John Arundell (1474–1545)

The senior branch of the ancient Cornish family of Arundell had been seated at Lanherne since the middle of the 13th century.

His splendid and originally richly enamelled[20] monumental brass survives in the parish church of St. Columb Major.

It is in a fairly complete state, and shows Sir John bare-headed but otherwise in full armour, between his two wives dressed in gowns, mantles, and pedimental headdresses.

Below them are two smaller male figures, one partly perfect in armour, and underneath again, six female children, of whom two remain.

[24] On the restoration of the church later that century, the chapel being re-pewed, they were removed to their present position, which is an unfortunate selection, as it subjects them to a large amount of wear from the feet of persons passing over them, they being on the floor of the nave immediately below the chancel steps.

In the upper part of the stone are the finely cut figures in brass of Sir John Arundell and his two wives.

Sir John is in the military costume of that period; behind his right shoulder rises a staff bearing a square banner of a knight banneret, the matrix alone surviving as the brass itself of this with the crest and a portion of the helmet and lambrequin, upon which the head of the knight rests, has been lost;[28] the banner was probably charged with the quartered coat of Arundell without any impalement.

[29] Above Elizabeth Grey, the lady on the right hand of the knight, whose head rests on a square cushion, is a shield with the following arms:[30] Per pale, the dexter quarterly of six, — 1.

Below these, and forming the lowest part of the monument, were four shields, of which only three survive: Sir John Arundell died on 8 February[38] 1545, and although it might be presumed from the presence of his brass that he was buried at St. Columb Major, he was in fact buried in the church of St. Mary Woolnoth, Lombard Street, in the City of London, as is evidenced by the following inscription at one time in that church, transcribed in 1631 by the antiquarian John Weever (1576–1632)[39] Here lieth Sir John Arundell, Knight of the Bath and Knight Banneret, Receivor of the Duchy...Grey daughter to the Lord Marquese Dorset, who died 8 Febr: the 36 of the reigne of King Hen.