his superior lord, Simon de Borard became lord of the manor immediately under the king, and having increased his possessions by marriage, he is very likely to have rebuilt his parish church of which he was patron; and his wife, who was an heiress, probably joined him in this good work. This conjecture is strengthened by the appearance of the present church, the greater part of which belongs to about the period of their death. Here, then, is a reason for their being specially commemorated in it. Nor can these effigies with any degree of probability be assigned to later members of the Borard family. For, of the three sons left by this Simon and Margaret, Richard, who first succeeded his father, died unmarried; Asceline, who next inherited the property, was a priest; and Robert, the last of the male line, died without issue, soon after 1296, and probably unmarried, for no record appears of his wife.
We now proceed to the altar-tomb standing under the lower arch between the chancel and its aisle. Each side of the tomb is ornamented with five shields of arms surrounded with tracery, and over every shield, and within the tracery, is the figure of a rose. Roses are also figured on the spaces between the shields, and a border of roses placed at short intervals surrounds each side of the tomb.
The armorial bearings, as described by Lipscomb, are, on the south side—1. Eleven bezants, a canton ermine (Zouch). 2. A saltier engrailed (Tyringham), impaling chequy or and azure, a canton ermine (Reynes). 3. Ermine on a fess three crosses fleury. (? Brisley). 4. Three bucks trippant (probably Green). 5. A cross engrailed (Drayton).
On the north side.—1. Three arches. (? Seyton). 2. A chevron chequy between three escallops (Dyve). 3. A chevron between three escallops (Chamberlain), impaling chequy, a canton ermine (Reynes). 4. Chequy, a canton ermine (Reynes). 5. Two lions passant wath a label of three points for a difference. (This last is indistinct.)
Upon the tomb are two recumbent effigies, male and female, carved in oak, much resembling those last described, but evidently, from their execution and some points of difference, belonging to a somewhat later period.
The knight, who has neither beard nor moustachio, wears a bascinet with camail, or possibly, the hood of mail; his hauberk reaches nearly to his knees; his surcoat marked
