File:GoringBrasses ChurchOfStRichard Burton Sussex.xcf

Monumental brasses in the Church of St Richard, Burton, Sussex, of Goring family of Burton Hall. On back wall of Easter Sepulchre, north side of nave. (North side of nave) Sir William Goring (d.1553), twice MP for Sussex (1539,1547)[1] and his heiress wife Elizabeth Covert (d.1558). Text from "Sussex Parish Churches, website aims to provide a study of the architectural development of each Anglican parish church"[2]:

Instead of effigies, kneeling brasses were placed on the back, together with seemingly randomly distributed coats of arms and inscriptions. These have been ascribed to the Nayle Group, an offshoot of Group G of the London workshops (TMBS 15/2 p178). The effigy of the man is missing, as are those of the eight children. The surviving female effigy is unique at this period as it shows a woman, Elizabeth Covert with a tabard over her dress, probably because she was heiress of the Coverts of Slaugham (Visitation of 1562 etc p46)". (Sources quoted:

1. J L André: Burton Church, Sussex, AJ 47 (1890) pp89-100 2. J Bertram: Brasses and Monuments at Burton, Sussex, TMBS 14/4 (1989) pp298-317 3. F W Steer: Guide to Burton Church (Sussex Churches no 29), 1964 (Revised 2006)).

Sir William Goring fell ill and on 6 May 1553, as he lay in his great chamber at Burton, he made his will. After asking to be buried in the parish church, he ordered the following inscription to be placed over his tomb, which was duly engraved on one of the surviving brasses on the back wall of the Easter Sepulchre:

O God forget my sins and impute them not unto me but forgive me for thy dear son Jesus Christ's sake and indict me according unto thy inscrutable mercy for if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and there is no truth in us.

(transcript from[3])

Shield between the kneeling couple showing Goring (of 4 quarters) impaling Covert:

• Dexter (Baron): (source: Pedigree of Goring, Bannerman, W. Bruce, ed. (1905). The Visitations of the County of Sussex made and taken in the years 1530 by Thomas Benolte, Clarenceux King of Arms; and 1633-4 by John Philipot, Somerset Herald, and George Owen, York Herald, for Sir John Burroughs, Garter, and Sir Richard St George, Clarenceux. Harleian Society, 1st ser. 53. London, pp.45-6[4])
  • 1: Argent, a chevron between three annulets gules (Goring);
  • 2: Argent, on a chief indented gules three mullets or (St John)
  • 3: Argent, on a chief gules three plates (Camoys)
  • 4: ?
• Sinister (Femme)
  • 1&4: Gules, a fess ermine between three martlets or (Covert)
  • 2: Azure, three pelicans argent vulning themselves proper (Pelham)
  • 3: Or fretty azure (? Echingham)