Snettisham, Norfolk, UK
Church of St Mary,
Monument to Sir Wymond Carye d. 1612; Alabaster and marble; commissioned by his brother Sir Edward Carye of Aldenham and Sir Edward’s son. Sir Henry Carye, Sir Wymond’s executor. East end of north aisle.
The monument is set with fine disregard for the aisle windows, perhaps no surprising since Sir Wymond had demolished the 40ft long chancel. The monument was described by Blomefield: ‘At the east end of the north isle is a stately monument for Sir Wymond Carye, with his effigies of alabaster, and in armour, lying on an altar tomb of marble, his head resting on a pillow, hands joined, and erect; over him is raised a beautiful arch of marble, &c. supported by porphyry pillars of the Corinthian order, and on the summit, the arms of Carye, but so defaced by time, and so high, as not to be well accounted for.’ The inscription under the arch is decorated with coronets on an acanthus crown, damaged on the right, angels heads (that on the left missing), fruit and reminders of death in the pomegranates, skull above crossed bones, spade and shovel around a crown(?) of acanthus and the winged hour glass.
The inscriptions are now difficult to read, but were transcribed by Blomefield: ‘Here lyeth in hope and expectation of that joyful day of the resurrection, when the Saviour of the whole World shall appear in power and judgment, to awake all those who have slept in him, to be pertakers of the everlasting blessedness of his eternal kingdom, Sir Wymond Carye of Snettesham in the county of Norfolk Kt. sometime of Thremhale Priory in Essex, first branch of that family of the Carys which is descended from Edmund Beanford, duke of Somerset, and so from John of Gaunt duke of Lancaster, erected by his only brother, Sir Edward Carye of Aldenham in Hertfordshire, master and treasurer of his majesties jewels and plate, and of Sir Henry Carye of C — in Bucks, son and heir of the said Sir Edward Carye joynt executor of the last will of Sir Wym. Carye, who lived about 75 years, & in peace and happiness and in the comfortable testimony of a good conscience and stedfast faith in Christ, died April 3, 1612.’
No decoration, presumably coats of arms, remain on the tomb chest. Sir Wymond had rented the lordship of the manor from the crown under Queen Elizabeth and James I, it was acquired outright by Sir henry Carye in 1614. Sir Wymond was knighted at Whitehall in 1604 and had married Catherine Jernangen, the widow of Henry Crane of Chilton, Suffolk. They had no children and she made her will, as Dame Catherine Carey of Fleet Farm, Chilton, Suffolk in 1613.
Francis Blomefield, 'Smethdon Hundred: Snettesham Lordship', in An Essay Towards A Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 10 (London, 1809), pp. 370-381 http; Nikolaus Pevsner and Bill Wilson, Buildings of England. Norfolk 2: North West and South, New Haven and London, 1997, pp. 654-56.
detail of the top of the monument
Snettisham, Norfolk, UK
Church of St Mary,
Monument to Sir Wymond Carye d. 1612; Alabaster and marble; commissioned by his brother Sir Edward Carye of Aldenham and Sir Edward’s son. Sir Henry Carye, Sir Wymond’s executor. East end of north aisle.
The monument is set with fine disregard for the aisle windows, perhaps no surprising since Sir Wymond had demolished the 40ft long chancel. The monument was described by Blomefield: ‘At the east end of the north isle is a stately monument for Sir Wymond Carye, with his effigies of alabaster, and in armour, lying on an altar tomb of marble, his head resting on a pillow, hands joined, and erect; over him is raised a beautiful arch of marble, &c. supported by porphyry pillars of the Corinthian order, and on the summit, the arms of Carye, but so defaced by time, and so high, as not to be well accounted for.’ The inscription under the arch is decorated with coronets on an acanthus crown, damaged on the right, angels heads (that on the left missing), fruit and reminders of death in the pomegranates, skull above crossed bones, spade and shovel around a crown(?) of acanthus and the winged hour glass.
The inscriptions are now difficult to read, but were transcribed by Blomefield: ‘Here lyeth in hope and expectation of that joyful day of the resurrection, when the Saviour of the whole World shall appear in power and judgment, to awake all those who have slept in him, to be pertakers of the everlasting blessedness of his eternal kingdom, Sir Wymond Carye of Snettesham in the county of Norfolk Kt. sometime of Thremhale Priory in Essex, first branch of that family of the Carys which is descended from Edmund Beanford, duke of Somerset, and so from John of Gaunt duke of Lancaster, erected by his only brother, Sir Edward Carye of Aldenham in Hertfordshire, master and treasurer of his majesties jewels and plate, and of Sir Henry Carye of C — in Bucks, son and heir of the said Sir Edward Carye joynt executor of the last will of Sir Wym. Carye, who lived about 75 years, & in peace and happiness and in the comfortable testimony of a good conscience and stedfast faith in Christ, died April 3, 1612.’
No decoration, presumably coats of arms, remain on the tomb chest. Sir Wymond had rented the lordship of the manor from the crown under Queen Elizabeth and James I, it was acquired outright by Sir henry Carye in 1614. Sir Wymond was knighted at Whitehall in 1604 and had married Catherine Jernangen, the widow of Henry Crane of Chilton, Suffolk. They had no children and she made her will, as Dame Catherine Carey of Fleet Farm, Chilton, Suffolk in 1613.
Francis Blomefield, 'Smethdon Hundred: Snettesham Lordship', in An Essay Towards A Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 10 (London, 1809), pp. 370-381 http; Nikolaus Pevsner and Bill Wilson, Buildings of England. Norfolk 2: North West and South, New Haven and London, 1997, pp. 654-56.
detail of the top of the monument