Hugh Starkey

Date of Brass:

c.1526

Place:

Over

County:

Cheshire

Country:

Number:

I

Style:

London F

Description

April 2025

 

Given the paucity of brasses which survive in the county of Cheshire, the very fine memorial commemorating Hugh Starkey esquire (the spelling of the surname varies) in St. Chad’s church, Over, (near Winsford) is not as well-known as perhaps it should be.

My initial interest in this particular brass was piqued because an article on the Internet states, albeit thankfully mistakenly, that it was stolen some years ago which, fortunately, is not the case. Nonetheless, for those intending to visit the church to see the brass, with the church occupying an isolated location on the edge of the village, save for services and special occasions, the building is, understandably, usually kept locked.

The brass is to be found on top of an altar tomb set into the north side of the chancel. Carved from red sandstone, the tomb chest slab is topped by a black marble slab into which the brass itself is set. In the church guide it is suggested that the chest and slab were moved here from elsewhere in the church - and then altered so as to fit both into an existing recess. The same guide also suggests this once originally contained a memorial to a Starkey forebear who died in 1438. Be this as it may, Hugh’s own will (made on 5^th August 1555) clearly asks that if he died in Cheshire then he should be buried in the Chauncell of Owver in my tombe there.

 

However, it should be noted that the church was much restored in the nineteenth century and that the east end was then later substantially rebuilt in 1923, being lengthened by three bays, as a memorial to those of the parish killed in the Great War. So, the truth of exactly where Hugh Starkey’s tomb stood - if not more or less in its present position, when (and if) it was incorporated into an earlier memorial, is now impossible to establish.

On the wall behind the tomb chest are carved in relief in large letters the words Et Gloria Soli deo honor. Above the pediment of the arch over the tomb are to be seen two equally large letters: H and S. However, the Starkey crest of a stork with a viper in its beak is long since broken away.

Dated to c.1520, the brass, a London engraved modified F Style memorial, now comprises the figure of Hugh Starkey, a foot inscription, and four shields. Hugh is depicted in armour, with sword and dagger, his head resting on a helmet surmounted by the Starkey crest surrounded by an engraved rendition of its flowing mantle of silk drapery.

Beneath the effigy, the English foot inscription is of four-lines, undated, and engraved in Black Letter script.

 

Off yo(ur) charite p(ra)y for the soule of Hugh Starky of

Olton, esquier gentilman usher King Henry ye VIII + son to

Hugh Starky of Olton esquier which Hugh ye son decessyd

the yere of o(ur) lord God MVc..... o(n) his soule Jhu have m(er)cy

 

When it came to the inscription, the engraver had something of an off day. Not only did he miss out the word to after usher in the second line, but he also failed to leave any space for the later insertion of the day of Hugh Starkey’s decease; only a gap for the completion of the year.

Given that he did not die until 1555, the brass and tomb were prepared much earlier, during Hugh Starkey’s lifetime. It seems reasonable to assume that this occurred when another tomb and brasses were commissioned for his parents, his father, also named Hugh (who died 1526) and his wife, Margaret Egerton. While the other tomb no longer exists, its brasses long since lost, they were recorded by the antiquary William Cole on his visit to Cheshire c.1755. The church guide refers to the fact that this slab, by then devoid of its brasses, was removed into the churchyard at the end of the nineteenth century.

The four shields on the surviving brass bear the Starkey coat-of-arms - argent a stork sable membered gules charged on the breast with a crescent or, quartering Oulton quarterly vert and gules a lion rampant argent. There yet remains also the indent of a single strip of a chamfer inscription on the long side of the slab. However, if they ever existed at all, indents for other parts of this lost inscription no longer survive.

Hugh Starkey of Oulton was born c.1487 – the date established from the Inquisition Post Mortem held when his father died in 1526-7. Hugh was present at the funeral of Henry VII and was appointed for life as a Serjeant to the new king, Henry VIII. Unlike many men who are depicted in armour on brasses, Starkey genuinely saw military service - in this case fighting in the English army at Flodden Field in September 1513. Much later, in 1536 he did well out of the fall of the Boleyn faction when he became Steward of Tattenhall and Newhall; a post previously held by William Brereton, a courtier and a member of a prominent Cheshire family, who was falsely said to have been a lover of Queen Anne Boleyn.

In 1543, Hugh Starkey paid for the rebuilding of much of the church; the roof was raised, the width of the south aisle increased, and a two-storey south porch was constructed.

As to his family, Hugh had three brothers, but only James (who would eventually become Hugh’s heir in 1555) is mentioned by name in the family pedigree, along with ten sisters, one of whom, Cecily, had been a nun at the former Benedictine abbey of St. Mary and St. Helena at Elstow in Bedfordshire.

In his will, apart from asking for burial in Over church, Hugh left his executors the advowson of the vicaredge of Owv[er]. Additionally, he left 40s to the vicar of Over for my mortuary to pray for me. As he had already left his soule to allmightie godd  Hugh clearly died a Catholic. Bequests were also made to Hugh's wife Margery and to his many servants; among them William Grene who received my best wayne (wagon) one plowe one Cowe and one harrowe!

Although married, Hugh Starkey fathered no legitimate issue, but had a natural son, Sir Oliver Starkey, who joined the Order of the Knights of St. John - the Knights Hospitaller - as restored by Queen Mary. In due course, Sir Oliver became Latin Secretary to Jean “Parisot” de (la) Valette and would be the only English knight to fight at the Siege of Malta in 1565.

 

My sincere thanks are extended to the Rev’d Callum Boothroyd, Vicar of St. Chad’s Church, Over, for permission to take the rubbing on 10^th February 2025.

 

Copyright: Jonathan Moor LL.B.(Hons.) BA.(Hons.) text and rubbing