Gents Mag 1754 p.231

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	Gentleman's Magazine 1754 p.231 beheaded by Edward the second, upon pretence of having betray'd the English army at Byland Abbey near York, into the hands of Bruce, king of Scots; Edward himself escaped with great difficulty, and is said to have attainted this nobleman, only to transfer the ignominy of his own misconduct to another, The figure lies at length, with the head supported on a kind of urn or helmet, for 'tis much broken and disfigured, and the feet on a lion, without any inscription, tradition only having preserv'd the name; and his castle in this neighbourhood, though now in ruins, being still called Hecley-castle; to this estate the Musgrave family must have succeeded soon after, as their lease is between 2 and 300 years old, and I think the battle of Byland Abbey is generally fixed to 1326, by the Scotch annals. In an isle rail'd off near this monument, northward, is the vault of the honourable family of Wharton, which is now extinct, thro' the misconduct of the last possessor, remarkable for great natural abilities misapplied; there are some monuments, but the inscription was broken off at the east end; however, by the helf (sic) of a friend, I join'd the pieces, and found the whole as follows: Round the rim on the side edge at at top, the letters raised, with an effigy at large of himself and his two ladies. Thomas Whartonus jacet hic et utraque conjuns Elinora suum hinc habet Anna locum, En tibi terra tuum carnes ac ossa resumem Coelos animas tu Deus alme tuum. On the east end underneath, Gens Whartonus genus dat honores dextera victrix In Scotos, Stapletona domus mihi quam dedit uxor Elionora jacet ter bina prole parentem Binam adimut teneris, binam juvenilibus annis Fata mihi dat, nominavi bina superstes Anna secunda uxor [oe]lebri est de gente † Salopum † Shrewsbury. The reader will easily discover the puerility of the performance, as well with respect to the language as the poetry; but such as it is, it should be preserved in your Magazine, for a few years more will render it quite illegible on the stone. This inscription has no date, but the person whom it commemorates is known to have been governor of Carlisle in the 33d of Henry VIII. to have beaten the Scots with a very few men the year following, in conjunction with Sir Wm Musgrave, and to have taken Dumfrize, for which services he was made baron of Wharton, a place which I shall have occasion to mention in my next. He died anno 1568, in the 10th year of Q Elizabeth This family and that of the Musgrave's were celebrated defenders of the northern frontiers for many years before the Scotch succession; the Wharton family liberally endow'd Kirkby-Stephen with a free school, but the salary is sequester'd by the purchaser of the family estate, till the trustees admit his choice of a master. P.S. There is also an isle and vault of the Dalston family, but without any effigies, date, or character.
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	-- St Stephen's Church (?)

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