Lord Alwyne's Minton tiles on the floor are immediately apparent, but you do not come here for the architecture, which is nothing out of the ordinary, but rather for the tombs.
Easton Maudit, Northamptonshire
The earliest memorial is to Sir Christopher Yelverton (d1612) who bought Easton Maudit Manor from the Earl of Oxford. He became Speaker of the House of Commons and Judge of the Court of the King’s Bench. He and his wife are commemorated here. Their monument is free standing with a canopy held up by columns beneath which lie life sized effigies of the deceased. Along the base of the tomb are their children, five sons and eight daughters.
Adjacent is a substantial wall tomb to their eldest son. Sir Henry Yelverton (d1631) who followed his father into the law, became Attorney General and Judge of the Common Pleas. Whereas his parents’ tomb followed a familiar pattern, even though it’s on a rather good scale, his tomb is extraordinary on account of the almost life sized Bedesmen. They stand on either side, old men who are left money in a Will to say prayers for the deceased soul.
These substantial figures hold up a canopy above the effigies, helpfully cushioned. Below, Sir Henry and his wife, Margaret Beale (daughter of Robert Beale, clerk to the Council under Elizabeth I) lie uncomfortably. Uncomfortably because they are tilted on their sides and rest on their elbows. Beneath them are another range of children.
With the tomb of Sir Christopher and his wife we almost come to the end of the memorials save for the small wall plaque to Thomas Morton (d1659). He was protected by the Yelverton family and employed as a tutor after losing his Bishopric and expelled from Durham House in 1648. He was, with Laud, perhaps the most victimised of all the Anglican clerics by the Puritans.
Castle Ashby, Northamptonshire
The church which lies adjacent to the House but which it antedates by some 400 years, must have been used by the Bishops of Coventry whose seat this was before the advent of the Comptons in the 16th century.
Whiston, Northamptonshire
Built to the orders of one man, Anthony Catesby (1500-1554) of the significant Northamptonshire Catholic family whose main seat was at Ashby St Ledger and were later famous for their involvement in the Gunpowder Plot.
Denton, Northamptonshire
At first glance the church at Denton might look medieval but in fact all of it, apart from the 13th century tower, was rebuilt in 1827/28 by Charles Squirhill.
