Architectural Features
Lead and plain tile roofs.
![Memoriæ Sacrum ALICIÆ filiæ unicæ et hæredis IOHANIS CONSTABLE de DRVM MONDBY. in agro EBOR equitis aurati. primo EDM: ANDERSON de EYWORTH in comitatu BEDF. armigero (cui unicam filiam et hæredem, DOROTHEAM nomine; IOHANNI COTTON, primogenito THO: COTTON de CONNINGTON in comitatu HVNT: Baronetti, postea collocatam) copulatæ: secundo prædicto THOMÆ COTTON, qui ex eâ quatuor filios, THOMAM, ROBERTVM, PHILLIPPVM, et GVLIELMVM: filias autem FRANCISCAM et ALICIAM, ſuscepit:Tandem verò morte THOMÆ, filij dilectißimi (iuxta hic tumulati) graviter afflicta, XXIX°. Nov: A°.D. MDCLXII°. fato ceßit, et hic fœlicem expectans ſingularis dum vixit exempli fœmina reßurrectionem, ſepulta iacet.
"Sacred to the memory of Alice, only daughter and heiress of John Constable of Dromonby in the county of York, knight; who married firstly Edmund Anderson of Eyeworth in the county of Bedford gentleman (by whom she had one daughter and heiress, viz. Dorothy later the wife of John Cotton, eldest son of Thomas Cotton, Baronet of Conington in the county of Huntingdon); secondly [she married] the aforesaid Thomas Cotton, who had by her four sons: Thomas, Robert, Philip and William, also daughters Frances and Alice. At length, stricken very grievously by the death of her most beloved son Thomas (who is entombed near here), she yielded to her fate on 29th November AD 1657 and here lies interred in the expectation of a happy resurrection, who while she lived was a woman matchless in her example."
The monument, a "frontal demi-figure in oval niche with a laurel garland", was thought among the best by Pevsner. It is the work of Joshua Marshall. The use, not only of the customary swash S of the period [ſ] but of the Germanic-style Eszett [ß] for double S, is an unusual feature in an English inscription.
Dromonby Hall (modern spelling - it is called Drummonby in a poem about Roseberry Topping published in 1783 by Thomas Pierson) is in [[NZ5305]] near Kirkby-in-Cleveland, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. It is a Jacobethan country house. There are no photographs, but Pevsner (who visited in 1966) unexpectedly found "two plaster ceilings worthy of being in any major mansion." Eyeworth is in [[TL2445]].
The "Connington" mentioned in the epitaph is Conington All Saints or "Conington juxta Petriburg" in [[TL1885]] in the district and former county of Huntingdonshire, not this one which is Conington St Mary or "Conington juxta Cantab" in South Cambridgeshire district. Confusingly the Cotton family had houses in both parishes and left elaborate memorials in both their churches.
St Mary's is listed Grade II* https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101226274-parish-church-of-st-mary-conington](https://storage.googleapis.com/natbase-94192.firebasestorage.app/observations/2B8bxkdFrRaNBKHKuJcfbhTowL22/1775894873225_6529404_681efd62.jpg)
Nave windows flanked internally by elliptical-headed recesses with keystones each with monuments to the Askham and Cotton families, , of note, one to Dame Alice Cotton, 1657 by Joshua Marshall
Memoriæ Sacrum ALICIÆ filiæ unicæ et hæredis IOHANIS CONSTABLE de DRVM MONDBY. in agro EBOR equitis aurati. primo EDM: ANDERSON de EYWORTH in comitatu BEDF. armigero (cui unicam filiam et hæredem, DOROTHEAM nomine; IOHANNI COTTON, primogenito THO: COTTON de CONNINGTON in comitatu HVNT: Baronetti, postea collocatam) copulatæ: secundo prædicto THOMÆ COTTON, qui ex eâ quatuor filios, THOMAM, ROBERTVM, PHILLIPPVM, et GVLIELMVM: filias autem FRANCISCAM et ALICIAM, ſuscepit:Tandem verò morte THOMÆ, filij dilectißimi (iuxta hic tumulati) graviter afflicta, XXIX°. Nov: A°.D. MDCLXII°. fato ceßit, et hic fœlicem expectans ſingularis dum vixit exempli fœmina reßurrectionem, ſepulta iacet. "Sacred to the memory of Alice, only daughter and heiress of John Constable of Dromonby in the county of York, knight; who married firstly Edmund Anderson of Eyeworth in the county of Bedford gentleman (by whom she had one daughter and heiress, viz. Dorothy later the wife of John Cotton, eldest son of Thomas Cotton, Baronet of Conington in the county of Huntingdon); secondly [she married] the aforesaid Thomas Cotton, who had by her four sons: Thomas, Robert, Philip and William, also daughters Frances and Alice. At length, stricken very grievously by the death of her most beloved son Thomas (who is entombed near here), she yielded to her fate on 29th November AD 1657 and here lies interred in the expectation of a happy resurrection, who while she lived was a woman matchless in her example." The monument, a "frontal demi-figure in oval niche with a laurel garland", was thought among the best by Pevsner. It is the work of Joshua Marshall. The use, not only of the customary swash S of the period [ſ] but of the Germanic-style Eszett [ß] for double S, is an unusual feature in an English inscription. Dromonby Hall (modern spelling - it is called Drummonby in a poem about Roseberry Topping published in 1783 by Thomas Pierson) is in [[NZ5305]] near Kirkby-in-Cleveland, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. It is a Jacobethan country house. There are no photographs, but Pevsner (who visited in 1966) unexpectedly found "two plaster ceilings worthy of being in any major mansion." Eyeworth is in [[TL2445]]. The "Connington" mentioned in the epitaph is Conington All Saints or "Conington juxta Petriburg" in [[TL1885]] in the district and former county of Huntingdonshire, not this one which is Conington St Mary or "Conington juxta Cantab" in South Cambridgeshire district. Confusingly the Cotton family had houses in both parishes and left elaborate memorials in both their churches. St Mary's is listed Grade II* https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101226274-parish-church-of-st-mary-conington
For other monuments and floor slabs see R.C.H.M. Gallery with front of turned balusters, c.1737.
Reset piscena C14 in chancel.
Bell thought to be by William Brazier of Norwich c.1376 one of the earliest in the country.
Reset C14 glass.