a single rose & penny loaves - Newark Nottinghamshire
Hercules Clay d1644 and wife Mary
"Wee two made one by his decree that is just one in Trinity. died live as one till death came in and made us two of one agen
Death was much blamed for our divorce but striving how he might doe worse
by killing th'one as well as th'other he fairely brought us both togeather
Our soules togeather where death dare not come, our bodies lye interred beneath this tomb
waytng the rresurrection of the just O know thyself (O man) thou are dust"
The monument (sadly the latin part) commemorates his miraculous escape during the Civil War, when in 1643 he and his family were delivered alive by Divine Providence from a battery of cannon during the siege of the town by the parliamentarians
“ Hercules Clay, Mayor of Newark, resided in a house at the corner of the market-place not far from the Governor’s mansion. For 3 nights in succession he dreamt that the besiegers had set his place on fire, and he became so impressed with the circumstance that he and his family quitted their abode. They had no sooner done so than a bomb, fired from Beacon Hill, occupied by the Parliamentary forces, and believed to have been aimed at the Governor’s house, fell on the roof of Clay’s dwelling, and, passing through every floor, set the whole building in flames. The tradition is that a spy, blindfolded, and bearing a flag of truce, came from the army on the hill to the Governor’s house, and was able on his return so accurately to describe its situation as to make the shot all but successful. To commemorate his deliverance, Mr. Clay left a sum of money to be distributed in charity (it. is given away annually in penny loaves), and the memorial to him in the parish church testifies in a lengthy and curious inscription to the miraculous nature of his escape: ‘Being thus delivered by a strength greater than that of Hercules, And having been drawn out of the deep Clay, I now inhabit the stars on high.’”
He died just 10 months after the siege and in his Will he left £100 to the church of Newark for a sermon to be said “Upon the 11th day of March yearly forever upon which day it pleased God of his infinite mercy wonderfully to preserve me and my wife from a fearful destruction by a terrible blow of a granado in the time of the last siege” He also left another £100 for bread to be given to the poor of Newark yearly on the same date. A memorandum written in the Newark Parish Register by Henry Fouler.Curate in the year 1753 states -"Hercules Clay sermon preached on the 11th day of March yearly". Attended by the mayor, councillors and recently, members of the Newark business community, the mayor lays a single rose on the this memorial. His family bible is brought to the altar by a surviving relative; At the end of the service, the mayor gives away small loaves of bread to the choir, to symbolise Hercules Clay's bequest of £100 to the poor people of Newark. traditionalcustomsandceremonies.wordpress.com/2012/03/31/...
Hercules a mercer by trade, was the son of Hercules and Margaret Clay of Sutton-in-Ashfield and grandson of Thomas and Cecilie Clay of Rowthorne in Ault Hucknall Derbyshire
He m1 1631 Mary Lante
He m2 1641 Elizabeth Saunders
He had 8 children, John, Hercules, William, Timothy, Thomas, Elizabeth, Frances and Mary, all to whom he left substantial amounts of money.
The shield of arms are those given to Sir John Clay of Crich in Derbyshire in 1588,
After the Civil War was over and Hercules Clay had died, his brothers, John Clay of Kelham and William Clay of Sutton, had to answer charges in 1648 that Hercules had loaned £600 for the maintenance of the Royalist garrison at Newark during the siege, the charge was proved and the money was declared to be forfeited to the state.
- Church of St Mary Magdalene Newark, Nottinghamshire
a single rose & penny loaves - Newark Nottinghamshire
Hercules Clay d1644 and wife Mary
"Wee two made one by his decree that is just one in Trinity. died live as one till death came in and made us two of one agen
Death was much blamed for our divorce but striving how he might doe worse
by killing th'one as well as th'other he fairely brought us both togeather
Our soules togeather where death dare not come, our bodies lye interred beneath this tomb
waytng the rresurrection of the just O know thyself (O man) thou are dust"
The monument (sadly the latin part) commemorates his miraculous escape during the Civil War, when in 1643 he and his family were delivered alive by Divine Providence from a battery of cannon during the siege of the town by the parliamentarians
“ Hercules Clay, Mayor of Newark, resided in a house at the corner of the market-place not far from the Governor’s mansion. For 3 nights in succession he dreamt that the besiegers had set his place on fire, and he became so impressed with the circumstance that he and his family quitted their abode. They had no sooner done so than a bomb, fired from Beacon Hill, occupied by the Parliamentary forces, and believed to have been aimed at the Governor’s house, fell on the roof of Clay’s dwelling, and, passing through every floor, set the whole building in flames. The tradition is that a spy, blindfolded, and bearing a flag of truce, came from the army on the hill to the Governor’s house, and was able on his return so accurately to describe its situation as to make the shot all but successful. To commemorate his deliverance, Mr. Clay left a sum of money to be distributed in charity (it. is given away annually in penny loaves), and the memorial to him in the parish church testifies in a lengthy and curious inscription to the miraculous nature of his escape: ‘Being thus delivered by a strength greater than that of Hercules, And having been drawn out of the deep Clay, I now inhabit the stars on high.’”
He died just 10 months after the siege and in his Will he left £100 to the church of Newark for a sermon to be said “Upon the 11th day of March yearly forever upon which day it pleased God of his infinite mercy wonderfully to preserve me and my wife from a fearful destruction by a terrible blow of a granado in the time of the last siege” He also left another £100 for bread to be given to the poor of Newark yearly on the same date. A memorandum written in the Newark Parish Register by Henry Fouler.Curate in the year 1753 states -"Hercules Clay sermon preached on the 11th day of March yearly". Attended by the mayor, councillors and recently, members of the Newark business community, the mayor lays a single rose on the this memorial. His family bible is brought to the altar by a surviving relative; At the end of the service, the mayor gives away small loaves of bread to the choir, to symbolise Hercules Clay's bequest of £100 to the poor people of Newark. traditionalcustomsandceremonies.wordpress.com/2012/03/31/...
Hercules a mercer by trade, was the son of Hercules and Margaret Clay of Sutton-in-Ashfield and grandson of Thomas and Cecilie Clay of Rowthorne in Ault Hucknall Derbyshire
He m1 1631 Mary Lante
He m2 1641 Elizabeth Saunders
He had 8 children, John, Hercules, William, Timothy, Thomas, Elizabeth, Frances and Mary, all to whom he left substantial amounts of money.
The shield of arms are those given to Sir John Clay of Crich in Derbyshire in 1588,
After the Civil War was over and Hercules Clay had died, his brothers, John Clay of Kelham and William Clay of Sutton, had to answer charges in 1648 that Hercules had loaned £600 for the maintenance of the Royalist garrison at Newark during the siege, the charge was proved and the money was declared to be forfeited to the state.
- Church of St Mary Magdalene Newark, Nottinghamshire