The Samms Monument, All Saints Church, Church Lane, Little Totham, Essex. CM9 8LU - Stone Church Artefacts on Waymarking.com

A type-written notice adjacent to the memorial tells us about the monument:-

                                       THE SAMMES MONUMENT

               The Sammes family lived in this part of Essex for many years, John
               Sammes, father of Sir John on this monument, bought Follyfaunts in
                   1573, and later acquired the manor and advowson of Little
               Totham. He died at the age of 74 in 1606, the same year as his son
             was killed at the Battle of Isendyke. Sir John and his family lived at
            Little Totham Hall, having largely rebuilt it in red brick, and a part of
             this remains. His son, Sir Garrard, seen in the lower alcove, had three
              wives and at least seven children. Dame Isabell died in 1633, and Sir
                                         Garrard in 1630.

                 The monument was apparently not completed, as the inscription
               includes no dates and Sir Garrard's name is only partly inscribed.

The inscription on the monument reads:-

                              Here lyeth the body of Dame Isabell
                              Sammes, eldest davghtr of Sr Iohn Garrard
                              of Lammer in the covnty of Hert.Kt.Some=
                              time L.Maior of London, who in her
                              whole pilgrimage was an unspotted
                              mirrovr of true humility pfect constancy
                              & all virtvovs & noble resolutions
                              In memory of whom & of hir dearely loved
                              husband Sr Iohn Samms Kt  (sonn of Iohn
                              Samms Esq. hereby intombed) and captain of
                              Isendike in Flanders where he lyes interred
                              hir trvly affectionate brother Benedicte
                              Garrard hath cavsed this testimony of
                              his love to be erected.

From Sir John Sammes we learn the following:- It was probably [John] Sammes’s father John who fined with the Alienations Office in 1578 on buying various Essex properties; it was definitely the elder Sammes who purchased the manor and advowson of Little Totham and Goldhanger in the early 1590s, for which he paid £1,700. Clearly a man of means, Sammes senior was a member of the Essex bench by March 1595, and regularly served as a subsidy commissioner for Maldon, which lay less than three miles from his seat of Langford Hall. In the late summer of 1599 he commanded a troop of horse raised by the county to help repel a feared Spanish invasion, though he was then well into his sixties.

This is a fine altar tomb monument placed against the south wall of the chancel. It is to Sir John Sammes (buried at Isendike) and Isabell (Garrard) his wife. Made of white marble it has a shelf with a central inscribed pedimented panel, to the left and right and facing each other are a kneeling man and woman in attitudes of prayer. The man in armour, the woman in a mourning shroud. Behind the figures are two arched recesses flanked by moulded pilasters. In a recess below the central panel is another kneeling male figure in armour, with legs missing, who is believed to be Sir Garrard Sammes, son of John and Isabell.

Isendyke was an action during the Eighty Years War, also known as the Dutch War of Independence (1568–1648).

The Grade I listed parish church of All Saints in Little Totham has a Cl2th nave, a chancel which was rebuilt and enlarged in the C13th, a C16th west tower with the top part of it possibly C17/C18th, and a C19th south porch. The plastered walls are probably of flint rubble, the base of the west tower brick with a knapped flint facing with timber framed and weatherboarded upper storeys.

Approximate Age of Artefact: 1633 Relevant Website: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Please supply an original picture when visiting this waymark.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.