To see: a massive alabaster tomb on which the earl and his wife lie side by side, recumbent effigies in aristocratic calm. Look for the kneeling figures set at head and foot — mourners and kin keeping watch over the couple — then the great strapwork cartouche and the "nowy" cornice (with a central peak) crowned with arms. Signs of rank are everywhere: the earl's coronet, the ermine collar, and above all the "Bourchier knots," the family's heraldic emblem, strewn through the ornament. William Bourchier, 3rd Earl of Bath, died in 1623; his tomb closes the great Tawstock funerary series. The attribution to Nicholas Johnson remains uncertain — better read it as the work of a leading English workshop. The monument was restored and repainted around 1980.
Did you know?
The "Bourchier knot," a heraldic interlace unique to the family, serves as an ornamental signature: spotting it on the tomb lets you read the deceased's identity without a word of epitaph.
Info
- Recumbent effigies of the earl and his wife; kneeling figures at head and foot.
- Strapwork cartouche, nowy-arch cornice, earl's coronet, ermine collar.
- Restored and repainted c.1980; Nicholas Johnson attribution unconfirmed.