THE

WILTSHIRE MAGAZINE.

66 MULTORUM MANIBUS GRANDE LEVATUR ONUS."-Ovid.

Baynard Monuments in Lacock Church.

HE South Transept of Lacock Church is attached to the Manor of Lackham in that parish, and appears to have been used by many of its successive owners as a place of interment. The object of the present paper is to describe three ancient memorials of the Baynards which it contains, as illustrating in some degree the pedigree of that family, or rather the portion of it connected with the descent of the Lackham estate.

At the period of the Domesday survey, Lacham was held by Ralph [de Mortemer] of William de Ow, and by him (together with other Manors in Wiltshire) of the King.1 At a somewhat later date it belonged to the family of Bluet. Elinor, the daughter and heiress of Sir John Bluet, Knight,3 by marriage with Edmund

1 Wyndham's 'Domesday' xxxii. 12. Mr. Britton in his 'Beauties of Wiltshire,' vol. iii, states that William de Ow was attainted of treason in the reign of William Rufus, and his estates forfeited to the Crown; but omits to mention his authority.

2 The names of three individuals of this family,-Roger de Bloet, B. Bluet, and Sir William Bluet, occur in the Cartulary of Lacock Abbey, an abstract of which is printed as an appendix to the 'History of the Abbey,' by the Rev. Canon Bowles, and J. G. Nichols, Esq., 1835; (see p. xv. xviii. xix.) An Emma Bloet was elected Abbess of Godstow in Oxfordshire, A.D. 1248. From the 'Testa de Nevill' compiled early in the 14th century, it appears that the heir of Ralph Bluet held, at that date, one Knight's fee in Lackham of the Earl Marescall, and the Earl of the King. An obit for the soul of Rafe Bluet' was celebrated annually on the 20th of February, in the Priory of Kington St. Michael, to which he had been, in all probability, a benefactor.

3 Sir John Bluet was buried in the Abbey Church of Lacock, where, until the Dissolution, four candles of wax, lighted during the daily Mass for the Dead, were maintained about his tomb.

VOL. IV.-NO. X.

B

Baynard, Esq., of Dunmow, Co. Essex, circa A.D. 1349, conveyed the estate to that family.'

From an ancient document on vellum, formerly in the possession of the Lady Mary Montagu, (daughter and heiress of Sir Robert Baynard), entitled "Illustrations collected by John Philipott," (Somerset Herald, temp. James I.) "of the Family of Baynard, shewing their Antiquitie, Nobilitie, Patrimony, and Posteritie,” printed in Gent. Magazine, May, 1826, p. 418; it appears that the Baynards were of Norman family, the first of whom, Ralph Baynard, built Baynard's Castle, near Paul's Wharf, in London, in the reign of William Rufus. He had grants of land in Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk. Baynard's Castle was forfeited by some act of felony, and granted to Robert de Clare. From John Baynard of Co. Essex, who died 23 Edward III., [1349,] the Wiltshire branch of the family descended, as exhibited in the pedigree annexed.

Lackham continued in the possession of the Baynards for nine successive generations, until Mary, the heiress (above mentioned) of Sir Robert Baynard, Knight, by marriage with the Hon. James

1 This statement is made on the authority of the pedigree in the Wilts Visitation, where Elinor, the wife of Edmund Baynard, is described as daughter and heiress of Sir John Bluet; but the following extracts furnish the name of an intermediate owner, Peter de Cusaunce, Knight, from which it would appear that Sir John left two daughters and coheiresses, one of whom by marriage with Peter de Cusaunce conveyed to him the Lackham estate, but dying without issue, it passed into the hands of the other daughter, Elinor, wife of Edmund Baynard :

"1346. John de Peyton obtained license to have a chapel in his Manor of Lackham, in the parish of Lacock."-Wyvill Register, Sarum. In the year 1349, the King presents to this chapel " on behalf of the heir of Alianore Bluet, Lady of the Manor"; and in 1352, Peter de Cusaunce presents as "Lord of the Manor of Lackham." Wilts Institutions.

Leland's account of the descent of Silchester, (Co. Hants,) another property of the Bluets, is as follows:-" one of the Blueths leavyng no sons, the land not entaylid to the heire [male or generale] came by mariage to one Peter de Cusance, Knight, and after to one Edmunde Baynard."-Itinerary vi. 53.

Peter de Cusaunce was Sheriff of Wilts, 1377, and presented to Hilmarton (which he appears also to have obtained by marriage with a Bluet) in 1380.

The connexion of John de Peyton with the Manor of Lackham, unless he held it as trustee for the heir of Bluet, does not appear. The family of Peyton were seated in Co. Suffolk, and, with this exception, the name has not been met with in any documents relating to Wilts.

Montagu, third son of Henry, third Earl of Manchester, A.D. 1635, conveyed it again to the family of Montagu, in whose hands it remained until purchased by Captain Rooke, R.N., the late proprietor.

The first of the memorials referred to, is a fine Monumental Brass in the floor of the Transept, bearing the engraved effigies of ROBERT BAYNARD, Esq., (fourth in descent from Edmund, above mentioned,) and ELIZABETH his wife, daughter of Henry Ludlow, Esq., of Hill Deverill, (see plate). Robert Baynard, who died in 1501, is represented in a suit of plate armour, as worn at that period; the head and hands are bare, the hair long; round the neck is a gorget of mail, and a skirt of the same appears beneath the body armour, over which is a tabard, or surcoat, embroidered with arms of Baynard, quartering those of Bluet. A large sword hangs from the left side, and the feet rest on two dogs.

The female figure has the kennel, or triangular head dress, which was adopted at the close of the fifteenth century, and a loose mantle bearing the arms of Baynard, quartering Ludlow. The gown, which appears beneath, is cut square to the neck, the sleeves are tight, with fur cuffs, and the end of the girdle forms a long pendant, reaching almost to the feet.

The inscription is as follows:

“Hic facet Robertus Baynard, armiger, bir egregius et legis peritus, in armis bellicis multum strenuus, dapifer precipuus inter primos, pacis conservator diligentissimus, uxorem habens Clizabeth devotissimam, cum totidem filiis et filiabus subenumeratis; qui obiit rrbj die Augusti Ao dni meeeee primo. Quorum animabus propicietur Deus, amen.”

"Here lyeth Robert Baynard, Esquire, a good man and skilled in the law, a very active soldier, one of the best of house-keepers, and a zealous promoter of peace. He had a most loving wife, Elizabeth, with as many sons and daughters as are reckoned below. He died 26 August, A.D. 1501. On whose souls Gop have mercy. Amen."

Beneath the inscription are the effigies of eighteen children, thirteen of whom are sons, and five daughters. The second son is represented as a priest; the remainder have loose gowns, trimmed at the neck and sleeves with fur; the eldest (whose primogeniture