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St Andrew, Radbourne, Derbyshire
02/03/2015: Not much caught my eye in the churchyard at Radbourne. Just an odd introduction to a headstone for a former vicar of the church. Normally one would expect "In Memory of..." or "Sacred to the memory of..." at the top of a memorial, but the stone for the Reverend John Le-Hunt begins, "This ___ By a truly Afflicted Window..." Was there a breakdown in communication? Should the long underline have contained some more words? Perhaps, "This stone is erected By a truly Afflicted Widow..."? We will never know.
Before you reach the inside of the church you pass a mass of graffiti on the doorposts of the porch and the church itself. Inside, the font is less interesting than the carved Jacobean weighted cover. There is a squint between the north aisle and the chancel, the view through which is more or less blocked by the Victorian oak pulpit.
The east end of the north aisle is somewhat jammed with monuments and ledger stones to the Pole family, including the rather grand affair for German Pole, from 1684, attributed to Grinling Gibbons, he of the pearwood cravat.
The effigies of John de la Pole and his wife, from 1491, have a cute dog pulling at her robe. Forever trying to wake her from her long sleep...
The ledger stone for German Pole, while the coat of arms is nicely carved, has an interesting mix of roman, decorated and random upper/lower case letters.
