Dauntsey family

Arms of John Dauntsey: Per pale or and argent, 3 bars nebulée gules. These arms can be seen on various monuments within the parish church

The family which took its name from the manor of Dauntsey is said by Macnamara^[9] to have originally been called "Oldstock", which he deduced from its Latinised name Vetus Ceppus in early charters. Ceppus or Cippus signifies in mediaeval Latin "stocks" in which a felon's legs and feet were locked.

Stradling

The oldest memorial in the church is that of Joan Dauntesey who died c. 1455 and her third husband John Dewale^[10] who predeceased her.^[11] Joan was the daughter of Sir John Dauntesey who died in 1413 and it was through her that the Dauntsey Estate went to the Stradling family.^[11] Joan was born in about 1394, and when very young became the second wife of the elderly Sir Maurice Russell (d.1416) of Dyrham, Gloucestershire, who had only two daughters by his first wife. Joan produced for him a son and heir Thomas, who however died as a young man in 1431 leaving a pregnant wife named Joan, whose resulting daughter named Margery died at two days old. Thus ended the line of Russell of Dyrham. Joan Dauntsey married again, almost immediately after Russell's death, to Sir John Stradling (d.1435), the second son of the lord of St Donat's Castle in Glamorgan. The marriage was possibly arranged by Russell's son-in-law Sir Gilbert Denys (d.1422) who was from Glamorgan and was related to the Stradlings. Stradling thus obtained a life interest in Joan's dower, consisting of one third of the Russell manors. The marriage was conducted with such haste that the obtaining of the necessary royal licence for a widow of a tenant-in-chief to remarry was overlooked. The couple were fined heavily in 1417 for their transgression, as the following entry in the Patent Rolls dated 8 July 1418 reveals:^[12]

"Pardon, for 40 marks paid in the hanaper, to John Stradlyng, chivaler, and Joan late the wife of Maurice Russell, chivaler, tenant in chief, of their trespass in intermarrying without licence."

Thereupon commenced the Stradling family of Wiltshire. In 1428 a feudal aid was assessed on John Stradling for the manor of Dauntsey in the hundred of Malmesbury. He was then also lord of the manors of Smethcote and Castle Combe. Unexpectedly, during her marriage to Stradling, Joan inherited the entire Dauntsey patrimony, on the early death without progeny of her brother Sir Walter Dauntsey.

Sculpted alabaster tombstone of Joan Dauntsey (d.1457) and John Dewale; his shield of arms, of which only a chevron remains visible, is at top right

Joan outlived Stradling and married, thirdly, John Dewale, with whom she is buried, as is witnessed by an alabaster slab in front of the high altar in St James's Church, showing the couple life size, he being dressed in full armour. Around the margin of the slab runs a much obliterated inscription:

Hic jacet Johannes Dewale armiger et Domina Johanna uxor eius quondam uxor Domini Mauricii Russel militis qui quondam Johannes Dewale obiit mense...die ultimo MCCCC...III. Et prefata Johanna obiit in primo die anno Dom....Quorum (aiabus p'pcietur ?) Deus. Amen

In English:

"Here lies John Dewale, esquire, and Dame Joan his wife once wife of Maurice Russell, knight, which said John Dewale died in the month...on the last day (of) 14...3. And the aforesaid Joan died on the first day A.D....Of whom (may God spare their souls?). Amen"

Above her head are the armorials of Dauntsey, severely worn away, and above Dewale's head is his shield of arms on which only a chevron can now be seen.^[13] Dauntsey folklore relates that the parish priest named Cuthbert murdered Edward, the last male member of the Stradling family.^[11] The murder was caught on the evidence of a kitchen boy who had hidden himself in an oven and was an eyewitness.^[11] Cuthbert was said to have starved to death hanging in a cage from a tree in the gardens. ^[11]

Danvers

Tomb of Sir John Danvers (d.1514) and Anne Stradling (d.1539)

Brasses, top of Danvers-Stradling tomb

Edward Stradling's sister Anne married Sir John Danvers and so introduced the Danvers family to Dauntsey. To the north of the chancel is the tomb of Sir John and Lady Anne. Above the tomb are fragments of a stained glass window with Sir John and his wife kneeling with their sons and daughters. Anne outlived her husband by 25 years, and had a canopied tomb built for herself on the south wall of the chancel. To the north of the chancel stands the chapel that houses the marble tomb of Henry Danvers, created 1st Earl of Danby by Charles I; on the east end of the tomb is an epitaph written to his stepfather by George Herbert the poet, who stayed some time at Dauntsey Park. On the north wall of the chapel is the Bissett Memorial noting a charitable distribution of coal to the poor. On Henry's death in 1643 the estate passed to his younger brother Sir John, named after his grandfather. His political views differed from his brothers; he sat in judgement on Charles I and with the Restoration was condemned as a regicide; he had died in 1655, and his coffin was to be dug up and destroyed as a traitor, but it was never found.^[11]

Mordaunt

As a result, the estate and church were forfeited to the Crown. In 1690 they were granted to the Mordaunt family, whose name is linked with Charles Mordaunt, Earl of Peterborough. The arms of the Earl can be seen above the South door.^[11]

Meux

In the 1890s, Sir Henry and Lady Meux occupied the house and Lady Meux left her mark on the church by removing an old stained glass window and replacing it with another in memory of Sir Henry Meux.^[11]