Sir Thomas Rowe married the eldest sister of the famous Sir Thomas Gresham. Owen Rowe was brought from the Tower of London and buried in the church December 27, 1661. Owen Rowe sat in judgment on Charles I., and signed the warrant for his execution. After the Restoration he was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment. Trevor Hill, afterward Viscount Hillsborough, was born in 1693, and was made a peer of the kingdom of Ireland in 1717. He married Mary, eldest daughter and co-heir to Anthony Rowe, of Muswell Hill, in the County of Middlesex, and of North Aston, in the county of Oxford, and widow of Sir Edward Denton. Two sons, who died young, are buried at Hackney. A grandson, Marcus, Viscount Kilwarlin, is buried at Hackney. Lord Hillsborough was made Marquis of Downshire in 1789. His son was trustee of Charlotte Carpenter, Sir Walter Scott's wife. For an extremely kind letter to Scott, see Lockhart's 'Life.' Dr. Robinson* mentions a beautiful monument to Sir Thomas Roe, date 1612, in the south wall of the chancel. This is the same date as the one in the Rowe Chapel, and there appears to be some confusion, as no such monument appears in the plan in the possession of J. R. DanielTyssen, Esq. It may have been set up in the chancel, and removed to the chapel when the latter was finished in 1614. Dr. Robinson says: 'Near the door of the chancel there was a monument to Thomas Wood, Esq., with the effigies of himself, wife, four sons, and four daughters, kneeling, 1649.' This was, we believe, over the door leading from the chancel into the Rowe Chapel. Next to the Woods' monument, by some accounts, we come to Sir Francis Chester's tablet, but this is doubtful. We then come to Sotheby's monument,† which has been removed to the new church. There is a shield of arms at the foot, with the motto: 'Ou bien ou rien.' Just without the rails (or within, by some accounts) on the south side of the communion table, on a flat stone, is an inscription as follows: 'Here lyeth interred the body of George Clark, deceased 14 Aug., an. dom. 1668. If any desire to be me nigh, Pray let my bones in quiet ly, * In his 'History of Hackney.' + On the north wall of the chapel (in the chancel). Till Christ comes in the cloudy sky, Who will us all both judge and try.' This gentleman left twenty shillings yearly for an Anniversary Sermon to be preached on the 17th day of November, and other moneys to be distributed charitably in the parish on that day. Francis Tyssen was buried within the communion rails 11 November, 1717, in the high chancel.* We read that Shacklewell House was for many generations the property of the Rowes, and about the year 1600 (some error in this date) Henry Rowe sold it to Francis Tyssen, Esq. (reserving, however, the Rowe Chapel), who also bought the manor of Kingshold from Mr. Sykes.' Mr. Tyssen bought these manors in 1697 and in 1698; and all the manors, namely Lordshold, Kingshold, Grumbolds, or the Rectorial Manor, including the advowson, thus centred in the Tyssen family. Lordshold included the whole parish of Hackney. Kingshold was comparatively subordinate, Lordshold being paramount. Lordshold belonged to the Bishops of London from the time of Richard de Gravesend (1290), 19th Edward I., until the 4th year of Edward VI. Kingshold was the property of the Hospitallers, and it was this manor which the 6th Earl of Northumberland either held for the king or sold to the king. The earl died at his manor of Hackney,† but the writer thereby understands Kingshold, and not Lordshold. He had not, therefore, all the parish. We now come on the north side of the communion table to a vicar of Hackney's tomb, being a flat stone with a brass plate fastened on it, with the resemblance of a man in a gown, and this inscription: 'Robertus Stokes, vir Doctrina et morum Pro bitate insignis, Cantabrigiæ olim Sacræ Hujus Villæ Hackneæ per duos et viginti annos Vicarius, * There was nothing to mark the spot, indeed there hardly could be from the situation. He died at Brooke House: not then so called. Qui anno dom. 1570, octavo calendas a Summis juxta atque ab Afterwards to Urswick's monument (which may now be seen in the north vestibule of St. John's), which we have already described (see page 1), and would here only add that the obtuse arch covering a recess is thought by some to have been intended as a convenient place wherein to erect the sepulchre at Easter. The letters MIA at the corners stand for Misericordia. Coat of arms: Arg. on a bend sable, 3 lozenges of the field, each charged with a cross gules. The He is said to have been buried in the middle of the chancel. monument is, however, built in the north wall of the chancel (we are speaking now of the old church), and opposite the north end of the communion table. His brass on the floor is spoken of as being covered by a plank or planking, no doubt for convenience in a place so much trod on. The date in the wall being 1519, probably when the church was rebuilt, and the date of his death 1521. A relation of Urswick's, Sir Thos. Urswyke,* knight, was Recorder of London and afterwards a Baron of the Exchequer, which offices are wrongly ascribed by Newcourt to our rector. Sir Thos. Urswyke and others were appointed in 1476, the 17th year of Edward IV., to view and order repairs of the banks of the Lea. We now come to Bishop Doulben's monument, which requires no description, as it has been erected in the new church. It is on the north wall, immediately over Urswick's arch. There is a door in the north wall of the chancel leading into the vestry, and over the door is Thoresby's monument, which his descendant, the antiquary, was so proud of, the arms being correctly sculptured in a circle at the top. The figures of Thoresby and wife are praying at a desk, with their two daughters immediately below. The inscription on Thoresby is as fol * We understand that Sir Thos. was older than the rector. In 1419 a dispute at Furness Abbey was referred to the arbitration of Thos. Urswyke and others. Probably the family came from that neighbourhood. |