South Acre, Norfolk, UK
Church of St George
Knight Templar, Sir John de Harsick (?) Freestone. On plinth at the east end of north nave.
The statue, worn and in poor condition, has long since been removed from its original tomb chest and canopy. Identified as a knight Templar by Blomefield it presumably represents one the Harsycks, who had been granted Castle and South Acre in the reign of Henry I (1100-1135). The Templars were challenged and then forced to disband by 1312 under Edward I, suggesting that the statue may represent Sir John de Harsick, lord of the manor in 1315, but who by 1329 had been succeeded by Sir John de Harsick. A date around 1300/20 is consistent with his armour. He reclines, his hands clasped in prayer in a linen surcoat and hose with his broad sword hanging from the wide belt, his legs are crossed and his feet rest on a dog/lion. The long gown is consistent with a date in the early 1300s, since it was shortened after 1340, when the chain mail was further reinforced.
Francis Blomefield, 'Hundred of South Greenhoe: South-Acre', in An Essay Towards A Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 6 (London, 1807), pp. 77-87; wikipedia.org/wiki/ Knights_Templar_in_England, both accessed 29 January 2016; Mark Downing, Military Effigies of England and Wales, Vol 4: Leicestershire-Norfolk, Monumental Books, Shrewsbury, 2012, p. 130
South Acre, Norfolk, UK
Church of St George
Knight Templar, Sir John de Harsick (?) Freestone. On plinth at the east end of north nave.
The statue, worn and in poor condition, has long since been removed from its original tomb chest and canopy. Identified as a knight Templar by Blomefield it presumably represents one the Harsycks, who had been granted Castle and South Acre in the reign of Henry I (1100-1135). The Templars were challenged and then forced to disband by 1312 under Edward I, suggesting that the statue may represent Sir John de Harsick, lord of the manor in 1315, but who by 1329 had been succeeded by Sir John de Harsick. A date around 1300/20 is consistent with his armour. He reclines, his hands clasped in prayer in a linen surcoat and hose with his broad sword hanging from the wide belt, his legs are crossed and his feet rest on a dog/lion. The long gown is consistent with a date in the early 1300s, since it was shortened after 1340, when the chain mail was further reinforced.
Francis Blomefield, 'Hundred of South Greenhoe: South-Acre', in An Essay Towards A Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 6 (London, 1807), pp. 77-87; wikipedia.org/wiki/ Knights_Templar_in_England, both accessed 29 January 2016; Mark Downing, Military Effigies of England and Wales, Vol 4: Leicestershire-Norfolk, Monumental Books, Shrewsbury, 2012, p. 130