View of/b, Omrcli ^STPAN (:R AS S'/N Middlesex A COLLECTION OF CURIOUS AND INTERESTING EPITAPHS, COPIED FROM THE MONUMENTS OF DISTINGUISHED AND NOTED CHARACTERS IN The ancient Church and Burial Grounds OF SAINT PANCRAS, MIDDLESEX. BY FREDERICK TEAGUE CANSICK. " Praifes on tombs are words but vainly fpent, A man's life is his befl monument/7—Old Epitaph. LONDON: J. RUSSELL SMITH, SOHO SQUARE. 1869. LONDON : PRINTED BY PLACKETT AND MOODY, s. BRIDE'S PRESS, S BRIDE'S AVENUE, FLEET STREET, E C. TO THE Most honourable THE MARQUIS CAMDEN. MY LORD MARQUIS, AVING by long labour and patience endea­ H voured to illustrate the Monuments in the Churches and Churchyards of my native parish, I requested permission to dedicate the result of my labours to your lordship, and I humbly and grate­ fully acknowledge that permission being granted. I have the honour to be, Your Lordship's most obedient and most humble servant, FREDERICK TEAGUE CANSICK. Kentish Town, December, 1869. A 3 PREFACE. HE nature and design of a book of this kind is so obvious that it does not need an introduction, and not being willing to subject myself to comments upon the vanity of authorship, or compilation, I offer this, my first essay, to an indulgent public. Having seen, with deep regret, the wholesale sacrifice to the god of mammon of those grounds which have been con­ secrated by Bishops as the resting-places of all that remained of our mortal bodies, I have endea­ voured, by the employment of my spare hours, to save from the wholesale destruction which is now going on, some of the inscriptions of the noted families buried in my native parish. I am fully aware of the shortcomings of this volume, but have spared no labour to make it as perfect as possible; and although some errors may have crept in, I offer it as a labour of love of many years. A 4 viii Preface. I have to express my sincere thanks to the Rev. W. Arrowsmith, M.A., Vicar of Old St. Pan- eras, for his kindness in affording me unlimited access to the church and churchyard of Old S. Pancras, for the preservation of which he has fought, with time and money, against those who would have sold it to a railway company. , I am also indebted to the works of the Rev. S. Lysons, in assisting me to know whose stones to search for. My thanks are also due to Mr. W. Griggs, of the India Museum Depot, for the photo-litho­ graphs by his patent process. My obligations are also due to the kind friends who have so willingly subscribed, and thus enabled me to present this, my first volume of the Epitaphs of Middlesex, to the public. F. T. C. INTRODUCTION. ©• Pancras, in Middleser HE old parish church of S. Pancras is situated T in the Old S. Pancras Road, running from Battle Bridge, or King's Cross, in front of the Great Northern Railway, to Kentish Town, through what was known as the King's Road, and coming out at the Castle Tavern, which stood at the corner of Water Lane. It is supposed to have been erected in the twelfth century. In the records belonging to the Dean and Chapter of S. Paul's, there is noticed a visitation made to this church in the year 1251, wherein is stated " that it had a little belfry, a good stone font for baptisms, and a small marble stone to carry the Pax." Weever, in his " Funeral Monuments," speaks of a wondrous ancient monument in this church, by tradi­ tion said to belong to the family of Robert Eve and Laurentia, his sister, daughter of Francis, son of Thomas Eve, clerk of the crown. The family of Eve were of great antiquity in this parish. In the X Introduction. year 1252, King Henry III. granted leave to Thomas Ive to enclose a portion of the highway adjoining to his mansion at Kentish Town. On the north wall is a monument of Purbeck marble, with an elliptical arch, ornamented with quatrefoils, to the family of " Gray," of Gray's Inn. The inscription and arms are obliterated. The rectory of S. Pancras was valued at thirteen marks per annum in 1327. It appears by the visitation of the church in 1251 that the vicar had all the small tithes, a pension of £$ per annum out of the great tithes, four acres of glebe, and a vicarage house near the church. Richard Cloudesley, of Islington, by will, dated 13th January, 1517, 9 Henry VIIL, gave as follows: " Item—I give and bequeath to the Church of S. Pancras, two torches, price xivd., and two poor men of the same parish two gowns, price the piece vis. viiid. Item—I give and bequeath to the priest of the. church aforesaid xx<^., to ye intent yt he shall pray for me by name openly in his church every Sunday, and to pray his parishioners to pray for me and forgive me, as I forgive them and all the world." From the certificates of the commissioners for dis­ solving colleges and chantries, in the first year of the reign of King Edward VI., it appears that John Morrant gave unto the parson and churchwardens of Introduction. xi S. Pancras, for the intent that they should keep an obit* yearly, for ever, four acres of meadow ground, called Kilbornecroft, valued in 1547 at sixteen shil­ lings per annum, whereof, at the obit, twelve shillings was to be given to the priest, and four shillings to the poor in recreation. In the inventory of the ornaments, jewels, and bells belonging to the parish church of S. Pancras in the Fields, Kentish Town, made the 12th of March, 3 Edward VI., mention is made of " a hearse cloth of sattyn of Brydges, and four standards for the hearse of latten." Phillis Oldernshaw, wife of William Oldernshaw, gent., of Tottenhall Court, in this parish, gave, the 9th day of February, A.D. 1627, a black cloth for ever, to be laid on the poor deceased people of this parish, without fee, and all others to pay for the use of it to the churchwardens. Mrs. Rose Knightly, of Green Street, Kentish Town, gave, the 25th day of September, 1632, to this parish for ever, a fair gilt plate, to be only used for the bread at the Holy Sacrament, in the same parish. At a vestry held 12th July, 1721, it was agreed and ordered that a new pall should be bought at the joint charge of the minister and the parish, ac- * The anniversary of any person's death was called the obit, and to observe such day with prayers and alms, or other commemoration, was called keeping the obit. xii Introduction. cording to the custom of this parish, and that the fee for this new pall should be as usual, viz., ten shillings for a foreigner and five shillings for a parishioner; and that the fee for the old pall, for the use thereof, should be half of the other; that the profits of these palls should be equally divided between the minister and the parish; and that the clerk, for his taking care, carrying, and bringing home of the same (the palls being kept at his house) shall have a shilling out of every ten or five shilling fee; and that all foreigners shall, as much as possible, be obliged either to use one of these-palls or pay the fee aforesaid. In pursuance of the above order, a new pall was bought at the joint expense of the minister (the Rev. E. De Chair*) and the parish, and cost £iy. ios. 6d. The vicarage is rated in the king's books at £g per annum; in 1650 it was valued at £28; an augmenta­ tion of ,£50 per annum was at that time voted by the committee. The earliest date of the register of baptisms and marriages is 1660; that of burials, 1668. It is to be feared that for several years the registers, particularly those of baptisms, are incomplete. Average of baptisms from 1660 to 1668, 13^$, and of burials 11. * He was Canon of S. Paul's, and presented to the Rectory of Coulsdon, Surrey, 1737. Introduction. xiii In the sixteenth century, Norden, in his account of the parishes of Middlesex, describes it "as standing solitary, as utterly forsaken, old, and weather-beaten, which for the antiquity thereof is thought not to yield to S. Paul's, in London. Folks from the hamlet of Kentish Town now and then visit it, but not often, having a chapel of their own. When, however, they have a corpse to be interred, they are forced to leave the same within this forsaken church or churchyard, where it resteth as secure against the day of resurrec­ tion as if it lay in stately S. Paul's." It was usual formerly to perform divine service at this church only on the first Sunday in each month; at other times in Kentish Town chapel. This ar­ rangement was sufficiently convenient before the great increase of buildings on the south side of the parish. Divine service is now held at S. Pancras three times every Sunday. The present highly- respected vicar is the Rev. W. Arrowsmith, M.A. The old church remained in much the same shape as when seen by Norden (with the exception of thorough renovation and slight alterations) until 1848, when it was altered and partly rebuilt, from the design and under the direction of Mr.