English: Heraldic escutcheon from mural monument in Branscombe Church, Devon, to Joan Tregarthin (d.1583) and her two husbands, John Kelloway of Cullompton, Devon, and John Wadham (d.1578) of Edge, Branscombe, Devon and Merrifield, Ilton, Somerset. Much of the original tincturing has faded. One of the daughters and co-heiresses of John Kelloway and Joan Tregarthin was Mary Kelloway, wife of William Cooke of Thorne in the parish of Ottery St Mary in Devon. (Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.222) The mural monument of his grandson John Cooke (d. 1632) of Thorne survives in Ottery St Mary Church and incorporates an heraldic escutcheon of 9 quarters, the 4th of which is Kelloway. See image File:Memorial to John Coke of Thorne Esq in St Mary's Church, Ottery St Mary.JPG

Heraldry

The sinister escutcheon on the monument shows the arms of Wadham, of 9 quarters, impaling Tregarthin, of 6 quarters.

Wadham arms

These 9 quarters are largely the same as those depicted on the monument of Nicholas and Dorothy Wadham in the north transept of Ilminster Church, Somerset.^[1][2]. they are as follows:

• 1st: Gules, a chevron between three roses argent (Wadham).
• 2nd: Or, on a chevron gules three martlets or (Chiselden of Holcombe Rogus)^[3]
• 3rd: Argent on a chief gules two bucks' heads cabossed or (Popham).
• 4th: Gules, a chevron argent between nine bezants five in chief and four in base (Dene) (Source: Elias Ashmole, Antiquities of Berkshire, Vol.3, 1723, p.343[1])
• 5th Sable six lioncels or (St Martin).
• 6th Per fesse indented, overall a bend (as shown, given by Ashmole as: Argent, a chief embattled azure overall a bend gules (Nevil))
• 7th Barry of eight azure and argent an eagle displayed. (Walrond, per Ashmole/Speke?)
• 8th Per pale azure and gules a lion rampant ermine (Norwich); (given by Ashmole as: Azure, a lion rampant per pale or and gules (Lory)).
• 9th Gules a bend fusilly/lozengy ermine (Read, Redege, Riedde etc., of Devon^[4]) "Reade of Pole-Antony, Devon, bore: Gules, five fusils in bend ermine a bordure sable, per Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.499. Similar to arms of Hele: Gules, five fusils in bend argent on each an ermine spot, Pole, p.487.

Tregarthin arms

The heraldry here is explicable by reference to the ancestry of Joan Tregarthin, as set out by Davies in his "Parochial History of Cornwall", concerning the parish of Goran:^[5]

"At Tregarden lived John de Tregarthyn, temp Edward I, how long before I know not, after which his posterity in this place married with the great inheritrixes of Pever, Chamberlayne and Hendower, of Court, in Branell, by which last, by the Cornwalls of that place, they were lineally descended from Richard, Earl of Cornwall, King of the Romans, by his concubine Joan de Valletort, widow of Sir Alexander Oakeston".

The arms are as follows:

• 1st: Argent, two lobster's claws in saltire gules (Tregarthick).^[6]
• 2nd: Argent, a chevron between three escallops sable (Tregarthin).^[7]
• 3rd: Azure semée of escallops or, a lion rampant of the last (Hendower/Hender). Lysons, Magna Britannia, Vol.3, Cornwall, Extrinct Gentry: "Hendower, a Welsh family, married the heiress of Cornwall of Court in Brannell. The heiress of Hendower married Trewarthian about the reign of Henry VII. The Henders of Bottreaux Castle were most probably a younger branch of this family. The coheiresses of Hender married Molesworth, Robartes, Hele, and Cotton. — Arms granted by Cooke, Clarencieux: — Az. semée of escallopshells, a lion rampant, Or". These arms are also visible in Bovey Tracey Church, Devon, on the monument to w:Elize Hele (d.1635), who married Mary Hender.
• 4th: Argent a lion rampant gules in chief a label azure of three points a bordure engrailed bezantee (descendant of Sir Richard of Cornwall, son of the Plantagenet first Earl of Cornwall. The label is usually the difference used to indicate a first-born son.).
• 5th: On a bend 5 (or six) roundels (Chamberlayne).
• 6th: On a chevron three fleurs-de-lys (Pever).

Similar shields

Many of the same quarterings (including: Wadham, Chesildon, Popham, St Martin, Nevill, Hender, Hele, Tregarthin, Hendour, de Cornwall) survive on a stone chimney-piece in the "Red Lodge", a masion built by Wikipedia:John Young (died 1589) on the site of the Grey Friars in Bristol. He married Joan Wadham (d.1603), widow of Sir Giles Strangways (d. 1562), a daughter of John Wadham (d.1578) of Merryfield & Edge, and a sister and co-heiress of Nicholas Wadham (1531–1609), co-founder of Wadham College. See Maclean, Sir John, Notes on the Family of Yonge, or Young, of Bristol, and on the Red Lodge, Transactions of Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, Volume 15, p.238[2]

Sources

• Gilbert, Davies, (ed.), The Parochial History of Cornwall: Founded on the Manuscripts...,Volume 2, pp.109-110
• Branscombe, Ronald, A Guide to the Church of St Winifred, Branscombe: The Tombs and Gravestones within the Church
• Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries, 1907 (Vol. 4). London, pp.341-2, Article 59 by "Senex", Branscombe Monument

References

1. ↑ Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries, 1907 (Vol. 4). London, pp.341-2, Article 59 by "Senex", Branscombe Monument
2. ↑ "The Wadham family has been treated of at large in Prince's Worthies and in subsequent books such as that of Mr. T. G. Jackson, R.A., on Wadham College"
3. ↑ Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.478
4. ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=lBkNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA40&lpg=PA40&dq=gules+a+bend+fusilly+ermine&source=bl&ots=rYICM9g87S&sig=oyyYln293lI4BnEG92Oa7_jvc-M&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ELrHVIHYG4SvyQSnzoL4DQ&ved=0CCIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=gules%20a%20bend%20fusilly%20ermine&f=false An Armory of the Western Counties (Devon and Cornwall).: From the Unpublished Manuscripts of the XVI Century. By Sabine Baring-Gould, Robert Twigge. Published by J.G. Commin, 1898; page 40.
5. ↑ Davies, Vol.2, pp.109-110, adding ref to his articles on "St Stephens in Branell"and "St Stephens in Saltash"
6. ↑ It has not been explained why the arms of Tregarthin do not appear in the 1st quarter as might be expected. D&C N&Q: "There is but scanty evidence of this family, presumably of Cornish origin, and known as Tregarthick or Tregarthyke. Papworth (p. 963) sets out the Tregarthicks (of Cornwall and Devon) as carrying 2 lobster claws (dexter over sinister) in saltire gules. Tregarthick. " In Harley MS., 1404 (which is a blazon of Ordinaries), fol. 160, Tregarthick is blazoned as 2 lobsters' claws in saltire gu., and the field is apparently argent. In C. S. Gilbert's Cornwall, ii., 348, Tregarthick is said to carry crabs' claws. But there does not seem any evidence of a connection between Tregarthin and Tregarthick to account for the 1st quartering, on the Tregarthin (half of the escutcheon) of Tregarthick. It does not appear that any other family ever carried lobsters' or crabs' claws; and a suggestion that this coat was recorded as an ancient (even then in the i6th century) cognizance of Tregarthin, does not seem supported by any actual evidence; but rather to be a surmise to explain the difficulty felt as to the quarterings on the (Tregarthin alf of the escutcheon)"
7. ↑ D&C N&Q: "The arms of Tregarthin (quite well known) are: Argent a chevron between 3 escallops sable. About this there is no doubt, but other families used the same or a similar coat. (See Papworth, p. 416, for the Tregarthin coat)"; see also Tristram Risdon's Notebook