20 THE CHURCH OF ST. HELEN S, DARLEY DALE. 



Mr. Reynolds, in describing the monuments at Darley, speaks 

 of this transept as being " commonly called Columbell's Quire," 

 and there is no doubt that this was the part of the church 

 appropriated to the manor of Nether Hall, and therefore first 

 in the hands of the Darleys, and then of the Columbells. A 

 large alabaster incised slab pertaining to the Columbell family 

 formerly stood in this quire. It was, unhappily, removed 

 during the 1854 restoration to the churchyard, where it, unfor- 

 tunately, remained exposed to the weather for some time, but 

 it has now found a resting-place against the wall at the west 

 end of the south aisle. It is to the memory of Thomas 

 Columbell and Agnes, his wife. The man is represented .in a 

 long gown lined with fur, and the head, which is uncovered, 

 has short hair. The woman wears a dress tightly girded . at 

 the waist. The figures are very indistinct, and quite worn 

 away in places. There is an appearance of the children having 

 been depicted below the principal figures. Some parts of the 

 marginal inscription are now gone, and others illegible, but 

 we are able to> give it in its complete form from the notes taken 

 by Bassano in 1710: "Hie jacent corpora Thome Columbell 

 et Agnetis uxoris ejus, qui quidem Thomas obiit xi. die mensis 

 Octobis mcccccxxxx., quorum animabus propicietur Deus." 

 It does not seem that this Thomas Columbell was one in the 

 direct descent of the estate, but he would appear to have been 

 the third son of Roger, who died in 1535, by the heiress of 

 Sacheverell. Agnes, his wife, according to the parish registers, 

 was buried at Darley on the 24th of June, 1540. 



Reynolds, after describing this monument, says : " [The] 

 following are painted on a pillar in a lozenge, sable, three 

 doves, argent (Columbell) impaling a cross between four pheons. 

 Crest, on a chapeau, a blackamore's head couped at the 

 shoulders." The arms that he fails to identify are those of 

 Marbury of Cheshire, granted in the time of Edward II. — Sa., 

 a cross engrailed between four pheons, arg. The arms of 

 Columbell in full are — Sa., three doves, arg., with ears of 

 wheat in their beaks, proper. The marriage that this coat 



