Gents Mag 1849 part 1 p.375
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Gentleman's Magazine 1849 part 1 p.375
brasses that remain in the churches of Cumberland - a county so singularly poor in such ancient enriched obituary memorials, that there are but four others to be met with. The brass therefore in this church, though not of the most beautiful period of the art, is nevertheless valuable not alone from its local rarity, but as one of the very few material relics of a family whose sway through many centuries so widely extended around this their narrow bed. The knight is sheathed in the complete armour of plate worn at the period of his decease; the head, face, and hands alone being uncovered. The hair is parted on the forehead, and falls in tresses behind. Round the neck and shoulders are ornamental chains, pendent from one of which a jewelled decoration rests upon the chest. The hands are raised in prayer; and on the heels are the spurs of knighthood. A dagger is slung behind the right side, and behind the left is a long straight cross-handled sword. On the head of the lady is that peculiar head-dress worn by females of distinction in the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII. called a coif, which totally conceals the hair. The embroidered neck of an under-garment encircles the throat; over this is a high and close-bodied gown, falling in long ample folds from the waist, where it is secured by a girdle clasped in front by an ornament composed of three roses, from which, suspended by a long chain reaching nearly to the feet, hangs another ornament of a circular form. The arms of the dress are tight, and finished at the wrists with ruffles, and over them is drawn the wide, loose, hanging sleeves so common at the time. A wrought chain is on the shoulders, and around the neck is another, fastened to an ornament on the bosom similar to that worn by the knight; and, like those of the male figure, the hands are also raised in a supplicatory attitude. The legend engraven on brass at the foot of the figures runs thus: "Of your charitie pray for the soule of Sir John Ratcliffe, knight, and for the state of Dame Alice his wife, which Sir John died the 2nd of Februere, A.D.1527, on whose soule Jesu have mercie."From this inscription it would appear that Lady Ratcliffe was not deceased at the time when the brass was laid down; and most probably not only this graven record, but likewise that other mark of hereditary honour - the escutcheon in stained glass, which formerly was seen in the great east window - were set up by her direction in Henry the Eighth's reign. At the knight's head is a shield bearing, Argent, a bend engrailed sable, the armorail coat of the Ratcliffes; and at his feet another, charged with, Or, two lions passant in pale gules, the arms of Dame Alice. The shield at the head of Dame Alice carries her paternal coat; and on the shield at her feet are the Ratcliffe arms repeated, with the additional charge of a rose in the sinister corner of the chief, for a difference of houses. The knight to whose memory this brass was laid down, and who was the last person of importance of his family that was interred in this church, reckoned in his lineage a long line of illustrious ancestors. He was maternally descended from the Derwentwaters, being the great-grandson of Margaret de Derwentwater, the daughter and sole heiress of Sir John de Derwentwater, who in Henry the Fifth's reign married Sir Nicholas Ratcliffe of Dilston, a Northumbrian knight; and from which union sprung the Ratcliffes of Dilston and Derwentwater. His immediate progenitor was Sir Edward Ratcliffe, of whom he was the second or seventh son; and he is supposed to have held the Derwentwater estate in this vicinity by settlement or devise. He was a person of much consideration in his day, and was ofttimes selected by his successive sovereigns Henry the Seventh and Henry the Eighth to fill the then more actively important and warlike office of sheriff of Cumberland, which at that time was incessantly harassed by the predatory inroads of the bordering Scots, his last year of office being scarcely completed in 1527, when he died. He likewise several times held the King's commission to treat, on peace and other matters affecting the realm, with his gallant but restless neighbours. He was the last of his family who served any office of note in Cumberland, as from thenceforward |
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