Page:Devon and Cornwall Queries Vol 9 1917.djvu/136

 102 Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries. the purpose of sedilia. Miss Cresswell does not mention this link with the past history of Ashton. The stone slab is 6 ft. 4 ins. in length and bears on the surface the remains of a cross raised on the stone, and still showing at the east end the base or foot formed of three steps on either side. This form of coffin-shaped tomb cover is to be found in single examples in several of the churches of Devon. One lies in the chancel of Brixham, whence it was removed from the present site of the organ in the south transept ; another lies on the north side of the exterior of Kingswear Church. A well known example is in the south wall of Haccombe Church, and Mr. W. H. H, Rogers illustrates examples at Crediton, Cullompton, Alwington and Colebrooke {Sepulchral Effigies, Plate xix), which he assigns to a period 1220- 1320. It was suggested by Dr. Oliver that the cross at Haccombe " not unlikely covers the remains of the Rev. Robert de Pyl," one of the benefactors of the Archpresbytery of Haccombe, who was living at the time Bishop Grandisson granted the foundation charter, and owing to the similarity of design and the presence of the cross these tombs have very generally been ascribed to early incumbents of the churches in which they are found. The use of Purbeck marble for sepulchral coverings was, generally speaking, limited to a short period, and gave way to the more easily worked stone from the quarries of Bere. The earliest monument of this material in Exeter Cathedral is that showing the effigy of Bishop Bartholomew, buried in 1186; the latest of which I have knowledge is the plain slab with inscription (no cross), which formerly covered the remains of Bishop William Briwere, laid A.D. 1244 in the clioir; the stone is now in the north aisle. Any such sepul- chral stone, showing the characteristic shells of the paludina carinifera or thicker iinio beds of the Purbeck marble, found in this district to-day may be regarded as dating from the early half of the thirteenth century. At this period the status of the parish priest was so low — requiring, as we learn from the register of Bishop Bronescombe, the interference of the authority of the diocesan to secure in many cases a bare pittance — that it is not even probable that such exceptional and costly tomb covers would