1328), when this church was dedicated, probably (says Dr. Oliver),1 on account of certain alterations and improvements then contemplated by Sir Stephen de Haccombe, the exact date of whose death is not known, but supposed to be in 1331. In the foundation deed, written about 1341, for erecting the parish church into an arch-presbytery, it sets forth that Sir Stephen had proposed to have made the endowment, but was prevented by death; but that his heir, Sir John Lercedekne, knt., the heir to his property, had fully entered into his views and wishes, and with the concurrence and approbation of the bishop had erected an establishment here for six priests, the superior of whom was to be denominated the archpriest, and endowed it with the tithes of Haccombe, and also of St. Hughes de Quethyock in Somerset, the patronage of which Sir Hugh "had acquired previously to his decease. These six clergymen were indeed chantry priests, and were, besides other duties, to pray for the said bishop (Grandisson ob. July 15, 1368), for Hugh de Courtenay, Earl of Devon, for Sir John Lercedekne, and his wife, Cecily, and for their children, for Margaret, relict of Sir Stephen de Haccombe, and for Robert de Pyle, clerk, then living. A priest was also to celebrate mass for the repose of the souls of the founder, Sir Stephen de Haccombe, knt., Sir Thomas Lercedekne and his wife, Matilda (parents of Sir John Lercedekne aforesaid), for Jordan de Haccombe and his wife, Isabella, and for all the faithful departed. The duties and dress of the priests are there set forth, and also their salaries and other matters."

In this church are still remaining some fine encaustic tiles, which Lord Alwyne Compton fully and at length describes. This writer thinks that the pavement, which extends the whole width of the chancel, was taken up and relaid about 1759, except three rows to the last, immediately below the steps leading to the communion table. The devices on the tiles are chiefly those conventional patterns with which we are well acquainted, being marygold or Catherine-wheel windows, two birds in a circle placed back to back, with a sprig of some plant between them. A tile within a circle, having the corners filled with foliage growing from it, and having a sort of diamond formed by circles spread from the corners as centres. This diamond is filled by a cross and four squares, the four spaces formed by the intersecting circles having fish in them. These are some of the patterns; but the most interesting, by far, are the ones bearing on them coats of arms, which are six in number: 1. A lion rampant, the corners filled with a foliated ornament; 2. The

6

1 Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Devon, vol. i, p. 157 et seq. 2 See Oliver's Eccl. Ant., p. 157.

3 Journal Arch. Inst., iii, 151.

4 This pattern of tile is to be seen in Exeter cathedral.

5 This pattern is to be found in the Exchequer Chamber in Exeter cathedral. 6 A lion rampant is borne in the arms of Redvers, Nonant, and Pomeroy, all Devonshire families.

arms of England placed diagonally, with monstrous animals filling the sides and top; 3. The arms of Haccombe similarly arranged, with monstrous animals as in the preceding tile; 4. The same arms, with foliage instead of animals at the sides and top; 5. A shield bearing three chevrons, each surmounted with a zig-zag line, the top of the shield dancetté, filled at the corners with small lions, their backs being turned towards the shield. This tile is probably meant for the arms of Lercedekne, who bore argent three chevrons sable, the zig-zag line representing a diaper; 6. A shield bearing two bars embattled between seven fleurs-de-lis, three, three, and one. Whose these arms were it is impossible to decide at present. Sir Warren Lercedekne presented a priest to Haccombe in 1390, who was the last of that name, and Sir John Lercedekne, his father, presented in 1342, so that the date of the tiles would be between 1342 and 1390. Ere leaving this subject, Mr. Crabbe noticed one peculiarity of this pavement in the absence of plain tiles, whether square or oblong.

The earliest effigy in this church is that of a warrior of the Haccombe family, which is of exquisite design and execution. The figure, which is cross-legged, occupies a portion of the sedilia on the south side of the chancel, which it is hardly necessary to observe was not its original situation. The material of which it is composed is a hard red sandstone, on which is a coating of plaster a quarter of an inch thick, beautifully moulded into the form of chain mail, once gilt, and having a black foliated pattern running over the whole of the armour. This pattern is not raised, and was therefore most likely only painted on the gilding, and did not form any pattern worked in the mail itself. The only portions of plate visible on the figure are the poleyns or steel coverings for the knees, which just appear about the middle of the thirteenth century, and are to be seen on the effigy of Gilbert Mareschal, Earl of Pembroke, who died in 1241, and on that of William Longuespée the younger in Salisbury cathedral, who died in 1250. This is most likely the effigy of that Sir Stephen de Haccombe mentioned by Sir W. Pole in his "Collections for Devon " as living in the twenty-seventh year of the reign of King Henry III, A.D. 1243, and the founder of the original church, which was, on account of alterations, dedicated by Bishop Grandisson on the 19th July, 1328. The head of this figure lies on a cushion placed cornerwise on another, and has on a coif de mail, showing the face but covering the neck, where it is met by a tunic fastened round the waist with a narrow belt. On this tunic are still visible the sable bends of Haccombe. A guige of a blue colour, passing over the right shoulder, sustains the shield bearing the arms of Haccombe. The sword, broad and short, is pendent from a wide buckled belt, on which are green diapers hanging across the body. The weapon seems to have been just sheathed, as the hands, in mailed gloves divided into fingers, rest,

the one on the pommel, whilst the other grasps the scabbard near the top. Below the knees the legs are mailed, and on the feet, which rest on a lion, are prick spurs.

The late Mr. Stothard, author of the "Monumental Effigies of Great Britain," whose labours were so sadly cut short by an untimely accident in this county, spent a long time in the cautious examination of this monument, and produced the beautiful plate illustrating Lysons' history of the county. Indeed, it is quite impossible for anyone to observe it without deep interest, both as an early and fine example of monumental art, as well as a truthful memorial of one who lived during that stirring time of the world's history when the mail-clad warriors of the west strove to recover from the Moslem rule the city and sepulchre of our Lord.

Pass we now to two memorials of the house of Haccombe, one occupying the arch under the first window of the north aisle, holding in her hand on her breast a heater shaped shield, on which are the Haccombe arms; the other, raised on a base, is under the second arch of the nave, and holds in her hand a closed book, on the cover of which is the coat of arms of Haccombe. The figure under the arch is much decayed through damp, and it is now impossible to make out more than the fashion of the clothing. On her head is a veil, and under the chin is a gorget. Her head is supported by two censing angels-one, almost entirely destroyed, rests on a pillow. The dress is a long loose mantle, gathered up under the right arm as if to curtail its length above another garment, the tight sleeves of which are visible on both arms, one lying by her side, the other sustaining the before-mentioned shield. The arms are obtusely pointed, and rest on a dog. The other figure, holding a book, is in a much better state; and with the assistance of water Mr. Crabbe was enabled to discover on the mantle, of a reddish brown, lined with a lighter colour, and bordered with black, the remains of several heater shaped shields, which the same simple means showed were the Haccombe arms, as appearing on the cover of the book carried in her left hand. The mantle of this figure, like the last, is gathered under her right arm, and is fastened by two cords across the breast. The under garment, of an apple green, falls in loose folds over the feet, and rests on a dog. The great resemblance existing between these figures and the heraldic decorations still remaining on the dress of the latter, and the presence in both of the veil, and gorget, and loose robe, point, Mr. Crabbe thought, to the period between the years 1330-50, in the reign of Edward III. This style of female costume was to be found common in the reigns of the three Edwards (1272-1377); but in no

1 Devonshire, p. cccxxxii.

2

See effigy of one of the Ryther family in Ryther church, Yorkshire. Hollis monument, and Fairholt, British Costume, p. 115.

instance had Mr. Crabbe found the heater shaped shield used as an accessory to female dress, save in the instance here recorded. A fine example of the gorget and trailing robe,' adorned with armorial bearings, is to be seen in the Loutterel Psalter, executed for Sir Jeoffrey Loutterell, who died in 1345. Dr. Oliver inquires whether these effigies be not intended, the one holding a shield, for Margaret, the wife of Sir Stephen Haccombe, who was alive in 1341, and the one holding a book, for Cecily, the lady of Sir John Lercedekne. Mr. Crabbe thinks, from the existence of the Haccombe arms on the book and the dress of that figure, that it was intended to commemorate Isabella, the daughter of Sir Mauger de St. Aubyn, and wife of Jordan de Haccombe, both dead in 1341, as shown by the foundation deed, and not Cecily, Lady Lercedekne, as then the arms would have been those of Lercedekne and not Haccombe.

Between this monument under the arch and the one next described there projects from the wall of this north aisle, about six feet from the ground, the remains of a vested arm, the hand having perished; this once sustained a pricket light, which burnt ever before the shrine of some saint now destroyed.

Under the second arch of this aisle is a curious truncated cross raised on a stepped base, supposed to have been the memorial of Robert de Pyle, clerk.

We now arrive at a class of monuments which have largely occupied the time and exhausted the speculations of antiquaries—a diminutive effigy. This is placed on a base of freestone battlemented, and measures only two feet two inches in length. It represents a boy clothed in a jupon, ornamented down the centre with a row of quatrefoils, and ending in a sort of escallopped edge round the loins in a massive belt without any weapons. The hands are joined in prayer, and the bare head rests on a cushion placed anglewise on another, sustained by two seated angels. The feet rest on a dog. Traces of red colour are found, the angels; green is also visible in small portions on the jupon, and on the legs and shoes are remains of black. The material of which the figure is made is alabaster. A writer in the Gentleman's Magazine compares the dress of this figure to the effigies of the youthful William of Windsor, son of Edward III, in Westminster Abbey, and to that of William of Hatfield, another son of that monarch, in York Cathedral, who was born in 1335 and died in his childhood. Mr. Crabbe hazarded some slight conjectures as to the identity of this figure, but the absence of all heraldry or inscription leaves the matter one of hypothesis alone. On a high battlemented base, under the first arch of the nave, is the

1 See Sloane MSS. 3983, and Planché's British Costume, p. 115, for figures temp. Edward I.

2 Vol. xxi, p. 381, April 1844, with plate executed by Mr. Robt. Stothard.

tomb of Sir Hugh Courtenay, knight, of Haccombe and of Boconnoc in Cornwall. He was brother to Edward de Courtenay, called the "blind earl," who succeeded his grandfather as the third earl of Devon. He married, secondly, Philippa, daughter of Sir Warren Lercedekne, whose effigy lies beside her husband, who died on the 5th March, 1425 (4th Hen. VI). The lady wears a jewelled and reticulated headdress, whence depends a veil. The head rests on a rich tasselled cushion, which is supported by two angels. She wears a cotchardie open at the neck, the tight sleeves of which end in the mitten-shaped terminations below the wrists. The hands are joined in prayer. A long skirt falls in ample folds over the feet on to the back of a dog which supports them. The dress is completed by a loose, flowing mantle. The knight is arrayed in a complete panoply of plate, not a link of mail being visible. On his head is a pointed bascinet; and serving as a pillow, is his tilting helmet surmounted by the ancient crest of the noble house of Courtenay, a plume of feathers rising from a ducal coronet. Round the neck is a gorget, below which is a globular breastplate, apparently covered by a surcoat which ends in a plain border. He has no shoulder-pieces; but at the elbow-joints are roundels. The hands were joined in prayer; but are now broken off at the knuckles, and shew the remains of gauntlets. Round the hips is a broad buckled belt, ornamented with pateras, which sustains a heavy sword balanced by the remains of a misericord, which once stood prominently out from the figure, as if more ready for use. The legs and thighs are also in plate, and the knees are protected by roundels like the elbows. On the feet, which rest on a lion, are sollerets, with which the spurs were probably screwed, as no straps or attachments for them are visible.

We have now arrived at a period when the identity of the monuments is certainly ascertained, having entered on those of the family of Carew: a name, it is to be hoped, long destined to hold that which they acquired by the marriage of Sir Nicholas with Joan, the daughter of the last described Sir Hugh Courtenay and Philippa Lercedekne.2

The earliest example of a monumental brass in Haccombe church is that of Sir Nicholas Carew, who died on the 13th Sept., 1469, in the ninth year of the reign of Edward IV. The armour of this figure is very rich. He has on his head a round salade, raised to shew the face. On the shoulders are paldrons differing in size and shape. On the right shoulder is a peculiarly shaped plate of steel called a moton. The hands, joined in prayer, have on their gauntlets, not divided into fingers. The

1 Sir Hugh Courtenay presented to Haccombe in 1409, and again in 1413. 2 This Sir N. Carew died before 1448 (ob. May 2, 1446,-25th Hen. VI) as in a deed dated in that year she describes herself as "quæ fuit uxor Nicholai Carew, militis"; and on the 5th Oct. 1450, she obtained a license from Bishop Lacy to be married, without banns, to Sir Robert Vere.