THE HERALDRY OF ORMSKIRK HE CHURCH By James Bromley, J.P. Read 15th February 1906. ERALDRY has been styled "the shorthand of History," and though the phrase is to some extent true, it could more pertinently be called the shorthand of genealogy. The heraldry of this church illustrates both truisms, for not only would it be impossible to identify most of its monuments without the heraldic charges, but from these can be gathered many historical facts hitherto unknown concerning both the monuments and the church. From a comparison of these charges, and the particular adjuncts of different coats of arms, the approximate date of the dedication of the Derby Chapel can be fixed, and from them it is demonstrable that some of the monuments have been moved from their own particular chapel to another with which they have little relation, that the effigies have got ludicrously mixed up-a great-grandmother having been allotted as wife to her great-grandson -and that not only can the identity of nearly all the monuments of the church be clearly established, but also the relationship of many of the different people commemorated to each other, all of which demonstrates the special antiquarian importance of heraldic study. There are, or were, in this church, I think, three examples of bogus heraldry, that is, arms for which no grants have been made, designed by unauthorised and sometimes ignorant persons, and about as many instances which raise interesting questions respecting the right of particular persons to display undoubtedly authentic heraldry belonging to other, though it may be allied, families, and at least one of these is particularly curious. Though the salient genealogical dates are given from the monuments, it is not requisite to weary the reader with the fulsome eulogy of eighteenthcentury epitaphs, for, like Lord Byron, it is not every one who "believes a woman or an epitaph." The principal purpose of this paper is the elucidation of a drawing of the monuments of Ormskirk Church as they existed in 1664 during the Visitation of this county by Sir William Dugdale, Norroy King of Arms; but before dealing with this, which is confined to some now in the two chapels, it seems first desirable to describe the armorials that are outside those localities. On the north wall of the tower is an oval monument to the memory of Henry Brooke of Astley Hall, Chorley, husband of Jane Brooke, donor of the old organ and £300, as an endowment for its upkeep, in 1731. This monument is on a slab of blue slate, fast pulverising, which renders the charges a little dubious, though the colour and gilding are still bright. It is an impalement of Brooke: "Or, a cross engrailed per pale Gules and Sable" with the 2nd sign of cadency, and "Or, a double-headed eagle displayed Sable" (?), for Temple or Browne. Crest, "A brock passant proper." Henry Brooke died September 1718, aged forty-five. A similar heraldic display formerly adorned the front of the old organ. On the west side of the south window of the E tower is the marble monument of Christopher Sudell, A.M., Chaplain to James, Earl of Derby, Rector of North Meols and of Holy Trinity, Chester, and Prebendary of the Cathedral there. From this nearly all the colour has flown, but enough remains to identify it by. "Azure a cross (quarterly pierced Or) between four bezants, in honour point the 2nd sign of cadency." Crest, "A long cross, Or, the top encompassed with a wreath of laurel proper." Granted 1685. Christopher Sudell died August 3, 1735, aged sixty-two. On the opposite side of this window is the marble monument of Charles Stanley of Cross Hall, Ormskirk, and Jane Sudell, his wife, daughter of the above Christopher Sudell: "Argent, on a bend Azure three bucks' heads cabossed Or," for Stanley, with an escutcheon of pretence for his mother, Elizabeth Parker, of the Isle of Man, "Argent, a chevron Azure guttée-de-sang, on a canton Gules an eagle's head erased Or" (?), with the Stanley crest, "On a chapeau Gules turned up Ermine an eagle, wings endorsed, Or, feeding on an infant in its nest, proper, swaddled, Azure, banded of the third." Charles Stanley died 19th of April 1754, aged thirty-nine, and Jane, his wife, 12th of December 1755, aged fifty. On the east wall of the tower is a hatchment, a very conspicuous example of bogus heraldry. The whole ground of the hatchment and the field is Vert, and if the charges mean anything under the sun, it is possibly intended for an impalement of Pye with Glashan: "Vert, three fleurs-de-lys stalked and slipped Argent" (Or), for Pye, and "Vert, (Argent) a chevron Azure between three dirks Argent" (Azure, those in chief pointing downwards), for Glashan, but on this coat all the dirks point downwards, and, what is peculiarly fitting, on the apex of the chevron is "a fool's cap Or." Crest, |