|
EASTON
(Suffolk). All Saints. Sir John Wingfield became Lord of Easton in 1463. The
1584 brass of Sir John Wingfield of the Dunham Magna line (north side of
chancel, in front of the sanctuary) is “perhaps the best example of
Elizabethan armor in England”. His arms shown include the following
quarterings: (1) Wingfield, (2) Bovill, (3) Carbonel, (4) Caston, (5) Gousell,
(6) FitzAlan, 97) Bigod, (8) Arundel, 99) Clun, (10) Blundeville, (11) Lupus,
(12) Hamelin Plantagenet, (13) Warenne, (14) Marshall, (15) Strongbow, (16)
Mac-Murrough, (17) Durward, (18) Coggeshall, (19) Glanville, (20) Clifton.
Nearby is the unique, exquisite full-length brass (1601) of Sir Thomas
Wingfield’s wife, Dame Radcliff Wingfield – often said to resemble Queen
Elizabeth I – in a sumptuous farthingale [dress] and wearing a pendant jewel,
a superb ruff and the latest French bonnet. Her dress is folded back to show a
brocaded petticoat. In c.1650 Sir Richard Wingfield, 4th Baronet
(grandson of Sir Thomas) erected the two attractive, ornate family box-pews,
eccentrically flanking the altar (with low cornices with the Wingfield arms).
They are apparently unique in England. The hatchment collection is the best
in England and includes that of Sir Richard’s 1st wife, Dame Susan
Wingfield, at the north end of the east wall. On the north wall is the large,
attractive touchstone memorial with Ionic columns of Sir Richard’s 1st
wife, Dame Mary Wingfield (1675).
|