remains of colour on different parts of these statues, as well as on the canopy over the head of the female figure.
The engravings given in Thoroton's work, under his notice of these monuments, are so little like the statues, that it is difficult to believe they could have been drawn from the originals.
Of course, nothing can be said with certainty as to what particular personages are represented by these effigies. No inscriptions were found, but there are data on which a very fair speculation maybe offered on the subject. The lands of Gonalston were held by the family of Heriz as far back as King Henry the First, and were in the possession of that family, and in the same name, till the reign of Edward the Third: at which period they passed away, as we have seen, to the husband of Matildis de Heriz, Ricardus de la Rivere; and the name of Heriz no longer appears.[1] The shield borne by the knight determines the family identity of that figure, and the costume is of the warrior of the thirteenth, and part of the fourteenth century. At the west end of Gonalston Church is a window of that date, the dripstone of which is terminated on each side by a head; one of a hooded knight, the other of a female. The knight represented in both these pieces of sculpture may possibly have been a benefactor, or even the builder of the Church, probably on an older foundation, and it is probable that in memory of his pious works, his portrait may have been introduced in the corbel described. He may also have been the founder of the Hospital of Brodbuske. The founder is stated to be Johannes de Heriz, and it appears there were no less than three of the family called Johannes consecutively, at or about the date referred to. Tanner calls the founder of the Hospital "William," but this is in all probability an error.
In Dodsworth's Collection of MSS., vol. viii., (as quoted by Dugdale) is this notice, "Ordinatio Cantariæ Hosp. S. Mariæ Magd. de Bradbuske fundatæ per Joannem fil. Johannis de Heriz patronum Hospitalis, A. D. 1326."
The effigy of the lady may also be referred to the above early period, and it probably represents a daughter of the house. The object she holds clasped before her of an oval shape, is about the size of an ostrich's egg. At first I thought it might be a heart, but it appears somewhat too round and
- ↑ Thoroton, Hist. Nottingham, vol. iii., p. 52.
