DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT MONUMENTS IN ESSEX. 201
2. Portion of narrow ancient inscription to John Bauchon, c. a.d. 1360.
' Johan Bauchon gist y cy.....' Very beautiful Lombardic letters, but no longer
to be found.
At Margaretting.—A very rare and curious profile brass of an unknown knight
in armour, his wife and children, with shield of arms, c. A.D. 1500. Supposed to
be the only military profile brass in existence—doubtless the founder of, or bene-
factor to the chancel wherein this slab lay till the 'restoration' a few years ago ; now
placed most perversely at the south entrance to the church. The curious female
figure is slightly loose, but might be secured at a very trifling cost. Certainly
the slab ought to be placed at once in its original position to secure it from
danger.
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" The church of East Horndon, four miles from this place, contains the finest
incised slab in England. It is of alabaster—a lovely work—to the memory of Lady
Alice Tyrrell, 1422, and measures about seven feet by three feet. Till the year
1846 it was whole and entire, and lay in its proper place before the altar in safety-
Then the cacoethes of improvement having urged movement, Lady Alice must needs
be set up in the wall, but she resented the indignity and broke into four pieces. She
still lies in her place, but a wreck. Happily the present esteemed rector knows the
value of this precious work of art, and is a jealous conservator.
" Yesterday I had the pleasure of rubbing a newly-discovered brass in Lamborne
Church, Essex, to Robert Barfoot and Katherine his wife, 1546. This anti-
Malthusian had nineteen children. A memorial of a family of like dimensions
occurs in Writtle Church, but in this case three wives were concerned."
There is another class of relics, many specimens of which are still
to be found in some of our country churches, viz., arms and armour,
often of very great interest to the student of ancient times and man-
ners, but which, it is feared, are gradually diminishing in number.
The Hon. Sec. to the Kernoozers Club, a Society formed for the pro-
tection of such memorials of martial days, writes :—
" In many churches, fine helmets, swords, gauntlets, and sometimes full suits of
armour still remain, though generally in a very neglected and dirty state; while
many others, unfortunately, have long since vanished from the iron brackets they
were originally placed upon at the funerals of their owners, having been relegated
to the rubbish heap or the blacksmith's shop, being considered anything but
ornamental to the tombs they belonged to, and should really form a part of. This
Society has been the means of rescuing several fine helmets, trophies of knightly
valour, from the cupboards and dark corners, organ lofts and towers, into which
they have been thrust as possessing no value, and getting them restored to the
tombs to which they belonged, or placed upon brackets well out of the way of
damage and felonious hands."
Mr. Allan Fea writes that some interesting helmets, in a deplorable
state of rust, are huddled together at the top of a cupboard in Ingate-
stone Church, and which he fears will share the fate of many other
church relics.
Every parishioner should constitute himself a guardian of the
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