This odd 17th century memorial can be seen on the south wall of the nave aisle, towards the eastern end of the nave. It is odd because the memorial text, all 12 lines of it, fails to give either the full name of the deceased, or the date of death.
Heraldic specialists have solved this riddle, making use of the coat of arms included in the memorial and the book Lives of the Berkeleys written by John Smyth Nibley around 1624. This evidence (admittedly confused by many spellings of the surname) points towards Robert B Berkeley who was buried in the cathedral in 1614.
What to see:
- an odd memorial (Image 1)
- the Berkley coat of arms – in heraldic terms ‘ten crosses patee, six in chief, four in base’ (Image 2)
Source: Chronicle magazine no. 40 1944 p. 21
DL
