Tavistock, St Eustachius
Lady Chapel south 2
Entries in grey
are not obtained from documentary evidence, but
are inferred from content, context, etc .
Date of manufacture and insertion
1908
Number of lights
3
Maker
Drake
Main subject
a .
St Rumon, patronal saint of Tavistock Abbey, dressed as bishop
b .
Blessed Virgin Mary with Infant Jesus
c .
St Eustachius, patronal saint of the church, dressed as a soldier, holding martyr’s palm frond
Tracery subject
Arms of Tavistock Grammar School, town of Tavistock, arms and initials of dedicatee
Subject type
Figurative historical
Donor
Masters and old boys of Tavistock Grammar School
Dedicatee
The Revd Edward Spencer, MA,
headmaster of Tavistock Grammar School 1854 –88 ,
died 12th December 1905 .
Notes
Edward Spencer, third son of Henry William Spencer of Hanwell, Middlesex,
admitted to St John’s College, Cambridge,
18th March 1839 .
ACAD ,
SPNR839E .
Death of dedicatee
Devon and Exeter Gazette December 18, 1905 p 6 ,
Western Times December 19, 1905 p 6 ,
Western Times December 22, 1905 p 3 .
Insertion, donor, dedicatees, subjects,
Western Morning News April 7, 1908 p 6 ,
Devon and Exeter Gazette April 10, 1908 p 14
(gives maker),
Royal Cornwall Gazette April 16, 1908 p 7 ,
Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette April 16, 1908 p 6 .
Image
of window.
Pair with North aisle 3
(same donors, dedicatee, insertion date).
Style similar to Sancreed
South aisle 1
by Drake.
To the Glory of God and in memory of the Revd Edward Spencer M.A.
St Rumon, one of the patronal saints of the Benedictine Abbey of Tavistock.
He is dressed as a bishop, wearing a mitre, holding a crozier in his left hand
and a martyr’s palm in his right hand. Above him is an unidentified emblem,
and the letters ‘S R’ (Saint or Sanctus Rumon).
and below him the arms of the town of Tavistock. According to Burke
(Burke, Bernard, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales , p 998 . 1884 , London, Harrison & Sons )
these are
per pale gules and azure a fleece, round the body a collar and ring,
in chief a lion passant gardant on each side a
fleur-de-lys all or.
Tavistock Town Council gives them as
per pale. gules and azure; a fleece banded; a chief, dexter a lion passant gardent, sinister a
fleur-de-lys , all or,
which is closer to the arms here.
Blessed Virgin Mary, the other patronal saint of Tavistock Abbey.
On her left arm is the Infant Jesus, and in her right hand she holds a sceptre.
Above her is the dove of the Holy Spirit and the letters
‘S M’ (St Mary or Sancta Maria )
Below her is what appears to be
a very faded armorial.
St Eustachius, the patronal saint of the church. He is dressed in armour,
wears a helmet, and in his left hand he carries a halberd, and in his right hand
he holds a martyr’s palm. Above him is an unidentified symbol (a cross
on a sunburst) and the letters ‘S E’ (Saint or Sanctus Eustachius).
Below him are the arms of the Benedictine Abbey of Tavistock
Burke (Burke 1884 , op. cit. , p 998
gives the arms of Tavistock Abbey as vairé or and azure, on a chief of the first two mullets gules pierced
of the field. Woodward
(Woodward, John. A Treatise on Ecclesiastical Heraldry ,
p 387 .
Edinburgh and London, W. & A.K. Johnston, 1894 )
gives them as vairé or and azure, on a chief of the first two mullets (sometimes pierced) gules,
otherwise, vair, on a chief or, two pierced mullets gules.
The same arms appear in Antony, St James the Great,
North aisle 5
and
at the top of Isles of Scilly, Hughtown, St Mary,
South aisle 1 .
In the outer tracery lights are the letters
E and S, the initials of the dedicatee. In the second tracery light are probably the arms of Spencer,
although the second and third quarters do not correspond with any listed in Burke.
In the third tracery light are the arms of Russell (the Duke of Bedford)
argent a lion rampant gules on a chief sable three escallops of the field
(Burke 1884 , op. cit. , p 879 )
impaling the arms of the town of Tavistock. They are
probably the arms of Tavistock Grammar School, of which the dedicatee was headmaster;
St Rumon, the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Eustachius.