Norwell
St Laurence

Monuments and Memorials

The numbering of the monuments starts on the south side next to the lectern and moves clockwise round the walls of the church. Those on the floor of the south transept are listed after the wall monuments. Also recorded are two stone effigies and a grave cover. Most of the monuments in the south transept were moved there in the nineteenth century when the church was restored.

Wall Monuments

Numbered clockwise, starting by the lectern

1On south side of chancel arch, a brass plate (30.5cm wide x 51cm deep, and 180cm above floor level), within an ornamental surround, inscribed:

To the Glory of God
and
in loving memory of
Harry Marston
of the 2/4th Lincs. Rgt.
son of William and
Mary Ann Marston,
killed in action at
Roisel, April 3rd 1917.
Interred at
Templeux le Gerrard
aged 23 years.
R. I. P.

2On the wall leading to the south transept, a brass plate on a marble base (35.5cm x 40.5cm and 157cm above floor level), inscribed, beneath a coat of arms, with two crests (Quarterly, 1 and 4, Halliburton/Laurie, 2 and 3, Vere):

TO THE GLORY OF GOD
AND IN MEMORY OF
GEORGE HALLIBURTON
VERE-LAURIE
1906-1981
LIEUTENANT COLONEL 9TH LANCERS,
HIGH SHERIFF,
DEPUTY LIEUTENANT
AND JUSTICE OF THE PEACE
IN THIS COUNTY.
LORD OF THE MANOR
OF WILLOUGHBY IN NORWELL,
IN THIS PARISH.

3To the right of Monument 2, under a window, a brass plate (92cm x 16cm, 162cm above floor level), within a plain lined surround, inscribed:

TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN LOVING MEMORY OF
ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL DENNISTOUN WHO DIED AT
CARLTON HOUSE CARLTON ON TRENT SEPT. 22ND 1882
AGED 82 YEARS AND OF MARY DENNISTOUN HIS WIFE
WHO DIED AT FLORENCE OCT. 18TH 1877 AGED 72 YEARS

4On east wall at the entrance into the south transept, a convex marble wall tablet with moulded base and curved head (93cm x 113cm, 260cm above floor level), probably originally erected on a pillar:

Erected to the Memory of Willm.
Hawkins the Son of THOMAS
and ANN HAWKINS
Of Wandonend in the Parish of
King’s Waddin in Hertford Shire
His mother was the Daughter to
MR EDMUND STURTEVANT
of Pallace Hall
and he was Nephew to ye Present
MR THOMAS STURTEVANT
of Pallace Hall
he Departed this Life Janry the 14th
In the Year of our Lord 1755
In the 31st Year of his Age

At the top of the memorial there is the face of a winged cherub as decoration.

5On east wall of south transept, as Monument 4, a convex marble wall tablet with moulded base and curved head (62cm x 100cm, 260cm above floor level), inscribed:

Near
this Place lieth
interred the Body of
MR THOS STURTEVANT
who was the last of the
Family of that Name of
Pallace Hall.
He died June 3rd 1772
Aged 85 years

The date 1772 has been corrected from 1782. The memorial is signed in the bottom righthand corner: J. Wallis, Newark. A slightly different version of this inscription is described by William Dickenson, when the monument was ‘On a pillar in the body of the church’.

6In the corner of the west wall of the south transept, a raised white marble tablet (76cm x 56cm), with a ruled black surround, on a black base (93cm x 74cm, 223cm above floor level), inscribed:

SACRED
TO THE MEMORY OF
GEORGE WILLIAM HUTTON, ESQ.
OF CARLTON UPON TRENT,
WHO DIED 18TH MARCH, 1835,
AGED 59 YEARS.

ALSO OF
FRANCES HIS WIFE,
WHO DIED AT HASTINGS, 8TH JANUARY, 1842,
AGED 57 YEARS

LIKEWISE OF CHARLES AND WILLIAM WELBY,
THEIR SONS,
THE FORMER DIED 12TH JANUARY, 1824, AGED 11 YEARS.
THE LATTER ON HIS RETURN FROM INDIA
ON BOARD HIS MAJESTY’S SHIP, WOLF,
IN THE 18TH YEAR OF HIS AGE.

THIS TABLET IS ERECTED BY THEIR THREE
SURVIVING SONS.

[Signed under bottom righthand corner: Nicholson and Wood, Newark]

7In centre of west wall of south transept, an elaborate now-largely illegible stone and slate armorial monument (241cm x 120cm, 235cm above floor level), inscribed in small capitals, of which Dickenson provides a full transcription (when it was positioned in the chancel):

Reader what erst; Let fall thy Christal teare,
That Pearle, thus knowne, wch. is dissolved here:
And consecrate a Sigh to her good Urn,
Such as so greate a Loss may rightly mourne ?
Mourne Vertue, Honour, seaz’d by Fatal death,
Here mourne them, layde wth Choise Elizabeth;
Whose true composure take it to the Life,
Was Loyal, Royall, Careful, Chearful Wife:
And who best knew Her, knew her worse to none
Then good to All ? all Good, a godlie one.
Here Cynick search, here mayst thou easily finde
Who left some Good; but none so Good behinde
So good to me, whilst now untimely lost
Many must want her ? I poore I the most
The most Poore I; in that Deaths sweet reliefe
Hard Fates deny to mine Immortal Griefe

Eternitati Sacri
Hic sita est Elizabetha; Gulielmi Ayloff de
Brittens Essexiae Militis & Baronetti ex Kathe-
rina (Tho Sterne de Melburne Cantabrig Armig
filia & haerede) Filia ? Conubia juncta fuit Gervasii
Gervasio Lee nuper de Southwell Armig. Quem
cum post anos bis octo, octo bis beasset Prole
(Utriusque sexus aequali) Magno sui de se, apud
se suosque omnes desiderio, voluit mori. Resur-
rectionis Avida resurgere caepit Resurrectionis
Pridie Aprilis 4o Ao Dni 1629. Ex quo
Terras Astraea reliquit. In longum Formosa Vale.

A translation, adapted from Guy Hemingway may be offered:

In eternal and sacred memory. Here lies Elizabeth, daughter of William Ayloffe, knight and baronet, of Bruttens, Essex, by Katherine, daughter and heiress of Thomas Sterne, esquire, of Melburne, Cambridgeshire. She was married to Gervase, son of Gervase Lee, formerly of Southwell, esquire, with whom she lived twice eight years and was blessed with twice eight children, equally of either sex. She died, in eager hope of the resurrection, 4th April 1629. She left the earth for the stars. Beautiful in form, farewell.

The memorial is listed as an ‘Alabaster Renaissance revival style wall monument with square foliate panel carrying central inscribed slate tablet with moulded edges, scrolled apron and flanking Ionic columns on brackets. Entablature has ogee central gable containing foliate panel with Arms and motto, and above, damaged half height effigy’. The arms are those of Ayloffe and Lee per party, with the motto on a scroll Ubi celsa magni, as well as two separate escutcheons in the upper corners displaying (1) a Lion rampant; (2) a Lion rampant, three crosslets. Similar escutcheons also occur respectively under the base of the two Ionic columns framing the monument (cf Monument 11 for similar arms). The base is further decorated with a roundel showing a Pelican in her piety.

8Below Monument 7, on west wall of south transept, a small metal tablet (26cm x 48cm, 181cm above floor-level), inscribed:

Here lieth the body of
George Hutton
who departed this life
August 17th 1731
Aged 55 Years
George Hutton Riddell.
Born 16th December 1808.
Died at Hastings
17th April 1864

9On west wall at entrance to south transept, a lozenge-shaped, marble tablet (77cm x 85cm, 313cm above floor-level), inscribed:

To
the Memory of
CHARLES HUTTON Esqr
late of the Island of NEVIS
who died the 11th Octr. 1788
Aged 60 Years

10Below Monument 9, a black, rectangular black marble tablet, with concave corners (64cm x 49cm), raised on white marble base (82cm x 66cm, 229cm above floor-level), inscribed:

Sacred to the memory of
RICHARD HUTTON ESQ.
who died on the 24th day of August, 1813,
in the 83rd Year of his Age.
Also of GEORGE HUTTON ESQ.
(Brother of the above RICHARD,)
and ELIZABETH his wife,
the former of whom died the 13th Jany. 1814,
in the 75th Year of his Age,
and the latter on the 12th of July, 1802,
in the 65th Year of her Age.
In pace quiescant, in gloria resurgant.

[Signed on base of tablet: R. Marshall, Newark]

11Below Monument 10, a rectangular brass square (46cm x 40cm) set on a raised marble tablet (61cm x 55cm, 147cm above floor level), with the arms Per pale, in the first on a fesse, 3 crescents, 3 lions rampant, 2 and 1; in the second between a stag’s head antlered, a star in the chief, 3 buckles below, and inscribed:

HEERE LYETH INTERRED THE BODI:
ES OF EDWARD DALLOWE OF NORW:
ELL WOODHOUSE IN THIS PARISH AND
ANNE HIS WIFE. HEE DEPARTED THIS
LIFE THE XXVIth DAY OF FEBRVARY
1658 BEING AGED 79 YEARES OR
THERE ABOUTS AND SHEE DEPAR:
TED THIS LIFE Ye 16th DAY OF SEPT
EMBER 1657 BEING AGED SIXTY
AND NINE YEARES OF THERE ABOVTS

12On north wall of the chancel, a small brass plaque (25.5cm x 20cm) on a wooden base (29.5cm x 24cm, 160cm above floor-level), inscribed:

THIS PLAQUE IS ERECTED
IN GRATITUDE TO GOD
FOR THE LIFE AND SERVICE OF
ALBERT EVELYN MARSTON
CHORISTER FOR 70 YEARS
CHURCHWARDEN 1937-1982
BENEFACTOR OF THIS CHURCH
WHO DIED MARCH 16TH 1982
AGED 83 YEARS

13On the north wall of the Chancel, a small brass memorial tablet (30.5cm x 30cm, 138cm above floor-level), inscribed, within a ruled surround and with some rubrication:

In loving memory of
Corporal Robert Wilson Jackson
of the 5th K.O.Y.L.I.
who fell in action at Ypres
on the 10th July 1915,
Aged 27 years.
Resquiescat in pace.

Floor Tablets

The monuments in the south transept were mainly placed here during the nineteenth century restorations.

14On the floor of the south transept, a lozenge-shaped marble tablet (82cm x 102.5cm), set in a large stone slab (95cm x 186cm), commemorating the Rev Edward Walker and inscribed:

Here
lieth the
Remains of
the Revd
EDWARD WALKER,
(late VICAR of this Place),
who died on the 10th day
of August 1797,
Aged 53
Years.

15Alongside Monument 14, another lozenge-shaped marble tablet (83cm x 103cm), set in stone slab (94cm x 186cm), inscribed:

Here
lieth the
Remains of ELIZH.
Widow of the late Revd.
EDWARD WALKER,
(late VICAR of this PLACE),
who died on the 10th day
of March, 1834,
Aged 90
Years.

16Alongside Monument 15, on the floor of the south transept, a virtually illegible armorial alabaster slab (92cm x 168cm), for which Dickenson gives the partial inscription:

Detail
THESSAURUS INTUS

What * * * * * * visione founde
Here R * is who digs this sacred grounde
Shal * * * sin * * * * Cruel
* * * * * * * heavenly jewel
Which though * * * * his pains
My diamond in clay her worth retains

Dickenson gives the motto on a scroll beneath the shield as Thesaurus Intus. Hemingway, following him, suggests that the arms may be those described by Thoroton as:

on a monument for Gervas Lee Esq. in the Chancel’: Az., on a Fess cotised Or three Crosslets paté Or (Ayloff) and Arg. a Lion rampant Gules, and Sable a Chevron Gules between three crosslets flory Or, with a Crest (Pierie) a Demy Queen of Mauritania, party per pale Arg. & Gules, holding in her right hand a diamond ring Proper.

He further comments ‘The combination of Lee and Ayloffe suggests that the arms are those of a descendant of the Elizabeth who died in 1629’ (see Monument 7 above).

17Alongside Monument 16, a stone slab (93cm x 175cm), inscribed:

Here
Also Lieth the Body
of Ms. Elizabeth Townsend,
Wife of the Revd. Mr. John
Townsend, Vicr of this Parish,
who Departed this Life July
the 20th in ye Year of our Lord
1749
In the 55th Year of her Age.

18Alongside Monument 17, on the floor of the south transept, a now-broken slab (41cm x 72cm) used to fill a space, part of a memorial for which Hemingway provides the probable inscription:

[Here lieth the] body of ye
[Rev. John T]ownsend,
[who depa]rted this
[life] the 19th
[of February in the year of ou]r Lord
[174]4
[in the ? year] of his age.

19Adjoining the head of Monument 18, another stone slab (83cm x 100cm), inscribed within an oval surround:

UNDER
this Stone lies
Inter’d the Body of
GEORGE PINDER
who departed this Life
December ye 10th
1790
Aged 31
Years.

Effigies

There are two recumbent tomb effigies of note:

20
Effigy of knight Detail

The figure of an armed, cross-legged knight of c1330 in the south wall of the south transept, with the head detached from the body. The sandstone slab, probably of Derbyshire origin, on which the figure is carved now lies at ground level under a tomb-recess of c1280-1300; the two parts of the effigy jointly measure 190cm long x 55cm wide. From the poor, impermanent, fit it is clear that the effigy has been moved to this position in modern times, probably at the restoration of 1874-5, its original siting being unknown. Traditionally this effigy has been identified with Sir John de Lysours, lord of Willoughby by Norwell, whose turbulent career can be documented from c1279 until his murder in 1322. As the lords of Willoughby were the only armigerous family living in the parish in the early fourteenth century, this is a reasonable deduction but it rests on no documentary or heraldic evidence currently known.

21
Effigy of lady Detail

The serene figure of a lady with a wimple, her hands placed together in prayer, with her feet resting on a dog, currently lying under a raised tomb-recess of c1300 in the south wall of the south aisle. The figure in Mansfield stone is 195cm long x 48cm wide. Dated to the early 14th century by Pevsner, it may be from a few decades later, c1350 (C Brooke). As with the male effigy, there is a discordance in date between the effigy and its current position within an earlier tomb-recess, to which it may have been moved in 1874-5. No obvious identification can currently be made although it is likely that the lady belongs to the same family for whom the male figure was carved. There are also parallels with the near-contemporary tomb of a lady of the Fledburgh branch of the Lysours family that deserve further investigation. Did both the Norwell effigies once form part of a large free-standing box-tomb? It is possible that both may have been ordered together.

Grave Covers and Markers

22Lying on the floor in the south aisle is a large carved sandstone grave cover, sculpted in relief, displaying a geometrical cross of fully developed round leaf-form. It measures 186cm long x 55cm (at head) and 40cm (at foot) wide. The shaft of the cross, which rests on a stepped base, is 40mm wide, indicative of a late 13th or early 14th century date. It may have marked the grave of one of the early prebendaries, possibly Mr John Clarell (d.1295).

A second sandstone grave-marker can be found outside the church.

Part of another incised sandstone slab grave marker also survives in the aumbry in the north transept where it has been re-used around 1300.

There is further information on the medieval cross slabs in the Archaeology section.

Lost Monuments

Dickenson describes a marble slab, then in the chancel floor, which now appears lost:

Hic jacet Edwardus Lee Arm:
Ob: 23: Aprilis anno aetatis 76
Annoque Domini 1712

He also states that ‘several persons of the family of Hutton of Carlton’ had armorial tablets in the ‘pavement of the Aisles’ but only two predating his time appear now to remain.