File:Cretingham, St Peter, memorial (2) - geograph.org.uk - 2014151.jpg

Mural monument in St Peter's Church, Cretingham, Suffolk, to Lionel Louth (d.1532) of Kettlebers in the parish of Cretingham. His Elizabethan-style clothing is anachronistic as the monument was erected in 1596 (64 years after his death) by his daughter Margaret Louth (1529-1603) (heiress to her great-grandfather Thomas Louth (d.1533) of Sawtrey-Beaumys in Huntingdonshire, who outlived his son and grandson), the wife of Sir Richard Cornwallis of Brome. He married Elizabeth Blenerhasset, eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Blenerhasset of Frenze Hall in Norfolk. (For god images of monument see: jmc4 - Church Explorer[1]). For full description of the monument and background biographies see John Gough Nichols, Narratives of the Days of the Reformation, Chiefly from the Manuscripts of John Foxe the Martyrologist, 1859, section: Reminiscences of John Louthe, Archdeacon of Nottingham written in the year 1579, pp.5-6,[2] including section Of the shameful murdering of Mr Edmund Louthe of Sawtrey, pp.39-46[3]. w:John Louth (1519-1590), of Keyworth, Nottinghamshire, Archdeacon of Nottingham, was the youngest brother of Lionel Louth (d.1532), both sons of Edmund Louth (d.1522) (son of Thomas Louth (d.1533) of Sawtrey-Beaumys in Huntingdonshire by his wife Anne Mulso, heiress of Cretingham) by his wife Edith Stukeley, who was murdered in 1522 at the instigation of the monks of the Abbey of Sawtrey.

Listed building text[4]: classical with arched surround enclosing kneeling figure with rapier and helmet. To either side are panels with strapwork arrangement and below to the apron a central shield with tablets at either side which reads (corrected): Leonellus obiit A(nno) D(omi)ni MDXXXII Margarita posuit MDXCVI ("Lionel died AD 1532; Margaret placed (it) 1596"). Coats of arms to the spandrels at either side and central coat of arms to top with strapwork cartouches at either side.

Latin inscription on architrave (transcribed by John Gough Nichols):

Which may be translated literally:

This tomb Margaret wished to her dear parent, from the ancient stock of the Louths from Sawtry, to whom Edmund the father, Thomas the grandfather, this Lionel, she was "heir from her wet-nurse" and of her husband Richard Cornwallis equal in piety and in famous ancestry, widowed to this man whom she blessed with six children now mentioned offers to her nephews as fit for remembering by the law of burial the venerated paternal ashes"

• Lionel Louth married Katherine Dudley
  • Thomas Louth (d.1533), son, of Sawtry-Beaumys, Huntingdonshire, married Anne Mulso, daughter and heiress of Thomas Mulso of Cretingham, Suffolk;
    • Edmund Louth (d.1522), son, of Cretingham, murdered at the instigation of the monks of the Abbey of Sawtrey. He married Edith Stewkley, a daughter of John Stewkley of Stewkley in Huntingdonshire;
      • Lionel Louth (d.1532), son, married Elizabeth Blennerhasset, a daughter of Sir Thomas Blennerhasset of Frenze Hall in Norfolk;
        • Margaret Louth (1529-1603), daughter and heiress, at age 4 succeeded her great-grandfather Thomas Louth (d.1533). She married Sir Richard Cornwallis, 3rd son of Sir John Cornwallis of Brome, Suffolk (Steward of the Household to the future King Edward VI). She had six children.

4 shields:

• Top, quarterly of 5[5]:
  • 1&5: Sable, a wolf salient argent (Louth of Cretingham, Suffolk) Canting arms (French: loup = wolf). Source: as seen on the mural monument in St Peter's Church, Cretingham, Suffolk, to Lionel Louth (d.1532) of Kettlebers in the parish of Cretingham,[6] described by John Gough Nichols, Narratives of the Days of the Reformation, Chiefly from the Manuscripts of John Foxe the Martyrologist, 1859, section: Reminiscences of John Louthe, Archdeacon of Nottingham written in the year 1579, pp.5-6,[7]
  • 2: Ermine, on a bend sable three goat's heads erased argent armed or (Mulshoe / Mulso, etc) (Burke, Sir Bernard, The General Armory, London, 1884, p.715)
  • 3: Argent, two bars sable in chief three mullets of the second (Moyne of of Sawtry, near Huntingdon, Huntingdonshire (now in Cambridgeshire))
  • 4: Argent, on a cross azure five garbs or (Beaumys (aliter "Beaumeys / Beymeys / Beaumes") of Sawtry, near Huntingdon, Huntingdonshire (now in Cambridgeshire)) (Sources: Ellis, Sir Henry, ed. (1849). The Visitation of the County of Huntingdon, under the authority of William Camden, Clarenceux King of Arms, by his deputy, Nicholas Charles, Lancaster Herald, A.D. 1613. Camden Society, 1st ser. 43. London: Camden Society, p.16[8] Burke, Sir Bernard, The General Armory, London, 1884, p.63 "Beaumeys / Beymeys / Beaumes". Later quartered by Louth, as visible on mural monument in St Peter's Church, Cretingham, Suffolk, to Lionel Louth (d.1532) of Kettlebers in the parish of Cretingham)
• Middle dexter (left)[9]: Quarterly of 4 (inscribed beneath "Tho. Louth / Mulso") :
  • 1&4: Louth
  • 2: Moyne
  • 3: Beaumys

impaling: Mulshoe / Mulso

• Middle sinister (right)[10]: Quarterly of 5 (inscribed beneath "Ed. Louth / Stewcley"):
  • 1&5: Louth
  • 2: Mulshoe / Mulso
  • 3: Moyne
  • 4: Beaumys

Impaling Argent, on a fess sable three mullets of the field (Stewkeley / Stukeley of Great Stukeley, Huntingdonshire (now Cambridgeshire)) (Burke, Sir Bernard, The General Armory, London, 1884, p.973)

• Bottom: Quarterly of 5:
  • 1&5: Louth
  • 2: Mulshoe / Mulso
  • 3: Moyne
  • 4: Beaumys

Impaling Gules, a chevron ermine between three dolphins embowed argent (Blennerhassett of Frenze Hall, Norfolk)