A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



church, and many of them are arranged on a shelf 

 against the south wall of the tower ; the earliest 

 appear to date from the latter part of the twelfth cen- 

 tury, and are of very good style. Many more frag- 

 ments of the older buildings on this site are doubtless 

 used up in the walling, a piece of twelfth-century 

 zigzag being visible in the south transept. 



Parts of the wooden screen between the Wenlock 

 Chapel and the north transept are of fifteenth-century 

 date, notably the carved work along the top of the 

 cornice containing winged beasts, &c., the vine-trail 

 along the middle and lower rails, and the linen panels 

 on the west face. This was brought in a dilapidated 

 condition from the chapel at Luton Hoo and presented 

 by the first marquess of Bute. It was first repaired 

 and set up in the Hoo Chapel, but when the re- 

 mains of the old rood screen were discovered, it was 

 put in its present position and the rood screen re- 

 paired, repainted and placed there in its stead ; only 

 some of the lower panels are ancient. 



The oak quire seats and fittings are modern, but 

 in the boys' desk is incorporated the old reading desk, 

 which still retains the iron staple and a piece of the 

 chain to which the Bible was fastened. 



In the east window of the Wenlock Chapel has 

 been preserved some fifteenth-century glass, including 

 four figures, one apparently of our Lady and the 

 other three of angels ; a good number of the diamond 

 quarries are also old, and have the letter M and in 

 one case a T ; the word HOLA also occurs several 

 times. The rest of the window and the next to the 

 north have been filled with modem copies of this glass. 



The internal fittings are for the most part modem, 

 the reredos, of alabaster and mosaic, being by Street, 

 who also designed the pulpit of alabaster and marble. 



The beautiful octagonal fourteenth-century bap- 

 tistery at the west end of the nave is one of the chief 

 attractions of the church. It is 7 ft. 3 in. wide in- 

 side, with an arcaded dwarf wall on each face, except 

 the east, from which side it is entered, and traceried 

 openings above which are surmounted by sharply- 

 pointed gablets with large foliate finials and crockets. 

 At the angles are slender buttresses on which stand 

 tall crocketed pinnacles rising nearly to the same 

 height as the gablets. In the openings and the in- 

 ternal angles are slender engaged shafts, from the 

 latter of which springs a beautiful ribbed vault rising 

 to a central opening. 



The font has an octagonal bowl with panelled 

 sides and engaged shafts at the angles, standing on 

 an octagonal stem, which is surrounded by smaller 

 shafts, and is apparently of the same date, f. 1330, 

 as the baptistery. 



There are many monuments of interest in the 

 church, and only the most important can be men- 

 tioned here. In the eastern bay of the Wenlock 

 arch is an altar tomb on which is the brass figure of a 

 lady unknown,*" but conjectured to be Lady 

 Rotherham, who died in the latter part of the 

 fifteenth century ; over the figure is a fine canopy, 

 but there is no inscription. The sides of the tomb 

 have cusped lozenge-shaped panels containing plain 

 lozenges or shields. Until modern times this tomb 

 stood in the middle of the Wenlock Chapel. In the 

 western bay of the arch is a second altar tomb with 

 the recumbent effigy of a priest, William Wenlock, 

 master of Farley Hospital, who gave directions in his 



<" Rev. Henry Cobbe, HUt. c 

 37 



will, 1 391, that he should be buried in St. Mary's 

 Church. The sides of the tomb are panelled with 

 cusped tracery, the three middle panels being quatre- 

 foils containing shields with arms of a cheveron 

 between three crosslets. The top edge is moulded 

 and battlemented with a row of quatrefoil panels . 

 containing alternately roses and shields ; below this 

 runs a marginal inscription in English as follows : 'In 

 Wenlok brad I, in this town lordschipes had I, Her 

 am I now fady, Cristes moder helpe me lady, under 

 thcs stones for a tym schal I reste my bones, deye mot 

 I ned ones, Myghtful God gr3t me thy wones amen.' 

 On the north side of the tomb is a Latin inscription, 

 the first words being defaced : . . . . etatus sic 

 tumulatus : de Wenlok natus in ordine presbiteratus : 

 alter huius ville : dominus laicus fuit ille : hie licet 

 indignus anime deus esto benignus,' and on the 

 effigy a label with the words : ' Salve regina mater 

 misericordie ihu fill dei miserere mei ' ; at the end of 

 the label is a shield with the Wenlock arms. The 

 tomb stands some two feet clear of the eastern jamb 

 of the bay, but touches the west jamb ; from this it 

 would appear that it was not intended originally to 

 be put into this position, but was brought here from 

 elsewhere. The place was doubtless at first reserved 

 for the builder of the chapel, but for some reason he 

 was not buried here. 



In the north wall of the Wenlock Chapel are two 

 tombs panly in recesses ; the eastern one the late Mr. 

 Cobbe attributes to Sir John Rotherham, ' the first of 

 the name who possessed Someries, who died in 

 1492-93.' The front of the tomb had three 

 traceried panels of diamond form inclosing shields. On 

 either side of the recess are round attached shafts 

 with a small bead on the inner side ; the recess is 

 roofed by a flat three-centred arch with a panelled 

 soffit, and at the back are the matrices of two kneeling 

 figures with scrolls issuing from their mouths. The 

 western tomb is supposed by the same writer to be 

 that of George Rotherham, younger son of the 

 first Sir Thomas, who died in 1579 and desired to 

 be buried in Luton Church where his first wife was 

 buried. The style of the tomb is, however, of an 

 earlier date than that suggested. The front has 

 cusped traceried panels inclosing the spaces for small 

 shields, now lost ; the shafts attached to the sides of 

 the recess are octagonal with concave sides and 

 moulded capitals and bases, and the arch is a flat 

 three-centred one with a panelled soffit ; in the back 

 are the matrices of a man and two women kneeling, 

 with scrolls by their heads, and the emblem of the 

 Trinity, and two shields above. 



In the floor of the chapel is a slab with the brass, 

 of early fifteenth-century date, of a man, and the in- 

 dent of that of his wife on his right and of his son on 

 his left, the last being in the dress of a priest. The 

 inscription below reads : ' Hie jacent Hugo Atte 

 Spctyll et Alicia uxor ejus ci3 d'no Joh'ne filio suo 

 primogenito, quorum animabus p'picietur deus 

 Amen.' This was formerly in the chancel. There 

 is also the matrix of two half figures united, without 

 inscription or date, and others, of fifteenth-century 

 date, of an armed man with a lion at his feet and his 

 lady beside him, which are perhaps those of Sir 

 Thomas Wenlock, 141 6, who distinguished himself 

 at the battle of Agincourt, and his wife. On the 

 north wall between the windows is a small brass to 



1/" Lunn Church (1899), 350. 



2 



