Monuments The large Jacobean monument in the apse shows Edmund Nevill,
Lord Mortimer, and his lady with their four daughters and three sons at the
base: the coronet on the head of the lady reflects a disputed claim to the
earldom of Northumberland.
The monument to William Heigham (died 1620) and his wife Anne on the
South wall of the nave was originally in the apse but was moved in 1931.
POSTERITATI may be translated as 'to those who come after': the
message D.O.M. was commonly sculpted on pagan tombs and stood for
DIIS OMNIBUS MANIBUS ('To the Gods in all the Shades'). Later it was
thought of as addressed to Jupiter - DEO OPTIMO MAXIMO ('To God
most good and great) In the fourth century it took on a new meaning,
but remained entirely suitable to a Christian tomb.
On the North wall of the chancel is a monument to Giles Breame and his
lady, composed of various kinds of marble and resting on a solid slab of
onyx. Breame's father had received a grant of the Cistercian Abbey of
Stratford Langthorne on its dissolution in 1532 and so became the patron
of the living of East Ham. The patronage passed to the Bishop of London
but now belongs to Brazenose College Oxford.
Brasses On the East wall of the apse in a brass (1) 1585, recording a bequest
of Robert Rampston, and other (2) 1631, a loose inscription to William
Johnson on a broken slab with indents of shield, swaddled infant and
inscription plate.
On the floor to the south of the altar is a brass (3) to Mary (Colman), wife
of William Johnson 1634.
In front of the altar are brasses of (4) Elizabeth (Harvey), wife of Richard
Heigham 1622—figure of a woman with two shields of arms (replica) and
of (5) Hester, wife of Francis Neve 1610, figure of a woman and shield of
arms. Replicas of these for rubbing are at the back of the church.
Plate A small Elizabethan Communion cup with a cover and furnished with
a foot so that it can be used as a paten: The cup is dated by the hall-mark
1563 and the cover 1574. In 1624 Lady Jane Boles gave a large cup and
cover paten 1623 stamped with her crest.
Churchyard Of 91/2 acres is said to be the largest in England: it is now closed for
further burials. For many years it was regarded as a wilderness and a
liability. Recently it was realised that it is a haven for interesting wild
plants and animals natural to the area but stamped out elsewhere by urban
development. It is now a Nature Reserve supervised by the Borough of
Newham, which properly treats it as an educational asset and a refreshing
country-like oasis in a desert created by the Borough itself.