Our last heraldic memorial in the historic (there has been a church on this site since the 12th Century!) church of St. Paul's Without the Walls is this two-piece one:
The plaque explains:
Heere Resteth ye Body of Mary, ye Wife
Of Thomas Taverner, Gent., Daughter
to Laurence Rooke of Horton, Gent.
By Her Mother Descended of ye Ancient
Family of ye Scots of Scots Hall, Who
Deceased 17 of February, 1622
(As with several of the other memorials in St. Paul's, "ye" is an abbreviation for "the", in the same way that "St." is an abbreviation for "Saint". It is not pronounced "yee", it is pronounced "the".)
And, of course, it was the shield bearing a marshaled coat of arms that really attracted my attention:
Burke’s General Armory gives us: Taverner (Hoxton, co. Hertford, and co. Kent; granted 1575, and by patent
1604). Argent a bend lozengy sable in
sinister chief a torteau. (There is no torteau, a red roundel, on the shield here.)
I do not find the paternal (Rooke) arms in Burke; most of the Rook, Rooke, and Rookes families there which bear a chevron do so between three chessrooks (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Chess-rooks_in_heraldry), while the one here has a chevron between two fleurs-de-lis and a tower.
According
to Burke’s General Armory, Scot of
Scott’s Hall, county Kent, bore Argent
three Catherine wheels sable a bordure engrailed gules (though of course those arms do not appear here, as belonging to her mother).
And, of course, since the arms here are carved but not painted, I have no idea of what the tinctures are supposed to be, making further research more time-consuming.
Nonetheless, it is a nicely carved marital coat of arms, and a fitting memorial to a wife and daughter who passed away nearly 400 years ago.
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