An History of Birmingham (1783) by William Hutton
page 237 of 347 (68%)
page 237 of 347 (68%)
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Number two, in the east window of the chancel, which is _or, two lions
passant azure_, the arms of the family of Someri, Lords of Dudley-castle, and superior Lords of Birmingham; which having been extinct about 450 years, the coat of arms must have been there at least during that period. Number three, in the south window of the chancel, _azure, a bend lozenge of five points, or_, the ancient arms of the family of Birmingham, which perhaps is upwards of 400 years old, as that coat was not used after the days of Edward the First, except in quarterings. And number ten, in the north window, _or, a cross, indented gules_; also, _five fleurs de lis_, the ancient arms of Freville, Lords of Tamworth, whose ancestor, Marmion, received a grant of that castle from William the Conqueror, and whose descendant, Lord Viscount Townshend, is the present proprietor. Perhaps this coat hath been there 400 years, for the male line of the Freville family, was extinct in the reign of Henry the Fourth. Under the south window of the chancel, by the door, are two monuments a-breast, of white marble, much injured by the hand of rude time, and more by that of the ruder boys. The left figure, which is very ancient, I take to be William de Birmingham, who was made prisoner by the French, at the siege of Bellegard, in the 25th of Edward the First, 1297. He wears a short mantle, which was the dress of that time, a sword, expressive of the military order, and he also bears a shield with the bend lozenge, which seems never to have been borne after the above date. The right hand figure, next the wall, is visibly marked with a much older date, perhaps about the conquest. The effigy does not appear in a |
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