Friday, 9 August 1717
Cumner Church, Berks
A Monument on the North side of the Chancell :-
Antonius Forster generis generosi propago
Cumnerae dominus Batcheriensis erat.
......
(Hearne gives the full epitaph on Forster's tomb)
Above the said verses is a person knelling at an Altar and
praying. He hath a Beard & Whiskers. His Helmet at ye
Bottom of the Altar.
On the left Hand of the Man is a woman looking upon
him and praying also at an Altar, & behind are praying three
boys.
(He records the epitaph to Anne, Forster's wife)
The monument is pretty handsome, but plain, being raised
a pretty considerable Height.
Arms, two coats :-
1. Quarterly, (1) 3 Hunting Horns, (2) 3 Pheons, 3 as ye
second, 4th as first.
2. Quarterly, (1) a Cross Saltire between four crosses patee,
(2) A Pelican, (3) a Cheveron betw. 3 Lyons' heads erased,
on a chief vairie a pelican, 4 as the 1st.
Upon the floor of the Chancell :-
'Here lyeth the body of Katherin, sometyme the wyffe of
Henry Staverton, Gent., and daughter of Raynold Williams
of Borgfeld in the Countie of Bark., Esquier, who dyed a
good Christian the xxijth daye of December in the yere of
our lorde God 1577.'
Below are two boys, standing with their hands lifted up, &
there hath been a 3d. The plate for the Daughters (abt 2) is
gone. Above the Inscription is the Lady's Effigies at full
length & standing.
Upon the floor also, on the N. side of the former, the
figure of an old Man & of a woman standing, but wth Hands
lifted up. The Brass Plate with ye Inscription at ye bottom of
ym is gone, but just above yier Heads is a Plate, on wch :-
'Yedithe Stauerton, dafter to Raygnald Wyllyams of Borfeld,
in the Countye of Bark., esquyer.'
In the Chancell, upon ye floor, a blank Marble, on wch :-
'JOHANNES BAKER OF ECCLESDON IN COM. SUSSEX,
GENEROSUS. Objit die 8th Januarii, 1672.'
There hath been an old Monumt on the floor of the S. Isle
(called St Katherine's Isle) but ye Brasses gone. In the middle
Isle a plain stone, on wch in Capitals :-
'Here lyes the body of Dudson Bacon, onely son of Dudson
Bacon and Anne, his wife, who loved him as her life, deceased
the 23rd of March in the twelfth Year of his Age 1703.'
Just by, another plain stone, on wch in Capitals :-
'Here lyeth the body of Elizabeth Bacon, deceased July the
11th, anno Dom. 1694.' She was the elder sister of the
former.
Upon the floor of the North Isle (called St Thomas's Isle), a
rough Stone, on wch :-
'H. S. E. CAROLUS PEACOCKE, GENEROSUS, Qui
Postquam quadraginta sex annos vixdum compleverat suis
usque charissimus, Per invidam nimis Icteri violentiam cito
abreptus, 21th die mensis Aug. Annoque Domini 1695.
Plorantes reliquit Sui tamen superstes, Brevem in terris
mortem Pro vita in coelis commutavit sempiterna. Piae cujus
memoriae (Quod ultimum potuit) monumentum hoc
consecravit uxor amantissima, Alicia Peacocke.'
(Hearne also noted the alabaster or white marble wall tablet to
Alice Peacock, dated 21 May 1715)
Underneath, a rough small stone, standing agt the wall, on
wch :- 'Here lyeth the body of Frances, ye Daughter of
Charles Peacock, And Alice, his wife, who departed this Life,
March the 12th, Anno Domini 1688/9.'
In the Middle Isle, against the N. Wall of Charley Seat (so
they call the seat belonging to the Farm-House of Charley, on
the right Hand as we go from Cumner to Oxford) :-
'In the middle of this Seat lyeth the body of Francis Drope,
Bachelour in Divinity, late Fellow of St Mary Magdalen
College in Oxford, Prebendarie of Lincoln, and Chaplain to
the then Lord Bishop of that Diocess, Buryed September 29th,
in the 44th Yeare of his Age, 1671.'
The Earl of Leycester's House was on the West side of the
Church. A good part of it is now standing, but much altered,
especially the North part of it, wch was adorned, about a Year
since, by Mr Knap, Gent., who now lives in the House,
holding it for Lives of the Earl of Abbingdon. Over the great
Gate on the North side of the House, is put in Capitals : -
IANVA VITAE VERBUM DOMINI. ANTHO. FORSTER.
A.D.1572. The great Hall is still standing, being on the
South side of the House. It is large. The Chapell is down, &
only some Ruins remaining.
One Mr John Quainton lives at Cumner, and is well skill'd
(as they say) in History & Antiquity. He is about 58 Years of
Age, & so is the Clarke, whose name is Christopher Swan.
Cumner Feast Day is the Sunday immediately after St Michael.
And if Sunday happen to be St Michael, the Feast Day is
Sunday after. Ferry Hincksey (rightly called Laurence Hincksey)
Feast is the Sunday after St Laurence, and so is Appleton Feast.
At Cumner is a famous Water that comes from a Place called
the New-Found-Well. It is much used by all sorts of people far
and near. It was first found out by one Mr Edward Dudson,
who, being discomposed, took occasion to try the water more
than once, and finding benefit by it, he apply'd himself to the
famous Dr Thomas Willis, who, upon hearing all Circumstances,
approved of the water, &, from that time, it hath been look'd
upon and esteem'd as a very good Medicinal purging water. It
ariseth somewhere abt Bablake Hith, I am told, in the Lane
that goes in Berkshire to the said Hith. John Butler was the
first Keeper of the Well. His son (who lives at a place in Cumner
called Filchampstede, wch, they say, is really pt of Cumner
Town) is now Keeper of it. The Place where the son (the present
John Butler) lives, goes commonly by the Name of Tumble Down
Dicks