Appendix I
Betley Parish Register.
APPENDIX I.
1915. EGERTON MONUMENT.
There is a beautiful alabaster monument attached to the wall on the north side of the Chancel, erected to the memory of Ralph Egerton, who was buried 17th April, 1610. [See Register, p. 55.] The inscription is as follows: —
"Here Lie Ye Bodies of Ralph Egerton
of Betley Esq & (sic) Frances his
Wife daughter to Sr. Ralph Egerton
of Wrinehill Knt. who had issue Sr
Ralph Egerton Knt. William Mary & Fraun-
ces whch. Ralph died Ye 17 April 1610,"
[This monument is mentioned in Vol. XI. of "The Gentleman’s Magazine"]
Description.
The total height of the monument is 103 inches without the top ornament representing flames or plumes, which is about 12 inches high. The total breadth is 86 inches. The square in the centre is 37 inches both ways with an arched canopy rising out of it, under which are the two figures of the husband and wife kneeling opposite one another at a prie dieu of the shape of a classic altar. The figures as they kneel are 28 inches high. To make the design balance there were two figures of children, one kneeling behind each parent, but one of these is missing. The other, the daughter, as she kneels behind her mother, is 16 inches high. There are two pieces loose still placed on the monument which were apparently further ornaments, one on each side at the top. On the lower part of the monument beneath the figures are two sets of plumes, each group having seven plumes (not three, like the Prince of Wales). There are three shields on the monument, one over the husband and another over the wife, which have precisely the same arms upon them (they were cousins), except that the husband’s have a crescent on them for difference, he belonging to a junior branch. The husband’s arms are on a shield and the wife’s on a lozenge.
There are remains of the gold, but if the arms were coloured the colours of the arms have completely gone. Between the shield and the lozenge is a much larger shield which apparently contains other arms which they were entitled to quarter. The dexter half of the shield and the sinister half contain again precisely the same arms except that there is a crescent for difference on the centre of the dexter side.
The arms quartered on the large shield are: —Dexter: "Gules a fesse ermine between three pheons argent" for Egerton, "Ermine a fesse gules fretty or" for Hawkeston, "Argent on a chevron gules five bezants a bordure engrailed of the second" for Chettleton, "Argent a chevron between three water-budgets sable" for Hill, "Vert a chevron between three talbots passant argent" for Hownill. Egerton repeated. On the sinister side, the whole of the above are repeated for the wife.
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