Ada de Warenne, Countess of Huntingdon - Ralph Brereton tomb inscription

Started by Private User on Saturday, June 28, 2014
Private User
6/28/2014 at 3:27 PM

http://www.thornber.net/cheshire/htmlfiles/astbury.html
There are old tombs of the Brereton family in the churchyard. The one with a canopy shows the effigy of a knight with his lady. It is rare to see a monument of such age outside and these are badly weathered. Raymond Richards notes that it is the tomb of Sir Ralph Brereton but the brochure in the church mentions that is could be the tomb of a Brereton or a Ventables. My photograph below, taken with flash and enhanced digitally allows one to pick out most of the following incripiton, but the beginning of the last work was provided from Ormerod's History of Cheshire, Volume 3 page 33. Note that the letter N is written back-to-front throughout. It translates as "Here lie Radulphus Brereton, knight, and lady Ada his wife one of the daughters of David Earl of Huntingdon. Ormerod gives a family tree of the Breretons of Brereton in which he states "Sir Ralph de Brereton, knight, said in some pedigrees to marry Ada, daughter of David Earl of Huntingdon, relict of Henry Hastings, and living in 1275".

HIC IACENT RADULPHUS BR
ERETON MILES ET DOMINA
ADA UXOR SUA UNA FI
LIARUM DAVIDIS COMI
TIS HUNTINGDONIS

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