Near to this table-tomb is a floor-slab bearing the brasses of a knight and his lady. This is the tomb of Sir Godfrey Foljambe IV., eldest son of the last-mentioned Henry, and his wife Catherine, daughter of Sir John Leeke, of Sutton-in-the-Dale.[36] He was born at Walton on Easter Day, 1472. By his will, made in 1531, he desires:
“My carcass to be buried in the Chappell of Saint George, besides my lady my wife in Chesterfield ... my funeral mass and dirge, with all other suffrages and obsequies to be done and ministered for my soul according as worship requires, after my degree, that my sword, helmet, with the crest upon the head, and my coat of arms be hanged over my tomb and there to remain for ever.”
Tomb of Henry Foljambe, 1510; and Kneeling Figure of Sir Thomas Foljambe, 1604.
Tomb of Godfrey Foljambe, 1594.
[From Ford’s “History of Chesterfield,” 1839.]
The knight is depicted in plate armour, his head resting on his helmet and his feet on a stag; his surcoat bears the quartered arms of Foljambe, Loudham, and Bretton. The lady wears the low-pointed head-dress, with falling lappets, of the sixteenth century, and is clad in a long mantle, which bears the arms of Leeke; the gown is confined at the waist by a girdle, fastened with a clasp of three roses, and round the neck is a chain with a pendant cross. Sir Godfrey died in 1541, and his wife in 1529. This Sir Godfrey was thrice high sheriff of the county, namely, in 1519, 1524, and 1536.
Against the east wall of the Foljambe chapel is an elaborate mural monument to Sir James Foljambe, the eldest son of the fourth Sir Godfrey, who died in 1558. This monument was erected by his grandson, and is a costly and elaborate example of the fashion of mural monuments that then prevailed. Bateman, the Derbyshire antiquary of last century, wrote of it as a specimen of “cumbrous style and horrible taste.” But although it clashes with its Gothic surroundings, it is quite possible to admire the beauty and workmanship of some of the component parts. The kneeling figures of Sir James, his two wives and thirteen children, are all represented. This Sir James Foljambe enjoyed a plentiful fortune from his father, but had it much augmented through marriage. His first wife was Alice, daughter and co-heir of Thomas Fitzwilliam, of Aldwark,[37] who was slain at Flodden Field, 1515; she brought him considerable landed property at Aldwark, and in other parts of Yorkshire. By her he had issue, Godfrey, George and James, twins, and three daughters, Frances, Cecily, and Mary. Sir James’ second wife was Constance, daughter of Sir Edward Littleton; by her he had issue, a son Francis, two other sons, and four daughters. The Latin epitaph, composed by Sir James’ grandson, is expressed in grandiloquent terms. Sir James is therein described, according to a translation by Lord Liverpool, as “a man highly adorned by piety, by the integrity of his manners, by the heraldic bearing of his ancestors, and by his own virtues.” By inquisition taken at Chesterfield after his death, it was found that he died seized of 40 messuages, 7 watermills, 200 acres of meadow, and £5 rents in Brampton, half the manor in Bremington, the manors of Elton and Tideswell, as well as a great variety of lands, messuages, and rents in more than a score of other townships in Derbyshire.
His eldest son, Godfrey, was twenty-four at the time of his father’s death. He was subsequently knighted, and died in 1585. He married Troth, daughter of William Tyrwhitt, of Kettleby. The table-tomb to the fifth Sir Godfrey and his wife bears their recumbent effigies in alabaster. Sir Godfrey wears a double collar ruff, and ruffles round the wrists; he is clad in the plate armour of the period, and is bare-headed; the head rests on the helmet, whilst a lion supports the feet. The lady is in ruff and mantle, her head on a cushion and a dog at her feet. Round the margin of the tomb are twenty shields, bearing the various Foljambe alliances, whilst at the foot is a shield of all these Foljambe quarterings impaling Tyrwhitt, whose arms are three tirwhits or lapwings. An elaborate Latin epitaph appears on a mural slab above the altar-tomb. Sir Godfrey is there described as “highly adorned by his innocence, his integrity, his faith, his religion, and his hospitality.”
