Hatchment - St Peter - Church Langton, Leicestershire, UK
Posted by: 
SMacB
N 52° 32.025 W 000° 56.021
30U E 640152 N 5822412
A hatchment board in the chancel of St Peter's church, Church Langton.
Waymark Code: WM134HN
Location: East Midlands, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 09/14/2020
Views: 4
A hatchment board in the south east corner of the chancel of St Peter's church, Church Langton.
It is dedicated to Anne Brooke (d.1632)
We normally think of hatchments as the (usually) diamond shaped boards painted with a large coat of arms, crest or motto of a deceased person. The practice developed in the early 17th century. They were carried in front of funeral processions to the church, and afterwards hung on the gate of the deceased person's house. After it had been hung on the gates for several months, it was taken down and hung in the church.
This appears to be an early type, with a small coat of arms at the apex (Arms: Gules a chevron Sable. Crest: Two wings erect - Ref. Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica: Antiquities in Leicestershire; Volume 7, p.470; J.Nichols, 1790) with a written epitaph filling most of the space below, with some decorative embelishments - usually death themed, here red ribbons, skulls and angels.
The inscription reads -
HERE LIES THE BODY OF M
ANNE BROOKE ELDEST DAVGHTER
TO SIR CALISTENE BROOKE KNIGHT
BANNERET AND THE LADY ANNE BROOKE
HIS WIFE BORNE IN MIDLIBOROVGH IN
ZELAND IN THE YEARE OF OVR
LORD 1603 DESCENDINGE FROM THE
RIGHT HONOVRABLE HOVSE OF THE
COBHAMS IN KENT WHO WHEN SHE
HAD LIVED THE SPACE OF TWENTI
IX YEARS RELIGIOVSLY CHASTLY AND
INOFFENSIVELY IN THE LOVE'D
HONOVR AND HIGH REPVTA
TION OF ALL DEPARTED THIS
LIFE IN THE YEARE OF OVR
LORD 1632 FEBRV
ARI THE 23
Note: Hatchments with Coats of Arms normally belong in the CoA category, however this is an unusual case because the family arms are small, and the rest of the hatchment is given over to the epitaph. Possibly an early form of hatchment as the style developed in the early 17th century.