Edward Fenton and Roger Boyle Monument

Roger Boyle and Capt. Edward Fenton monument

In the Church of St Nicholas, Deptford, in South London, is the grand Elizabethan monument to the Hon. Roger Boyle, d.1615, first son of Richard Boyle, Earl of Cork in Ireland, and Captain Edward Fenton, d.1605, who captained the Admiral’s ship at the battle with the Spanish Armada, and had other naval victories over the Spanish, and commanded an unsuccessful attempt at discovering the North West Passage. Fenton was the uncle of Richard Boyle. It consists of a large alabaster monument with an alto relievo scene with figure sculpture. The main figure, who presumably is Fenton, is shown as a young man with tunic, pantaloons, high boots and a ruff, kneeling on a tasselled cushion, with his prayer desk in front of him. This is the usual depiction of a Tudor or Elizabethan monument, but here, the figure has one hand on his open bible, the other praying, and has his body turned so as to look outward towards the viewer, which is a much more naturalistic treatment than the usual stiff, praying figure. (For more conventional kneeler monuments, see this page.)

Behind him, a cherub desports himself, one arm raised to push up the hanging drape of a canopy of a tent-like structure above; within this, is a covered desk with a skull upon it, probably the mark of a philosopher rather than being a memento mori. The little lion underfoot suggests some hearkening to St Jerome. On the rear wall, a painting hangs, with the scene indicated in low relief, showing a coastline with a couple of houses clustered in front of a church, and a choppy sea with ships and then a further coastline; perhaps indicating the defeat of the Armada.

The relief sculpture

The rest of the monument quite nicely illustrates the parts of a Classical Baroque mural monument. Thus we have pilasters (flat pillars) to the sides, their capitals being of the Ionic order, and outside of these, set-back or receded pilasters, rather simply formed, and each bearing a painted shield of arms. Above is a blank frieze or entablature, and on top is the pediment, which in this case is curved, and broken, with in front of it a large painted cartouche of arms, with a knight’s helm on top. The inscriptions are on the sideboard-like base, and to the outer sides are further arms and minor scrolling. A good example of an Elizabethan mural monument in the grand manner, and known to be by a significant early English sculptor, Epiphanius Evesham, and completed by James White.

Epiphanius Evesham is an interesting figure, though too early for this website, the fourteenth child of William Evesham of Wellington, who moved to London with his family as a young man or youth, going to Paris by 1600, and staying in France at least until 1615 before returning to London. A handful of monuments are signed by him, mostly in Kent—Deptford was in Kent too until the growth of London in the 20th Century led to its absorption into the London borough of Greenwich.

Inscriptions (click to enlarge)

With many thanks to the Revd. Louise Codrington-Marshall for permission to show pictures of the monument in St Nicholas, Deptford.