206 



By C. E. PoNTiNG, F.S.A. 



This Church of S. Mary the Virgin, Steeple Ashton. 



^F the Church^ there is less open to conjecture than is usually 

 the case, for an inscription which formerly existed on the 

 wall beneath the north clerestory window opposite the porch, and 

 is supposed to have been copied verbally on the brass plate now at 

 the west end, states : — 



This Church was founded 



unto the Honour of Almighty 



God between the years of 



our Lord 1480, and 1500. 



The North Isle was Built at 



the Cost and Charge of 



Robert Long, and Edith his Wife. 



The South Isle for the 



niosl part was Built at the 



Cost and Charge of Walter 



Leucas, and Maud his Wife. 



The Rest of the Church 



with the Steeple was Built 



at the Cost and Charge of 



the Parishioners then living. 



Newly Recorded by 



Stephen Wilkins )/-,,, , , 



TVT..1. o-i ii - Church-wardens..'' 

 William Silverthorn I 



' Some interesting and valuable information as to the name and patron 

 will be found in Canon Jackson's paper on Rood Ashton, in vol. xiii., p. 318. 



"' The record on this brass, including the names of the churchwardens, is 

 an exact copy of a painted board which was formerly affixed to the gallery at 

 the west end of the Church. Stephen Wilkins died on October 25th, 1735, 

 and his monument is in the Clothiers' Chapel. The parish registers record 

 the burial of two William Silverthorns in 1730, and a third William Silverthorn 

 was buried in 1735. One of these was probably the other churchwarden 

 whose name is recorded on the brass. — E.P.K. 



