WOTTON HUNDRED 



WOTTON 



16th-century date, with a square head and hood- 

 moulding ; and beyond this to the east was another 

 three-light window, transomed, under a segments! 

 arch, and apparently of late 1 7th-century date. The 

 two large windows of 13th-century design in the 

 eastern part of the south wall replace those last 

 described. 



To the end of the 1 7th century belongs the brick 

 vestry, or mortuary chapel of the Evelyn family, on 

 the north of the chapel proper. It is of thin bricks, 

 and has a circular window in its east gable, and a 

 door between it and the chapel, a modern doorway, 

 lately inserted, being pierced in its northern wall. 



The roofs of the nave and chancel are modern and 

 incongruous. The seating, pulpit, font, and all other 

 fittings are also modern, with the sole exception of an 

 interesting oak screen, with bannisters, and iron 

 spikes or prickets for candles at the top, separating the 

 chapel from the aisle. This bears the date 1632, and 

 is almost the only bit of screenwork of its period 

 ' remaining in Surrey. Within the chapel is preserved 

 a font of white marble, with circular fluted basin on 

 a tall baluster stem of about the same date, but 

 possibly as old as the date of John Evelyn's birth in 

 1620. Cracklow records that 'in one of the south 

 windows was formerly this fragment in black letter, 

 " Orate pro anima Johannis de la Hale." ' 



John Evelyn's tomb in the north chapel is coffin- 

 shaped and quite plain, about 3 ft. from the floor in 

 the eastern part of the chapel, and his wife's, of the 

 same plain design, is to the westward and close to the 

 south wall. Their coffins are said to be inclosed in 

 these tombs above ground. He died on 27 February 

 in 1705-6, in his eighty-sixth year, and his wife 

 Mary, daughter of Sir Richard Browne, ambassador of 

 Charles I at Paris, on 9 February 1 708-9. The inscrip- 

 tions are upon the white marble covering slabs, and that 

 on John Evelyn's runs thus : ' Here lies the body of 

 John Evelyn, Esq., of this place . . . Living in an 

 age of extraordinary events and revolutions, he learnt, 

 as himself asserted, this truth, which pursuant to his 

 intention is here declared : that all is vanity which is 

 not honest, and that there is no solid wisdom but in 

 real piety.' Evelyn's own desire was to be buried 

 ' within the oval circle of the laurel grove planted by 

 me at Wotton,' or, if this were not possible, in this 

 chapel, where his ancestors lay : ' but by no means in 

 the new vault lately joining to it.' 



Besides these there are several inscribed ledgers upon 

 the floor with heraldic panels, one, in brass, near the 

 east end, bearing the griffon and chief of Evelyn and 

 the bars and martlets of Ailward with a fine piece of 

 mantling. On the south wall, near its west end, is 

 the beautiful monument of George Evelyn, the 

 purchaser of Wotton, who died in 1603, aged 

 seventy-seven. It is of alabaster, with panels of black 

 slate or ' touch,' on which are the inscriptions, now 

 hardly decipherable, and is divided into three com- 

 partments. In the centre, high up, under a circular 

 arch, is the kneeling figure in armour of George 

 Evelyn. Above the cornice is a medallion bearing his 

 coat-of-arms, and a helm and mantling, and the crest 

 of a griffon passant. On the rounded pediments of the 

 side compartments (within which are skulls) are 

 draped urns, and within the recesses below, under 

 heavy entablatures and circular arches, are the figures 

 of his two wives kneeling and facing towards him. 

 Rose, the first, bore him ten sons and six daughters, 



and Joan, the second, six sons and two daughters. 

 Beneath each figure is an inscription panel, and below 

 is a long panel on which the twenty-four children 

 are carved in low relief, all kneeling ; a narrow 

 inscription panel and some carved scrolls and con- 

 soles completing the design. The whole monument, 

 an excellent example of the taste of its time, retains 

 the original colouring and gilding. 



Adjoining this, to the east, is the very fine monu- 

 ment (alabaster, coloured, with slate panels) of 

 Richard Evelyn, fourth son of George Evelyn, high 

 sheriff of Surrey and Sussex in 1634, and his wife 

 Eleanor Stansfield, with their five children. Richard, 

 the father of the celebrated diarist, died in 1640. 

 Fat nude boys in contemplation support the upper 

 pedimented entablature over the principal cornice, 

 and in the centre at the summit is a draped female 

 figure, blindfolded ; other ' virtues ' in attitudes of 

 grief flank the boys. Two large and beautiful draped 

 angels, one holding a flaming heart and the other an 

 open book, are drawing back the curtains to display 

 the kneeling figures of Richard Evelyn and his wife. 

 He is habited in the doublet, trunk-hose, and heavy 

 cloak of his time, with his hair falling in curls over a 

 deep collar. He kneels on a cushion with hands 

 joined in prayer before a draped prayer-desk, facing 

 his wife, whose flowing head-dress, falling in long 

 folds behind, and gracefully-gathered gown, are 

 charming examples of the lady's dress of the period. 

 Their three sons and two daughters, in the panel 

 below, kneel on cushions before another desk, the 

 centre figure of the boys being the celebrated John. 

 All the heraldry which includes a very fine coat with 

 mantling and a helm bearing the griffon crest in the 

 panel at the top and the smaller architectural orna- 

 ments, such as the consoles and scroll-work at the 

 bottom, are models of delicate and spirited carving, 

 and the figures of the angels and the husband and 

 wife are among the best of that age. The original 

 colouring is very perfect. 



Opposite to these is the monument of Elizabeth 

 Darcy, daughter of Richard Evelyn, who died in 

 1634. It is in the same taste as the foregoing, and 

 probably by the same sculptor, who may well have 

 been the celebrated Nicholas Stone. The bust of the 

 lady, weeping, looks out from a curtained recess, and 

 below her is the recumbent figure of her dead babe 

 in its cot. 



On the south side of the chancel is a tablet to 

 Dr. Bohun, 1716, presented to the living in 1701 by 

 John Evelyn. The inscription tells us that he left 

 the sum of 20 for the poor of Wotton, and a similar 

 sum for the decoration of the altar. He is described 

 by Evelyn as 'a learned person, and excel ent 

 preacher.' Elsewhere in the chancel and nave are a 

 number of later 1 8th and 19th-century monuments, 

 and in the brick mortuary chapel of the Evelyns is a 

 large white marble monument, by Westmacott, to the 

 memory of Captain Evelyn, who died in 1829, 

 bearing a striking inscription by Dr. Thomas Arnold 

 of Rugby. 



On the jambs of the door in the north aisle are a 

 few early marks, such as a small cross. 



The registers of baptisms and burials date from 

 1596, and of marriages from 1603. 



The communion plate is chiefly of 1 7th and 1 8th- 

 century dates. The oldest piece is a silver paten of 

 1685, bearing the arms of Evelyn impaling Browne. 



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