| Name |
Bridget Ernley (née Spryng) 1545 |
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| Date |
1545 - 1545 |
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| Gender |
Female |
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The smaller tomb in the chancel commemorates William Ernley and was erected by his second wife Bridget, née Spryng. William was Lord of the Manor of West Wittering. The family were staunch Roman Catholics and resided at Cakeham Tower. The Spryngs belonged to Lavenham, Suffolk. Bridget's father, Thomas Spryng was a well-known and wealthy clothier (Mosse, 1933, 200-203). William is shown kneeling facing Bridget with two boys behind him. Behind Bridget is the fragment of a daughter. Some small traces of original blue and red paint survive. Bridget Ernley survived her husband, and married Sir Henry Hussey; he died in 1557, and her death soon followed in the same year. She was buried alongside her second husband at Slinfold, Sussex.
Before a desk with an open book, kneels the figure of a man, bare-headed and with long hair; he wears armour of which the mail collar and the plate defences from the elbow to the hand and from the mid-thigh downwards are visible. Over this he wears two garments, the under perhaps a tabard, the upper apparently a cape. From his hands comes a label, partly mutilated, inscribed in black-letter, "By … crosse and passyon." Behind him kneel two boys in civilian dress. On the east side, before a similar desk kneels a woman wearing a kennel head-dress, mantle, and kirtle; from her hands comes a label inscribed "delyber us Lord Jh. Cryst". Behind her kneels a girl in a kirtle, the upper part of the body is missing (Salzman, 1953, 217-21).
"On the back wall, are carved the figures of the commemorated parents with their children …. The man … wears armour and a tabard …. Two sons kneel behind him; they wear tunics with sleeves puffed at the shoulders, arms thrust through a sleeveless coat: trunk hose, stockings, shoes …. The wife …. wears 'pedimental' bonnet, gown and long mantle" (Mosse, 1933, 201-202).
Bibliography
Kennedy-Cooke, A & Williams, J (2003) Welcome to West Wittering Church, East Wittering: West Wittering Parochial Church Council
Good, M (2004) The Buildings of England Database, Oxford: Oxford University Press
National Monuments Record (English Heritage), Images of England, (http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk)
Pevsner, N & Nairn, I (1965) The buildings of England: Sussex London: Yale University Press
Salzman, L - ed (1953) A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 4: The Rape of Chichester at URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=41749&strquery=West%20Wittering Date accessed: 27 September 2007
www.stgeorgesnews.org/2004/02f14.htm (accessed 10 May 2007)
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