45 



The most interesting feature of the brass is the inscription in 

 four lines, as follows : — 



Pray for the soule of Thorn's Boynton of Roysby 

 Esquier who caused this chyrche fyrst to be halowed 

 and was ye fyrst corsse that was beryed in yt and 

 decessed the XXIX day of marche the yer of or Lord 

 god Ml Vc and XXIIJ on whose soule Jhu haue 

 mercy amen. 



The church can only have been renewed, as there is evidence that 

 a chapel existed at Roxby long before Thomas Boynton' s time. The 

 existing church (which was in a disgraceful state of neglect 

 when the writer last visited it in 1903) was mainly rebuilt in 

 1818, though portions of the north wall are of the seventeenth 

 century, but none of it is as old as Thomas Bovnton's "chyrche." 

 It contains one or two tombs of importance, and ought to be 

 better cared for tban seems to be the cast. Close to the Church 

 once stood the Mansion House of the Boyntons. Only a small 

 corner remains near the west end of the Church. Each year, it 

 is said, crops of large sized snowdrops flower in what was once 

 the garden of the house. 



The brass next in importance is that on the floor south of the 

 Altar in Kirkleatham Church, to the memory of Robert Coult- 

 hirst. It is a notable instance of a brass of the seventeenth 

 century, following in its arrangement the features of a brass of much 

 earlier date. In the centre is a full length effigy of Robert Coul- 

 thirst, 3ft. lOins. in height. He is represented in civilian costume, 

 and. as in late brasses, is standing in perspective on a pavement 

 or floor. The figure conveys the idea that it is a real portrait of 

 Robert Coulthirst, and not merely the conventional figure of an 

 old man. Round the slab, as «as common in earlier brasses, is 

 a narrow rim of brass bearing the legend, and at the four corners 

 of the slab are four shield?, eacn charged with the arms of the 

 Merchant Taylors' Companv of London. The legend reads : — 

 "HERE LYETH BURYED THE BODY OF ROBERT 

 COVLTHIRST FREE OF ■ MARCH ANT AYLORS OF 

 LONDON AND LATE OF YPLEATHAM GENT : WHO 

 DEPARTED THIS LIFE f 7th OF AYGYST 1631 BEING 

 OF THE AGE OF 90 YEARES WHOSE SOYLE RESTETH 

 W TH | ALMIGHTEY. 



