MEREVALE
Acreage: 890.
Population: 1911, 110; 1921, 105; 1931, 182.
This small parish, 1 mile from north to south and
1½ miles from east to west, is bounded on the north-east
by Watling Street, on the north-west by Waste Lane
running from the Street to Baddesley Common, and on
the east by the Innage Brook.
The parish was formerly much larger, including
some 1,500 acres lying in three detached areas in
Leicestershire, but these were added by Local Government Orders in 1880 and 1885 to the Leicestershire
parishes of Sheepy, Orton, and Norton-juxta-Twycross.
Ouston Grange and Mill, on the River Tame, are also
said by Dugdale to have been 'sometime a Grange belonging to Merevale Abbey, and for that respect still
[c. 1650] reputed a member thereof', and then owned
by Sir Charles Adderley, (fn. 1) who in 1660 was presented
for not repairing Hance bridge 'in the parish of Merevale near Ousterne house', called in 1647 'a mill way
leading from Curdworth to Shustoke'. (fn. 2) Ouston has
long been absorbed into Lea Marston, but the date of
the transference is not known. (fn. 3)
The Coventry Canal and the Trent Valley section of
the L.M.S. Railway cut through the extreme northeastern corner of the parish, which just includes Atherstone station. The south-eastern half of the parish is
occupied by Merevale Park, containing a large lake and
the Hall, a fine house faced with stone and partly rebuilt in the middle of the 19th century and now the
seat of Sir William Francis Stratford Dugdale, bart.
In the Hall are preserved the library, diary, and other
relics of Sir William Dugdale, the famous antiquary
and historian of Warwickshire. To the north of the
Park a road runs from the Watling Street, at an elevation of 273 ft., south-west to Baxterley Common, where
a height of 500 ft. is attained. Centrally on this road
lie the church and the remains of the abbey, with the
Abbey Pool and Black Pool. (fn. 4)
Apart from the parish church, which was the Chapel of
Our Lady at the Gate, there are few relics of the abbey.
Of the great abbey church no masonry whatever
remains above ground, except possibly a little of the
south wall of the south aisle, and its site is now indicated
only by excrescences in a field east of a farmyard.
The site was partly excavated in 1849 by Mr.
William Stratford Dugdale of Merevale Hall and
Mr. Henry Clutton the architect, and apparently only
enough was discovered to identify the size and shape
of the church. Mr. M. H. Bloxam wrote a description
in 1864 and produced a 'conjectural' plan based on
Mr. Clutton's discoveries. It shows a large church of
cross plan with north and south aisles to the nave.
Certain dimensions are specified, but the proportions
of the plan as drawn, and to which no scale is attached,
by no means tally with the sizes mentioned. The
foundations actually traced by Clutton were those of
the presbytery, specified as 40 ft. by 28 ft., parts of the
transept (88 ft. by 28 ft.), the north arcade and parts
of the south arcade walls of the nave (28 ft. wide), parts
of the walls of the aisles (15 ft. wide; total width 60 ft.,
and length of the building 230 ft.), with the beginning
of the east wall of the west claustral range. The walls
of these parts are scored on the conjectural plan, which
is of the normal Benedictine type. The west wall of the
church and the walls of the claustral ranges are shown
only in outline, except the Frater, the side-walls of
which are still standing to some height. The monastic
buildings were evidently never properly excavated or,
if so, no foundations were discovered. The Frater was
parallel with the cloister, instead of following the
north-south tradition of the Cistercians, and marks
the south side of the cloisters. The quadrangle, taking
the length of the Frater as a guide, was about 112 ft.
from east to west, and according to the scale-less plan it
was, therefore, about 140 ft. from the north to south.
It is now a rick-yard.
The remains of the Frater (about 96 ft. by 32 ft.)
stand in a garden east of the farm-house and consist
of the eastern halves of the north and south walls,
standing about 12 ft. high. They include the south
stair to the pulpitum, also a scrap of the west end of the
north wall containing the entrance from the cloister and
west of this the entrance to the former kitchen, all dating
from the middle of the 13th century. The remains of
the north wall (about 51½ ft. long) are 3 ft. 2 in. thick
in the lower part, of local yellow and cream sandstone
ashlar. It has a moulded string-course about 6 ft. high
inside, forming the edge of a ledge. Above this ledge
the wall-face sets back and is divided into 11½ bays of
4 ft. 2 in. span, by attached round filleted shafts with
moulded 'holdwater' bases; five of them still retain the
moulded capitals. Two low buttresses have been
added since the Dissolution. The exterior of the wall,
towards the former cloister, has a plinth comprising
a moulded course above a vertical course and two
lower chamfered courses. At the east end is a 3½-ft.
shallow buttress or wide pilaster. West of this the wallface is divided into 10½ bays of 4 ft. 9 in. span by semioctagonal pilasters that cut through the plinth. At the
tops the chamfers are stopped to square and the pilasters
finished with gable-heads. The bays do not tally with
those of the internal shafts. The next 30 ft. westwards
is now closed by a modern wall; beyond this is the 5 ft.
2 in. original entrance doorway, in very weather-worn
condition. The inner order of the jambs has a filleted
edge-roll; the other orders were two nook-shafts (now
missing) alternating with rolls cut from the solid;
the moulded capitals are in place. The two-centred
head is of three moulded orders and has a hood-mould,
and chamfered rear-arch. Immediately east of it is the
west jamb of the original lavatory recess, about 18 in.
deep, with unrecognizable mouldings, and the beginning
of an arched head. West of the doorway is another, with
square jambs and segmental-pointed head, that probably opened into the kitchen. The west wall of the
Frater, between the doorways, has entirely disappeared
above ground.
Plan of the Frater, Merevale Abbey
The south wall, of which about 58 ft. remains, has
at a distance of 38 ft. from the east end the open
entrance to the pulpitum-stair; it has moulded jambs
and two-centred head, over which the string-course is
carried as the hood-mould. Two small piercings in one
stone pierce the 11-in. wall immediately east of the doorway, one a quatrefoil and the other a trefoiled circle.
The straight stair of seven steps up remains, and the
wall is projected 1½ ft. outside to take it. The rectangular space, 6½ ft. long, for the reader projects 2 ft.
still farther, and the internal west angle with the stair
is moulded with twin shafts with moulded bases, probably for an archway across the head of the stair.
The wall-face inside from the east end up to the doorway is plain, but 2½ ft. west of it are nearly three bays
of wall arcading (like that of the north wall) before
the wall finishes with a modern end. The bays were
pierced by lancet-windows above the moulded ledge;
a course or two of the chamfered and rebated east jamb
of the first are left in place. Externally the ground dips
a little before rising to the height on which stands
Merevale Hall. The plinth is similar to the northern,
but has an additional lower chamfered course. A stringcourse, of which parts remain, ran below the sills of the
windows. At the east end is a narrow buttress, and 11 ft.
west of the stair projection is another, but there are no
pilasters like the northern.
Only a few lowest courses remain of the east wall;
it appears to have had a similar buttress at the south end
A 3-ft. gap near the north end may have been a former
doorway. A few loose stones, and pieces of window
tracery, &c., are lying on the site.
Apart from the Frater the only other remains of
masonry are (1) a piece of the adjoining west wall of
the cloister, containing blocked post-Dissolution doors,
&c., and (2) the rubble core of a wall about 20 ft.
high, forming part of farm-buildings, which may have
been part of the south wall of the south aisle.
In the fields on the other (north) side of Merevale
Lane are various banks, &c., indicating sites of fishstews and pools for the abbey corn mill, which faced the
Watling Street.
MANOR
Merevale was probably the woodland,
1½ leagues by 1 league, attached to the
manor of Grendon (q.v.) which was held
by Henry de Ferieres in 1086; (fn. 5) as when Earl Robert
de Ferrers founded the Abbey of Merevale in 1148 he
gave to it 'all my forest of Arden'. (fn. 6) This grant was confirmed by Henry II in 1155 (fn. 7) and again by Edward II
on 12 March 1326, (fn. 8) two days after the king had visited
the abbey. (fn. 9) After the dissolution of the abbey its site and
lands, including an iron-mill or smithy, were granted
in tail male to Sir Walter Devereux, Lord Ferrers
of Chartley, in December 1540. (fn. 10) In the following
February the grant was renewed, with the additional
mention of 'the manor called the Graunge' in Merevale, in the tenure of Richard Overton. (fn. 11) In 1550 Sir
Walter, now Viscount Hereford, (fn. 12) obtained a fresh
grant of the premises to himself, his heirs and assigns, (fn. 13)
under which he is said to have conveyed them to his
second son, Sir William Devereux (fn. 14) for life. On the
death of Sir William in 1579 the property passed to
Robert, Earl of Essex, son of his nephew Walter. (fn. 15)
The earl was dealing with the manor of MEREVALE
in 1596, (fn. 16) but five years later he was attainted and
executed for his plot against Queen Elizabeth. This
manor, however, remained in the
hands of his widow Frances, who
married Richard Bourke, Earl of
Clanricarde, (fn. 17) and they were
dealing with it in 1605. (fn. 18) The
lands and honours of the Earl
of Essex were restored to his
son Robert, the Parliamentarian
general, who died in 1646 leaving
two sisters as his co-heirs. (fn. 19) The
manor of Merevale seems to have
passed to the younger, Frances,
who married William Seymour,
Marquess of Hertford, and to
have been sold by them, probably in 1649, (fn. 20) to
Edward Stratford. (fn. 21) His descendant Penelope Bate
Stratford, daughter and co-heir of Francis Stratford,
married Richard Geast, who in 1749 inherited the
property and took the surname of his uncle John
Dugdale, and from them the estate has descended to
the present Sir William Dugdale, bart.
Dugdale. Argent a cross moline gules with a roundel gules in the quarter.
CHURCH
The parish church of OUR LADY
consists of a chancel with side aisles and
a nave that has lost its aisles. Modern
vestries occupy the site of the south aisle. The church
is rich in medieval coloured glass. The development
of the plan varies somewhat from that of the normal
secular parish church, the most striking difference being
in the length of the chancel (48½ ft.) as compared with
that of the nave (34½ ft.). The nave with aisles dates
from about 1240, and there is little doubt that the chancel, on the evidence of its east angles, was originally of
the same period. It is probable, as has been suggested
by Sir William Dugdale, (fn. 22) that the church was erected
to serve the monks temporarily while the great abbey
church was being rebuilt. This would account for
the comparatively abnormal length of the chancel, the
small nave being provided for the use of the lay brethren
and parishioners.
The progressive growth of the plan after the 13th
century is not altogether clear. The jambs and arch of
the great east window and the whole of the south aisle
or chapel date from c. 1340, but the two arcades and the
north aisle or chapel are of c. 1500. If the 14th-century
work was added to the 13th-century chancel in the
usual way, there would have been a contemporary south
arcade. A theory advanced by Sir W. F. S. Dugdale is
that the church was remodelled after the suppression
of the abbey, with the use of material from the great
abbey church for the south aisle. If so, re-used material
would be found in the arcades and north aisle, but this
is not the case; they are good specimens of work of
c. 1500 (although the mouldings in the arcade are
peculiarly small) and far better than would be expected
from a repatching of c. 1540 or later. It is most probable that the south chapel with an arcade was added
in the 14th century, but that the arcade developed
weakness and was replaced by the present arcade to
match the north arcade.
The north aisle had a west archway into the 13thcentury nave-aisle, which was of the same width, but
the east wall of the south nave-aisle was left solid,
except for an upper window, until, in the 15th century
or subsequently, a narrow archway of re-used 14thcentury material was inserted.
There is no evidence as to when the nave-aisles were
demolished, but the blocking masonry of the arcades
suggests the 18th century. About 1850 the vestries
were added on the site of the south aisle, and in 1893
much masonry was renewed, the chancel-roof was
taken down and reconstructed with the old material,
and new roofs were supplied to the chapels.
The chancel has an east window of five trefoiled
lights and vertical tracery of the 15th century; the
moulded jambs and arch, with hood-moulds on both
faces, are of the 14th century. The hoods have headstops (modern outside). Internally the jambs are of
filleted rolls and hollows, externally of three wavemoulded orders, all of local white sandstone. The
walling below the window is of ancient red, yellow,
and grey ashlar, but the plinth and string-course are
modern and patching below the south jamb suggests a
former doorway. The wall is gabled and has a modern
coping. At the original angles are large modern buttresses that incorporate the lower parts of original thin
buttresses. These rise higher than the modern work;
the northern has a 14th-century gabled head in red
sandstone. The southern is tabled back in the usual
manner at the top, and lower is tabled back 4 in. on its
south side. Projecting 5 in. from the east wall of the
aisle is the original south buttress of red sandstone.
This has a 13th-century plinth with a bowtell (or roll)
top member and chamfered lower, and a higher stringcourse that formerly passed round the east buttress.
The north and south arcades of c. 1500 are of four
12-ft. bays with moulded piers having three-quarterround 3-in. shafts on the north and south faces. The
shafts have very small moulded capitals, 4 in., including
a 2-in. abacus which passes round the rest of the pier.
The bases are also moulded. The mouldings of the
piers, excepting the innermost, are continued in the
four-centred heads: the innermost order has an additional moulding in the arch. Above the 3-in. shafts
are filleted rolls carried over as hood-moulds and also
carried up vertically to meet a corbel course, level with
the apices, and over it to the cornices. The spandrels
over the arches are panelled.
The roof is of pointed wagon-head type and has main
arched moulded beams carried by short wall-posts. The
ribs are also moulded and form nine square panels in
each side of each bay; the four bays coincide with those
of the arcades. At the intersections are carved conventional foliage bosses. It is possible that the roof is
a little earlier than the arcades and that the side-walls
were corbelled inwards to fit its span.
The north aisle (c. 9½ ft. wide) has no east window,
but at the north end of the wall outside is a vertical
straight joint, rising to within four courses of the parapet string-course and suggesting a former archway. In
the north wall are four windows of c. 1500, each of
three plain four-centred lights and tracery in a stilted
four-centred head; two quatrefoils above the sidelights are the only piercings that are cusped. The jambs
and arches are moulded. Between the windows are
moulded pilasters or wall shafts rising from the floor
and having bases and variously moulded semi-octagonal
capitals. Similar pilasters rise above the 3-in. shafts of
the piers in the opposite arcade-wall. Above the capitals are moulded string-courses.
Plan of Merevale Church
The walls are of local cream-tinted ashlar with a
moulded plinth. A diagonal north-east buttress and
four square buttresses divide the north wall into four
bays: they have moulded offsets. In the west wall an
archway into the former nave-aisle is filled in with
rubble-work; above it outside is the weather-course of
the lean-to roof of the aisle. The parapet is modern.
The modern roof is of four bays with trusses over the
old pilasters and a flat ceiling. On the east wall is the
marking of the former pointed wagon-head ceiling like
that of the chancel.
The south aisle (14 ft. wide) has an east and three
south windows of mid-14th-century date, each of three
trefoiled ogee-headed lights and leaf tracery in twocentred heads with hood-moulds inside and out: the
jambs and arches are moulded like those of the chancel
east window: the hood-moulds have carved stops—
human heads, beasts, &c. Below the lifted sill of the
western south window is a contemporary, walled-up,
priests' doorway. The walling is cream ashlar sandstone, patched in the upper part of the west bay with
some red stone. The lower parts are of a more rubbly
material and have 14th-century plinths with a projecting
top-chamfer. The south wall is divided into three bays
by buttresses; it has been largely rebuilt plumb vertical
with old material. At the south-east angle is a massive
18th-century diagonal buttress. The east wall is gabled
and has an ancient four-gabled base of a cross at the
apex. In the west wall is a 5½-ft. blocked doorway with
a four-centred head, with a hood-mould on the east
face having large carved stops, the north a coiled lion,
and the south the half figure of a man, evidently a 15thcentury or later reconstruction with 14th-century
material. Only the outline is visible on the west face
in the lumber-shed. Above is a 14th-century window
of two cinquefoiled lights and a quatrefoil in a twocentred head. The lower part of the wall is of cream
ashlar (like the south wall) south of a vertical straight
joint, which indicates where it was met by the former
nave-aisle wall, the aisle being of the same width as
the north aisle. Above, about the window, it is of red
sandstone rough ashlar with wide joints, probably 13th
century; on the wall is the weather-course of the leanto roof of the former aisle coming down to within 5½ ft.
of the plinth. The gable-head is of old grey ashlar
with an ancient coping. The roof is modern with a
wagon-head ceiling.
The chancel arch is of the same date as the nave,
c. 1240; the responds have broach-stopped chamfer
angles and middle attached three-quarter-round shafts
with moulded bases and capitals. The two-centred
head is of two orders with roll-moulds between hollows,
and has hood-moulds on both faces, without stops.
Over it is a large circular window (unglazed) with
chamfered voussoirs: the face towards the chancel has
some remains of painted red decoration.
The nave has north and south arcades of two 16-ft.
bays of the same date as the chancel arch. The pillars
are octagonal with capitals and bases of similar sections.
The two-centred heads are of two chamfered orders
that die on octagonal super-pillars (tas de charge) tending to give greater sturdiness at the springing. The
hood-moulds stop over the north pillar on the carved
head of a monk; the southern stop is broken. The
arcades are walled up with old rubble work or rough
ashlar, but the blocking on the north side has been cut
back to reveal the pillars, &c. In the blocking of the
south-east bay is reset a semi-octagonal moulded bracket
supported by a cowled head. The walls above the
arcades are of roughly coursed squared rubble-work,
but the top-courses are of modern ashlar replacing
Elizabethan brickwork. In the west wall is a 13thcentury doorway with a pointed head of three moulded
orders, filleted edge-rolls and hollows, the innermost
continued from the jambs, the outer two carried on
nook-shafts, of which only the moulded capitals remain.
The hood-mould is only chamfered. Above is a window
of three plain pointed lights under a two-centred head.
The gabled wall is of old red sandstone rubble with
some remains of a 13th-century plinth like that at the
south-east angle of the chancel. South of the window
are traces of a blocked doorway at a low first-floor level,
probably a later entrance to a gallery. The buttress in
line with the south arcade is modern; of that in line
with the north arcade the chamfered lower course of
the plinth-base remains.
The nave roof of two bays is like that of the chancel;
each bay has twelve panels on each side; no carved
bosses remain. Above the roof near the chancel arch
is a modern bell-turret that replaced an earlier one.
There is a great deal of 14th-century and later glass
in the east window and aisle windows, mostly from the
abbey church, although some of it, especially the 15thcentury glass, has probably always belonged here. (fn. 23)
The five main lights of the east window are filled
with the 14th-century Jesse glass that was removed
during the Parliamentary wars and was found buried
in the grounds of the Hall and restored here early in
the 19th century; much of it has had to be renewed,
especially the heads of the figures and the scrolls with
names. There are fifteen figures altogether, three in
each light, against blue or ruby backgrounds, surrounded
or crossed by the stem, of dimidiated yellow and white
(as at Mancetter) with branches and yellow and green
vine-leaves. Most of the compartments formed by the
stem are of vesica piscis shape. The bottom row contains five crowned kings, each holding a name-scroll
and either an upright sword or a sceptre. In the second
row David with his harp, Solomon with a sword, and
Hezekiah with a sceptre are flanked by the bearded
figure of the Prophet Malachi and Moses, with his
traditional horns. In the centre of the top row is Our
Lord, with cross-nimbus, in a purple robe, displaying
the wounds of his hands. On either side is a king, and
in the outside light a prophet. In the groundwork
outside the compartments are thirteen birds, one yellow
and one an owl. The lights have various borders; the
border of which most is left is an undulating diapered
white band with lion-headed monsters biting the band.
The border of the middle light is regular, but probably
not ancient; it is of lozenges containing alternately fleurs
de lis and roses; the others are made up of fragments,
including three eagles in profile looking upwards, a
lion's head, and a golden-haired head of a woman.
The tracery lights are filled with fragments of late15th-century glass. In piercings immediately over the
middle light are figures in white and yellow of the
Annunciation. In the top quatrefoils are fragments
including three horseshoes, part of a man's head, a
smaller nimbed head of Christ, two badges of Devereux, (fn. 24) a large yellow sun, and a fragment of an inscription: 'Orate p' aiabz . . . . Margie uxis e . . . .' Other
piercings have human heads (about ten), some crowned;
also flowers, leaves, &c., and several shields: (1)
apparently argent, a bend checky (no tints) over all a
crozier; (2) vairy or and gules (Ferrers); (3) argent an
upright pastoral staff (fn. 25) or between a sun and a crescent;
(4) gules three roach argent (de la Roche).
In the second north window of the north aisle is late15th-century glass with much of the colouring worn
away. In the heads of the three main lights is white
and yellow tabernacle work and below that of the
middle light a mixture of fragments including pieces
of drapery and four figures of angels. In the six
tracery lights next above from west to east are figures
of apostles, &c. (1) a bearded figure in a white robe
with a yellow border holds a book and spear. (2) St.
James the Greater in a palmer's dress. (3) St. Stephen.
(4) (?) head missing; holds a book. (5) St. Peter
holding two keys and an open book. (6) St. John
holding a chalice with a dragon. 1, 2, 5, and 6 are
shown in canopied niches. 3 and 4 are smaller figures
not of the same series as the others. In the middle top
piercing is a red roundel (17th century and foreign)
showing a king seated in a golden canopied chariot
drawn by four horses, troops of pikemen one side and
archers on the other and spearmen behind. Fragments about it include a smaller roundel with a man's
head, brown feathers of a wing, some letters 'Raad
Burg', &c.
The western north window contains tabernacle work
in the main lights and a mixture of fragments. In the
tracery lights among other reset pieces are (1) a figure
of the risen Christ with St. Mary Magdalene, (2) a
figure of the Virgin kneeling before a desk with an open
book, (3) St. Margaret with a cross-spear and dragon,
(4) St. Anne teaching the Virgin to read; and, in the
top light, a roundel depicting the Ascension; mostly
early-16th-century.
The second south window of the south aisle has in
the foiled head of the middle light a shield charged
quarterly 1 and 4 vairy or and gules (Ferrers), 2 and 3
argent a fesse and in chief three roundels gules; and
other fragments. The heads of the side lights have some
original borders of yellow leaves alternating with plain
blue squares and some weather-worn brown quarries
with floral patterns. The tracery has mostly reset fragments, but in the top quatrefoil is a figure in armour,
wearing a mitre and blue cope; he holds a book and
crozier.
In the western south window are a few ancient pieces.
In the middle light is an almost opaque brown shield
charged apparently with a cheveron between seven
martlets, four and three. In the head of the east light
is a jumble of dark brown fragments including a head
in profile, and in the west light a roundel containing a
man playing an organ, with a blue background.
A large part of the sanctuary is paved with medieval
tiles—4½ in. plain and 5 in. figured with foliage patterns,
&c. Some have the Royal arms, a fleur de lis, a hart,
&c.; one is charged argent two bars, another with six
voided lozenges, probably for Ferrers of Groby.
The communion rails are partly made up of late17th-century balusters and have middle gates.
At the west end of the nave is refixed, facing east, a
rood screen and loft, thought to have come from the
abbey church. It was formerly across the chancel arch
of this church with a stone screen behind it. The last
has not been preserved. The screen has two rows of
moulded posts, east and west, a yard apart, forming
three bays of spans of 6 ft. 6 in., 4 ft. 2 in., and 6 ft. 2 in.
The middle bay has a front balcony or pulpitum projecting a yard. Each end post has a pair of front
buttress-pilasters. The middle bay has a two-centred
arch with open foiled spandrels, and similar half-arches
form projecting brackets for the pulpitum. The wider
side-bays have half-arches of equal radius connected by
moulded stiffeners below the moulded top-rail, or sill
of the gallery. The gallery front is panelled in double
bays, divided by styles with buttress pilasters. Each
half-bay has a cinquefoiled pointed head and closed
tracery. The angle buttresses to the pulpitum have
crocketed heads.
The font is modern.
In the chancel is a slab with a well-preserved pair
of brass effigies, one of a knight of c. 1400 in full armour
with gauntleted hands in prayer; the head wears a
bascinet and rests on a crest of peacock feathers. On
the left hand is a sword and on the right a dagger.
The other, a lady, wears coiled and braided side hair
in nets, a close cote-hardie, tight buttoned sleeves reaching to the knuckles: over all a mantle; at the foot is a
pet dog. (fn. 26)
On the north side of the nave is the mutilated stone
effigy of a mid-13th-century knight in chain armour
and wearing a long surcoat: the head and feet are
missing; the legs are crossed, the lower half of the left
being also missing. On the left side is a long shield. (fn. 27)
On the south side an alabaster altar-tomb has 15thcentury effigies of a knight and lady. The knight wears
full plate-armour, a close helmet with a crest-wreath,
the head resting on a tilting helm with a feather panache; the hands wear gauntlets and the feet rest on a
lion. The lady wears a veiled horned head-dress
covered with rich netting, a gold chain collar, lownecked sideless coat over her tightly fitting gown, and a
mantle tied in front by cords from brooches. Two
winged angels support her pillow, and at the feet are
two small spaniels, one biting her gown. The effigies
are carved separately; probably the lady was the earlier.
The north side of the tomb has four bays, and the west
end two, divided by buttresses and each containing the
standing figure of an angel holding a blank shield. The
inner middle pair, of a single piece, are narrower than
the outer two in the long side, suggesting a different
arrangement originally. (fn. 28) In the moulded cornice is a
square foliage patera above each angel. At the east end
is a stone slab from elsewhere containing a quatrefoil
panel about a blank shield.
ADVOWSON
The present parish church was
originally the chapel of St. Mary
outside the gate of the Abbey of
Merevale. It was mentioned by that name in 1345,
when licence to establish a chantry therein for the souls
of William de Henore and his ancestors, and to endow
it by granting lands in Atherstone, Bentley, and Baxterley to the abbey was given to William de Shulton, rector
of Colton (Staffs.), and William de Cruddeworth, chaplain. (fn. 29) In 1357 John de Lisle, Lord of Bentley, is said
to have given lands for the support of 15 tapers in the
chapel. (fn. 30) It was apparently used by pilgrims, coming
presumably to the abbey, as in 1361 and 1371 one of
the monks was appointed penitentiary for such pilgrims
at the chapel by the gate. (fn. 31) At the time of the Dissolution
there is no trace of its use as a parish church or of any
payment to any chaplain there; presumably it was
served by one of the monks. Anyhow it survived that
event and continued as a chapelry, worth £26, (fn. 32) in the
gift of the lord of the manor. (fn. 33) Since monastic days
Merevale has been extra-parochial, and it is given as a
donative in 1889. (fn. 34) It is in the gift of Sir William
Dugdale.