An Armorial Table Tomb in King's Chaple Burying Ground

Just so that we're clear on what is being talked about here: A "table tomb" is "a rectangular table-shaped tomb built above the grave and supported by a series of pillars or legs, or in some cases, brick, stone, or even concrete walls. It is common to find an inscription about the deceased on the surface of the table. This type of tomb was popular during the colonial era."

Bodies are not buried in a table tomb (which would probably make it a "table mausoleum"); they are buried in the ground underneath it. In a sense, it is fancier than a headstone (or headstone and footstone combination) but not quite as fancy as a standing obelisk (like the one pictured in our post of December 22, 2025, at http://blog.appletonstudios.com/2025/12/two-coats-of-arms-on-copps-hill-not.html).

So now in our tour of armorial tombs in King's Chapel Burying Ground in Boston, Massachusetts, we come to the table tomb of John Winslow and his wife, Mary (Chilton) Winslow.

One of the plaques next to the gate leading into King's Chapel Burying Ground has this to say about these two individuals:

Here were buried

...  John Winslow 1674.

Mary Chilton 1679.

A passenger in the Mayflower

And wife of John Winslow.

As I have mentioned before in the interest of full disclosure as well as helping to explain my particular interest in this tomb, John Winslow and his wife, Mary Chilton Winslow, are my 10th great-grandparents.

Of this tomb, The Heraldic Journal, Vol. II, p. 21, says only: “The Winslow tomb has a stone bearing these arms, but without other inscription.” (As you can see in the photograph, click on the image to see the full-size image, immediately below, which shows the arms, helm, torse, and mantling, but no crest or other inscription.)

These arms appear in the Gore Roll of Arms, blazoned Argent, on a bend gules six lozenges conjoined or. This is a commonly found but erroneous version of what should be, and are on the tomb plaque, Argent a bend lozengy gules and or. The Gore Roll gives the crest (not shown on this plaque) as A stump of a tree sprouting on each side a branch with leaves proper.

I have not found that John Winslow, buried here, ever used these arms himself. These arms were used by his older brother Edward, and by Edward's son (John's nephew) Josiah, both of whom were at one time (though not together) Goveror of Plymouth Colony.

It is difficult to determine where these arms originated. Research by the College of Arms (yes, I was interested enough to pay the fee for one of the heralds there to go through the College records to see) has only found a modified example:

The arms Argent a Bend Lozengy Gules and Argent are attributed in Writhe’s Book (a book of arms dated to around 1480 showing arms from the time of Edward IV and earlier) to ‘Wynselowe de Cozheche’ (College of Arms: M10/179v).

The same arms, with the tinctures reversed (that is, Gules a Bend Lozengy Argent and Gules) appear in Harl. MS. 6163/30v (the second of Foster’s ‘Tudor Books of Arms’) attributed to Wynselowe. Foster adds ‘of Cez Heche’, but this does not appear in his reproduction of the manuscript, and it must be assumed that he has made this addition under the influence of M10/179v. Since these arms do not appear in any College records from the Visitation period or later, it might be assumed that the legitimate male line of the person or persons to whom the arms are attributed in M10 and in Harl. MS. 6163 had expired by the 16th Century. It was not uncommon in the Visitation period (or in any period) for families to use without authorisation the arms of families whose name they shared, and in the absence of any appearance of these arms in the Visitation records this would seem to be the most likely scenario in the case of the Winslows of Droitwich and latterly of America.

The Winslows of New England (and me, too!) all descend from Edward Winslow (1560-1651) of Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire, England. But how did they come to use or assume this coat of arms as found here in America? They didn't have the internet and its "bucket shop" heralds trying to sell them "your family's coat of arms" on-line back then. But barring the discovery of new records touching upon this mystery, we will probably never know. But what we can say for certain is that at least some members of the Winslow family in early colonial North America did use this coat of arms, and this use by other family members led to its being placed on this table tomb for John Winslow.