< Clifton | Contents | Colwick >
 |
Along the north side of this tomb are four shields of arms carved in alabaster, one being supported by a figure in armour, over which Dr. Thoroton has inserted in the plate of this Tomb in his history, the name 'George,' indicating that the figure represents Sir Gervase's eldest son. The first shield shows Clifton, quartering Braytoft, Cressy and Cauthorpe, with an escutheon of pretence, on which is a hart lodged, collared, chained, and attired. The arms on this escutheon of pretence are not those of either of his wives. The second shield (the one supported by the figure) is badly cracked across the sinister side. It is an elaborate shield showing Clifton quartered as before, together with the arms of Thwaites and Seagrave, and impaling those of Thorold (George Clifton married Winifred, daughter of Sir Anthony Thorold), viz., sable, three goats salient argent, with eleven other coats. The third shield shows Clifton, as in the first shield, impaling, quarterly, Thwaites, argent, a cross sable fretty or, and Seagrave, sable, a lion rampant argent ducally crowned or, and is surrounded by a garter bearing the motto: "Vertu liveth after death." The fourth shield bears the arms of Nevill, Gules a saltire ermine, a crescent for difference, and Boswell, argent, five fusils in fesse gules and three martlets in chief sable. On the west end are three shields, viz., one with the arms of Clifton alone in the centre, on either side of which is a shield showing Thwaites and Nevill. On the south side are five figures, three of which represent Sir Gervase's sons, Gervase, Robert, Anthoni, who died young (they are habited much after the fashion of damsels), and his two daughters, Elizabeth and Frances, the former of whom supports a shield on which the arms of Freschville or Foljambe impale Clifton, and the latter, a shield on which Thwaites and Seagrave are quartered. Both sons and daughters wear long skirts and ruffs, and in the centre, surrounded by the same motto as before-mentioned, is a shield on which Clifton, as in the first shield on the north side, impales Nevill quartered with Boswell.
Against the west wall of the transept is placed a large and somewhat ponderous monument to the first three wives of Sir Gervase, the first Baronet. On this monument there is a lavish display of heraldry, to which Sir Gervase was probably much addicted, as it is recorded that Sir William Dugdale, Norroy King at Arms, Elias Ashmore, the Windsor Herald, and Mr. Ryley, Lancaster Herald, all attended his funeral (1666). A shield, with the Clifton Arms, is at the top, surmounted by the crest; it shows on a canton the apaume hand of the Arms of Ulster, the Baronet's badge, and has twelve quarterings. Below is a line of three shields, viz., Clifton, quartered, impaling, gules, a chevron between three crosses potent or, attributed to Rich. The second Clifton, impaling or, a fesse gules. The third Clifton, impaling party per pale, azure and argent, a griffin passant counter changed, attributed to Egioke. Flanking the central portion of the monument are two pinnacles with shields of arms painted on three sides of each. The following are some of the arms depicted on this monument:—
 |
|
 |
 |
This oft-married Sir Gervase built a family vault with an entrance in the south wall of the chancel, and above it is a mural monument with a bust of himself, and on which are many coats of arms displayed, mostly the same as those already described.
On the floor of the transept are brasses to Sir Robert Clifton, Kt. (1478), Sir Gervas Clifton, Kt. (1491), and George Clifton, Esquire (1587), and his wife Winifred, daughter of Sir Anthony Thorold.
Altogether this transept contains much that is of interest to the sculptor, the herald, and the genealogist.
The Clifton estates are now the property of Colonel Hervey Juckes Lloyd Bruce, late Coldstream Guards, whose mother was the only daughter of Sir J. G. Juckes Clifton, 8th Baronet, and married Sir Henry Hervey Bruce, Bart., of Downhill, co. Londonderry, in 1842.
