File:Ledger stone, Thomas Cranmer (1467-1501), Church of Whatton in the Vale, Nottinghamshire.png

Drawing of ledger stone in Church of Whatton in the Vale, Nottinghamshire, of Thomas Cranmer (1467-1501), father of Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556), Archbishop of Canterbury. He was the son of John Cranmer of nearby Aslockton, Nottinghamshir, by his wife Alice Marshal of South Carleton. He married Alice Hatfield, a daughter of Lawrence Hatfield of Willoughby, Norwell, by his wife Agnes Marshall, a daughter of John Marshall of Carlton, Newark. See photo image [1]. Arms:

• Cranmer, paternal canting arms: Argent, a chevron between three cranes azure, which were altered by King Henry VIII to: Argent, on a chevron azure between three pelicans sable vulning themselves proper as many cinquefoils or, as 'those birds should signify unto him, that he ought to be ready, as the pelican is, to shed his blood for his young ones, brought up in the faith of Christ'
• de Aslacton of Aslacton, Nottinghamshire: Argent, five fusils conjoined in fess gules each charged with an escallop or (Burke, Sir Bernard, The General Armory, London, 1884, p.30).

Text from: greenwayinteractive.weebly.com[2]

Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury was born in 1489 at Aslockton in Nottinghamshire, England. He was a younger son of Thomas Cranmer by his wife Agnes Hatfield. Thomas Cranmer was of modest wealth but was from a well-established armigerous gentry family which took its name from the manor of Cranmer in Lincolnshire. Thomas was lord of the manor of Whatton, which had come to his great grandfather Edmund Cranmer by marriage with the heiress of the Aslactons, who held it from the reign of Henry II. It later passed by an heiress of Cranmer, to Sir John Molyneux, Baronet, who sold it to the Marquis of Dorchester, and in 1792 was owned by the representative of the Duke of Kingston. A ledger stone to one of his relatives in Whatton Church, near Aslockton is inscribed as follows: Hic jacet Thomas Cranmer, Armiger, qui obiit vicesimo septimo die mensis Maii, anno d(omi)ni. MD centesimo primo, cui(us) a(n)i(ma)e p(ro)p(i)cietur Deus Amen ('here lies Thomas Cranmer, Esquire, who died on the 27th day of May in the year of our lord 1601, on whose soul may God look upon with mercy'). The arms on it are: A chevron between three cranes (Cranmer) and Argent, five fusils in fesse gules each charged with an escallop or (Aslacton). The figure is that of a man in flowing hair and gown, and a purse at his right side. Their oldest son, John Cranmer, inherited the family estate, whereas Thomas and his younger brother Edmund were placed on the path to a clerical career.