384 The Church of All Saints, Steeple Langford. 



than a century later than the Conqueror, and seems to connect it 

 more probably with the period quoted by Mr. Wilton as that at 

 which Waleran was patron and landowner in the parish. 



The Church is said to have been consecrated in honour of All 

 Saints in 1326; this must, however, have been a re- dedication, 

 for the font and the arches at either end of the nave show that a 

 Church existed here nearly two centuries before this date. 



The plan of the Church is : — nave, with south porch, north aisle 

 (called the Mompesson Aisle), western tower, and chancel, with 



would present the ordinary form of a modern coffin. This smaller four-sided 

 slab had been broken in pieces, and used in the building, and it may now be 

 difficult to suggest for what it was first intended, but the conjecture that such 

 had been the original fashion of the tomb may be very questionable. 



" The person pourtrayed on this memorial appears in a long robe, open in 

 front, his hands are raised and hold an escutcheon, which is perfectly plain, 

 and the idea suggests itself that it may have been intended to represent a 

 receptacle enclosing the heart of the deceased, and not an armorial escutcheon, 

 to which it bears close resemblance. It will be remembered that there exist 

 several sepulchral memorials, presenting examples of the heart thus held 

 between the upraised hands, such as the figures at Cubbington and another 

 near Ledbury, in Herefordshire ; and this peculiarity occurs in the half figure 

 of a bishop in Winchester Cathedral. At the right side of the figure is a 

 horn, suspended by a strap over the left shoulder, and this has been regarded 

 as allusive probably to Waleran Venator, who held lands at Steeple or Great 

 Langford, Wilts, and was patron of the living at the early part of the thirteenth 

 century, the period also to which the date of the chancel recently demolished 

 had been assigned. The slab lay on the south side of the chancel near the 

 east end, and Mr. Wilton thinks that it may be regarded as the memorial of 

 a founder of the fabric. The costume and design of the figure appears to be 

 of rather later date than the period when Waleran the Hunter held lands in 

 the parish, which was about the year 1200. Mr. Wilton states that at the 

 close of the 13th century Alan de Langeford appears to have held the office 

 of Verderer of the adjoining forest of Grovely, and he suggests that the horn 

 may have been introduced as a symbol of his office .... The hunting 

 horn is, as I believe, of comparatively uncommon occurrence on sepulchral 

 memorials in England .... I am informed that in Scotland instances 

 of its introduction in early monumental sculpture are more frequent . . . 

 The design strikes me as presenting considerable similarity to that of many 

 incised memorials in France which may be assigned to the same period." 



P.S. — Since writing the above my attention has been called to the Rev. 

 G. S. Master's " Collections for a History of West Dean," (7F«7<»- JjtA. Jl/a^., 

 xxii., 253), from which it Would appear that the Eangership of the New 

 Forest was hereditary, so that the effigy probably represents a descendant of 

 Waleran, the Norman huntsman. — C.E.P. 



