By the Rev. J. Wilkinson. 295 
confederates had taken the opportunity, afforded by these intestine 
troubles, of invading Northumberland, they were intercepted by 
the royal army under Sir Andrew Harclay at Boroughbridge, and 
defeated in the attempt to cross the river, 16th March, 1822. Lan- 
caster was condemned without trial by his peers, and led to execution 
with the same circumstances of indignity as he had inflicted on Gave- 
ston. All the bannerets (with Gifford among them), and fourteen of 
the knights, did receive a legal trial ; being taken with arms in their 
hands, they were condemned as traitors to death, and to the loss 
of all their estates. John Gifford himself was beheaded at 
Gloucester, 1322, the scene of his family’s power and devotion; 
and, there is reason to believe, was buried in the north chapel of 
Boyton Church. The Rev. A. Fane, the present proprietor of the 
ancient estates of the Giffords in Boyton, thus describes the sup- 
posed tomb.! “T scarcely doubt that the last male Gifford was in- 
terred im the Church of Boyton, in the North Chapel. A very 
large slab of Purbeck marble was placed in the centre of this 
Chapel, which was evidently built for mortuary purposes: a very 
magnificent brass had once adorned the stone, and described no 
doubt who slept below. I had occasion to move this stone from its 
being wholly concealed by pews, and also from a sinking of the 
floor. Beneath the marble slab wasa stone grave (not a coffin), and 
in this lay a skeleton with the skull placed on the left side of the 
skeleton, as if on the interment this position had been originally 
established. The remains had apparently never been moved. The 
skeleton lay in perfect order, except the strange position of the 
head. Now, seeing that the widowed Margaret Gifford retained 
the Manor and Church of Boyton—that all Gifford’s other estates 
were confiscated—seeing that this Chapel was built in the middle 
period of decorated architecture—i.e., tempore Edward II.—seeing 
the magnificent slab—the signs of a fine brass—and no other 
family having been of distinction sufficient to justify such marks 
of pre-eminence except the Giffords—can I doubt that the head- 
less skeleton was the form of John Gifford le Rych? whose body 
had probably been conveyed from Gloucester after execution, and 
SE 
if 
fi 
y 
' Wilts Arch. Magazine, vol. ii. p. 107. 
