A HISTORY OF SURREY 



Close by this in the sacrarium was the tomb, with 

 a canopy of alabaster or coloured freestone, of 

 Katherine the fifth daughter of Richard Elyot the 

 elder, erected by her sister Rachel, wife of Roger 

 Trappes, late of Chatham." 8 The kneeling figure, a 

 good example of the dress of the period, and finely 

 carved the features showing a family likeness to 

 those of the other Elyot effigies is now very in- 

 congruously placed in the niche, or sedile, in the 

 south chapel. She ' put off this mortal life at her 

 age of 28 years,' A.D. 1623. Above these Elyot 

 tombs in the sacrarium was a tablet to Sir Edward 

 Thurland, kt., solicitor to James, Duke of York, 

 afterwards James II, and a baron of the Exchequer."' 

 His only son Edward was married to Elizabeth, 

 another daughter and co- heiress of Richard Elyot, who 

 died in 1641. Edward died 1682, his son Edward 

 Thurland, gent., in 1687, leaving three sons, the 

 eldest of whom, Edward, ' married Frances daughter 

 of Sir Edward Alford of Offington, Sussex.' Frances 

 died in 1694, and their son Edward, the last of the 

 race in the male line, 19 December 1731, aged 62. 

 Their tombstones lie before the altar. 



On the left of the Elyot tomb, at the east end of 

 the north chapel, is that of Sir Thomas Bludder and 

 his wife Mary, the daughter of Christopher Herries, 

 csq., of Shenfield, Margaretting, Essex. Sir Thomas, 

 who was First Commissioner of the Victualling Office 

 in the reign of James I, purchased the manor of 

 Flanchford (q.v.) His wife died Saturday, 25 Oc- 

 tober 1618, and he just a week later. In a window 

 sill in the north chancel is the diminutive figure 

 of a female child, removed from its position at its 

 parents' feet on this monument. Over the vestry 

 door was the tablet to the memory of Sir Thomas 

 Bludder, the younger (died 29 September 1655), 

 erected by his third wife, Elizabeth daughter of 

 Robert Bret. 



There is a small brass inscription on the north 

 wall of the north aisle : 'To the memory of Anthony 

 Gilmyn. 23 August 1575.' It is said that there 

 was formerly a second tablet bearing this inscription 

 on the north side of the chancel. 



The monument to Richard Ladbroke, esq., of 

 Frenches (d. 1730), unfortunately almost entirely 

 hidden from view by the organ, is a fine piece of 18th- 

 century allegorical sculpture, costing l , 5 oo. It stands 

 against the western part of the north wall of the north 

 chapel. That ' zealous member of the Church of 

 England ' is habited in Roman costume and attended 

 by Justice and Truth, with angels, and trumpets, suns 

 and palm-branches. 



There is a monument, formerly in the south 

 chapel, but now in the bell-ringers' chamber, to 

 Lieut. Edward Bird, d. 1718, whose claim to fame 

 rests on the fact that he ' had the misfortune to kill 

 a waiter near Golden Square,' in a disreputable tavern, 

 and was hanged for this deed in February 1718, there- 

 by achieving what a writer unkindly calls ' a County 

 History immortality.' Bird, who was a lieutenant 



in ' the Marquis of Winchester's regiment of horse," 

 appears against a background of warlike instruments, 

 a half-length figure, truncheon in hand, in armour, 

 full-bottomed wig, with a cravat round his neck, which 

 popular belief has converted into a halter.** 



In a large vault beneath the chancel * 31 lie buried 

 Lord Howard of Effingham and the first and second 

 Earls of Nottingham. It is strange that although 

 Lord Howard left directions that a monument should 

 be raised to him, neither he nor his family had been 

 commemorated in this fashion, until in 1888, the ter- 

 centenary of the defeat of the Spanish Armada, a brass 

 tablet was set up on the south wall of the sacrarium in 

 memory of Elizabeth's famous Lord High Admiral. 

 There are three lead coffins in the vault, standing one 

 upon another, and ' the lowermost of the three is sup- 

 posed to contain the body of the first Lord Howard 

 of Effingham, who died in 1573, as the other two are 

 known by their inscriptions.' n * One of the other 

 coffins bears the following inscription : ' Heare lyeth 

 the body of Charles Howarde, Earle of Nottinghame, 

 Lord High Admyrall of Englande, Generall ofQueene 

 Elizabethe's Navy Royall att Sea agaynst the Span- 

 yard's invinsable Navy, in the year of our Lord 1588 ; 

 who departed this life att Haling Howse, the 14 daye 

 of December, in ye yeare of oure Lorde 1624. CEtatis 

 sve 87.' 



There are many other tablets and other memorials 

 in the church and bell-chamber, but of no special in- 

 terest. 



A few masons' marks and other scratchings are 

 visible internally, as in the porch, where interlaced 

 triangles are found, and the soft Reigate stone has in 

 general preserved the axe and broad chisel tooling in 

 the early work of the nave arcades. 



The eight bells were recast in 1784, but the first 

 bears date 1789. Their inscriptions record conse- 

 cutively the names of the donors, contributors, vicar, 

 churchwardens and founder, Robert Patrick of London. 

 In the Edwardian inventory it is recorded that there 

 were ' In the steple iiij belles and ij hand belles.' 



The plate is modern, with the exception of a silver 

 spoon-strainer, of c. 1 770, resembling one at St. John's, 

 Richmond, being originally intended for removing ob- 

 structions from the spout of a teapot. 



The registers, which commence in 1 546, contain 

 many entries of exceptional interest relating to the 

 Howard interments. 233 



The churchyard is of great size and is still used for 

 interments. It contains many 18th-century and later 

 monuments, among them an obelisk to Baron Maseres 

 (d. 1824), the editor of some valuable tracts relating 

 to the periods of Elizabeth and Charles I. 



The chapel of St. Cross on Reigate Heath was 

 formerly known as Mill Chapel, the original building 

 used having been a mill. There is also an iron church 

 on the heath. These are both served from the church. 



The church of St. Mark, built in 1860, is in stone 

 in 14th-century style, with chancel, nave, aisles, tran- 

 septs, and tower with a slender spire. 



428 Manning and Bray say 'alabaster,' 

 but Ambrose Glover says ' freestone.' 

 The inscription is given at length by 

 Manning and Bray. 



* Mr. R. F. D. Palgrave (Handbook to 

 Reigate) writes : ' Even the stone in honour 

 of Sir Edward Thurland, a faithful servant 

 of Charles I, and an esteemed friend of 

 Jeremy Taylor, has been swept away,though 



his were those " silent excellencies," which 

 so specially need commemoration.' 



480 The story is not without its true 

 pathos. Bird seems to have sunk into 

 dissipated courses owing to being left 

 a widower at twenty-two years of age. 

 His mother on every anniversary of his 

 execution came and shut herself up alone 

 in the church for hours. 



244 



ml This vault, belonging to the manor 

 of the Priory, was ' made by the Lord 

 Howard of Effingham, the first grantee of 

 that estate.' Manning and Bray, Hist, of 

 Surr. 



m Ambrose Glover, MS. Hist, of the 

 Priory. 



"See Surr. Arch. Coll. xi, 189-201. 



