original position, but it has certainly been there for two and a half centuries; Ashmole, who visited the church in 1662, gives a rough draft of the memorial, which he describes as “set upon a pillar betweene the upper end of the south Isle and the body of the Church.” There was daily mass at the altar of the Holy Cross, and the chaplain was instructed, after the confiteor in each mass, to turn to the people and say in the mother tongue, “Pray for the soul of Sir Godfrey Foljambe and Anne his wife, and his children, and for the brethren of the Guild of the Holy Cross, and for all the faithful departed.”

This is the only Foljambe monument at Bakewell, but the following members of the family were probably buried in the parish church:—Alice (Darley), widow of Sir Thomas Foljambe; Sir Godfrey Foljambe, of the monument, and his two wives, Anne and Avena; three of the sons of Sir Godfrey by his second wife, Avena, viz., Sir Godfrey Foljambe II., Alvared, the fourth son, and Robert, the fifth son; Sir Godfrey Foljambe III., grandson of Sir Godfrey of the monument, who died in 1389; and Margaret, daughter of Sir Simon Leche, and wife of the last named Sir Godfrey.

Bakewell Church: Foljambe Monument.

Meanwhile, a younger branch of the family, founded by Thomas Foljambe, second son of the first Sir Godfrey, by Avena, his wife, settled at Walton, near Chesterfield, through the marriage of this Thomas with Margaret, the eldest daughter and co-heiress of Sir John Loudham, of Walton. Sir John Loudham gained the Walton estate, in the parish of Chesterfield, by marriage with Isabel, daughter and heiress of Sir Robert Bretton.

Thomas, son and heir of Thomas Foljambe, of Walton, and Margaret (Loudham), his wife, became heir male of the family in 1448, on the death, as has been already stated, of Roger Foljambe, of Tideswell. Though still landowners in that parish, the family ceased from that time to be residents at Tideswell; for in 1451, this Thomas, then aged forty, inherited further estates on the death of his uncle, and thenceforth the Derbyshire home of the family was at Walton. The Tideswell property was eventually sold by Sir Francis Foljambe, Bart., who died in 1640.

We now leave both Tideswell and Bakewell in the search for Foljambe monuments, and go to one of the south chapels of the great church of Chesterfield, which was the burial place of the family for more than two centuries. In this chapel of the south aisle of the quire, long known as the Foljambe chapel, there used to be a brass to Thomas Foljambe, who was the first of the family to acquire Walton. There were also brasses to his son, Thomas Foljambe, of Walton, who married Jane, daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Ashton; and also to his son, a third Thomas Foljambe, who died childless in 1468. But these three brasses disappeared in the seventeenth century.

Among the Osberton muniments are letters testimonial from the commissary of the Bishop of Lichfield, dated 27th May, 1469, granting to Henry Foljambe, of Walton, and John Foljambe, administration of the goods of Thomas Foljambe, of Walton, deceased, in the estate, the same having been appraised by James Hyton, dean of Scarsdale, and others, and proclamations made at mass in Chesterfield church.

The oldest of the memorials now left is a finely wrought table or chest tomb (of the kind usually misnamed “altar-tomb”), which commemorates Henry Foljambe, brother and heir of the third Thomas Foljambe, of Walton, who married Benedicta, daughter of Sir Henry Vernon, of Haddon. On the sides of this tomb are many sculptured figures of squires and ladies under rich canopies, representing the seven sons and seven daughters of Henry and Benedicta. The names of these children were Godfrey, Thomas, Henry, Richard, John, Gilbert, Roger, Helen, Margaret, Joan, Mary, Benedicta, Elizabeth, and Anne. An agreement was entered into between the executors of Henry Foljambe, in conjunction with his widow and children, and Henry Harpur and William Moorecock, of Burton-on-Trent, “to make a tomb for Henry Foljambe, husband of Bennett, in St. Mary’s quire, in the church of All Hallows, in Chesterfield, and to make it as good as is the tomb of Sir Nicholas Montgomery at Colley, with eighteen images under the table, and the arms upon them, and the said Henry in copper and gilt upon the table of marble, with two arms at the head and two arms at the feet of the same, and the table of marble to be of a whole stone and all fair marble.” This agreement is dated 26th of October, 1510; £5 was paid in hand, and another £5 was to be paid when all was performed; it seems probable that this contract referred only to the stonework of the tomb. The brasses on the top of this table-tomb, consisting of the effigies of Henry and his lady, together with a marginal inscription brass, were for a long time missing, but were re-supplied by the late Lord Liverpool; the shields bear the arms of Foljambe, Vernon, Loudham, and Bretton.