Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 11.djvu/285

 n s. XL APRIL io, i9i5.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

275

STATUES AND MEMORIALS IN THE BRITISH ISLES.

(See 10 S. xi. 441 ; xii. 51, 114, 181, 401 ; 11 S. i. 282 ; ii. 42, 381 ; iii. 22, 222, 421 ; iv. 181, 361 ; v. 62, 143, 481 ; vi. 4, 284, 343 ; vii. 64, 144, 175, 263, 343, 442 ; viii. 4, 82, 183, 285, 382, 444 ; ix. 65, 164, 384, 464 ; x. 103, 226, 303, 405 ; xi. 24, 145.)

MARTYRS (continued).

THOMAS BENET, &c.

Exeter. In 1908 a committee was formed for the purpose of erecting a memorial to the two Exeter martyrs, Thomas Benet and Agnes Prest. The plot of ground in the Barnfield upon which it stands was pre- sented by Mrs. Somes of Bideford. The foundation stone was laid on 10 July, 1909; and on 20 Oct., the same year, the memorial was unveiled by Sir John Kennaway. It is in the form of an obelisk of grey Dart- moor granite, and rises to a height of 20 ft. The square base, placed on three receding steps, contains four large recessed bronze panels modelled in high relief. Two of these represent Thomas Benet affixing his protest to the cathedral door, and Agnes Prest being burnt at the stake. These were exe- cuted from plaster models by Mr. Harry Hems. The inscriptions on the others are as follows :

1. In grateful remembrance of Thomas Benet, M.A., who suffered at Livery Dole, A.D. 1531, for denying the Supremacy of the Pope ; and of Agnes Prest, who suffered on Southernhay, A.D. 1557, for refusing to accept the Doctrine of Transubstantiation. " Faithful unto death."

2. To the glory of God and in honour of His faithful witnesses, who near this spot yielded their bodies to be burned for love to Christ, and in vindication of the Principles of the Protestant Reformation, this Monument was erected by public subscription, A.D. 1909. " They being dead yet speak."

The work of erecting the monument was carried out by Messrs. Harry Hems & Sons, under the superintendence of the hon. architect, Mr. J. Archibald Lucas.

WILLIAM TYNDALE.

Nibley Knoll, Gloucester. The tall tower erected here in 1865 under the mistaken idea that Tyndale was a native of North Nibley has already been noticed by MR. WM. MACARTHUR at 11 S. vi. 386. It may, however, be mentioned that the commanding site on which the memorial stands was given by Lord Fitzhardinge, and that an interior staircase leads to the summit of the tower.

It was constructed from designs by S. S.. Teulon and A. Salviati.

London. In the Whitehall portion of the> Victoria Embankment Gardens a bronze statue of Tyndale has been erected at a cost of 2,400Z. It is the work of the late Sir J. E. Boehm, R.A., and was unveiled on 7 May, 1884. Tyndale is represented in his doctor's robes as in the contemporary portrait at Oxford, from which the face was also modelled. His right hand rests upon an open Testament, which lies on a printing-press copied from one in the Plantin Museum, Antwerp. In his left hand, which grasps his gown, he also holds a manuscript. Upon the lower part of the press lie some printed sheets, indicating Tyndale's par- ticipation in the work of printing, as welF as translating.

Vilvorde, Belgium. On 26 Oct., 1913, a monument erected on the site of Tyndale's martyrdom was unveiled here. It contains inscriptions in English, Latin, Flemish, and French.

Slymbridge, Gloucestershire. On 24 Sept.,. 1914, a belfry screen of carved oak, erected in the parish church, was dedicated to the memory of Tyndale by Bishop Mitchinson, Residentiary Canon of Gloucester and Master of Pembroke College, Oxford. The follow- ing inscription is contained on a brass plate placed at the head of the screen :

To the Glory of God and in Memory of" William Tyndale, Translator of the Bible, 1484- 1536.

JOHN KURDE.

Syresham, Northamptonshire. In Octo- ber, 1892, a brass tablet was placed in the Wesleyan Reform Chapel to the memory of John Kurde, burnt at Northampton in 1 557. He was a native of Syresham, and is the only martyr who died for his convictions during the Marian persecution in Northamptonshire. The tablet was the gift of Mr. Thos. K. Curtis, of Brackley, and is thus inscribed :

In Memory of John Kurde,

Shoemaker,

The Syresham Martyr,

Burned at the Stake

in defence of the Truth

A.D. 1557.

Joel 1st, 3rd v.

JOHN PENRY.

Old Kent Road, London. As an outcome of a suggestion made by the Rev. Wm. Mottram at a " Ministers' Fraternal " in 1892, a committee was appointed for the erection of a memorial tablet to John Penry near the-