Gents Mag 1830 part 1 p.499

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	Gentleman's Magazine 1830 part 1 p.499 sometimes even, as in the present instance, affording him a motive for an inquisitive research into the history of his country, to resolve some obscure or doubtful point. The monument here referred to, bears, with two others, the following inscription:- "In memoriam sacrum. "To the memory of the Right Honourable Edmond Nevill, Lord Latimer, Earl of Westmoreland, and Dame Jane his wife; with the memorials of their seven children. Which Edmond was lineally descended from the honourable blood of kings and princes, and the seventh Earl of Westmoreland of the name of Nevill." The effigies of the Earl and his Countess are about the size of life, and are represented with uplifted hands, as in prayer, kneeling at a desk or altar, on which are open books. The Earl is in armour, over which is a mantle, with his helmet lying beside him. His Countess is attired in sweeping robes, and the coronet on her head denotes her dignity. On the lower step of the monument are figures representing their seven children in black dresses, and in white hoods, and, as is usual on these occasions, their heights are nicely graduated. This monument is exceedingly rich in heraldry, there being no less than eleven separate escutcheons of arms, showing the alliances of this illustrious house, whose name has been assoicated with the annals of their country for so many generations. Those most conspicuous, from being emblazoned on much larger shields, are, 1st. Gules, a saltire Argent, for Nevill.* 2d. Or, fretty Gules, on a Canton party per pale, Argent and Sable, a ship of the second with sails furled. I remember to have seen it stated somewhere that the latter is the ancient coat of Nevill. It is, however, certain that it was borne, but without the canton, by the de Verdons, a powerful baronial family of Norman descent, who flourished for several centuries after the Conquest in the northern counties.† But it is the circumstances attending the history of the personage here commemorated, that render this monument more than ordinarily curious. Although the undoubted representative of his ancient line, this Edmond Nevill was only the the titular Earl of Westmoreland. Charles, the sixth Earl of Westmoreland, and thirteenth Baron Nevill of Raby, having conspired with the Earl of Northumberland (Thomas Percy, seventth Earl), against the government of Elizabeth, and not improbably with a view to place her rival, Mary, on the Throne, these powerful nobles, having called together their friends and vassals, met at the Castle of Brancepeth, in Durham, an ancient stronghold of the Nevills, where they suggested to their followers, "That all the English Nobility were resolved to restore the Romish religion; and that they did thus put themselves in arms to prevent upstarts from trampling on the old nobility; and so appeared in open rebellion."‡ But upon the President of the North (Thomas Ratcliff, Earl of Sussex) marching against them with a superior force, they fled into Scotland, from whence the Earl of Westmoreland escaped to Flanders; and being attainted of high treason by outlawry in the Parliament of the 13th of Elizabeth, 1570, his dignity and possession were forfeited.§ He died
	* The Right Honourable Henry Nevill, Earl of Abergavenny, Baron Bergavenny, or as it is now spelt, Abergavenny, premier Baron of England, who is descended from Edward Nevill, sixth son of Ralph, first Earl of Westmoreland, bears this coat with a difference; viz. Gules, on a saltire Argent a rose of the First, barbed and seeded Proper. † During the last summer I observed the arms of the de Verdons, on a shield attached to the monumental effigy of a knight, half buried in the ground, among the picturesque ruins of Calder Abbey, Cumberland. ‡ See Dugdale. § the Castle of Brancepeth was vested in the Crown by a special act. In the reign of Charles I. it was sold, under the authority of letters patent, to Lady Middleton and others, since when it has passed, by alienation, through several families, and is now the seat of William Russell, Esq. M.P. for the County of Durham. Brancepeth came to the Nevills by marriage with the heiress of the Bulmers. (A view of Brancepeth Castle will be found in vol.XCVII. i. p.305.) Raby Castle, in the same county, was the chief residence of this great family, and was among the estates forfeited by Charles, the last Earl, for the rebellion in the north. On the grand entrance to Raby there are three shields, bearing the arms of the Nevills.
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