D'Arcy Burnell monument - St John of Jerusalem - Winkburn, Nottinghamshire - Stone Church Artefacts on Waymarking.com

Stone monument to D'Arcy Burnell, 1774, in the chancel of St John of Jerusalem's church, Winkburn.

The monument has the inscription flanked by decorative pilasters, above is a central pedestal decorated with a shield and surmounted by an urn. On the left side of the pedestal is a large figure of Death holding a torch and on the right side a large figure of Fame holding a portrait of Burnell.

"Winkburn was formerly a "camera" or cell of the Knights Hospitallers, and, like Ossington, was parcel of their Commandery of Newland in Yorkshire. An account of the "camera" of Winkburn, with a schedule of the Knights' property there, is recorded in a manuscript still at Malta—the report of Prior Philip de Thame in 1338—printed by the Camden Society, Vol. 65. Having been seized by the King at the Dissolution of the Order, it was in 1548 granted by King Edward VI. to William Burnell, a merchant of London, and Constance his wife, daughter of Edward Blundeville, of Newton Flotman in Norfolk, in exchange for the rectory of Betchworth in Surrey. The Burnells became extinct in the male line by the death of D'Arcy Burnell without issue in 1774, and of his brother John Burnell at Calcutta, unmarried. D'Arcy Burnell left the estate upon trust for his brother John Burnell for life and then to the heirs of his body lawfully begotten, failing whom, upon trust, " for such person as shall be my heir at law, in tail, with remainder to my own right heirs for ever." Advertisements were inserted in many newspapers by the trustees to discover such heirs, but the family had become so entirely extinct that no connections were found nearer than the descendants of Dorothy and Olive, the two daughters of William Burnell, the second of the name to hold the estate, whose marriages took place as far back as 1603 and 1608 respectively, 170 years before the Chancery Action which settled the title to the estate! This action (Pegge v. Burnell, Chanc. Pro. Div. II. bdle. 573) declared the right heirs to be Peter Pegge of Beauchief Abbey, whose ancestor, Edward Pegge of Beauchief, had in 1662 married Gertrude Strelley, granddaughter and heiress of Dorothy Burnell, who married Gervase Strelley of Beauchief, 20 Sep. 1603; and Richard Bristowe of London, son of William Bristowe of Beesthorpe (Caunton), descendant and heir of Olive Burnell by her marriage with William Wombwell of Blacker Hall, co. York, 9 Aug. 1608. These two gentlemen took the surname of Burnell and possession of the property, but Mr. Pegge Burnell bought Mr. Bristowe Burnell's share in the house and park during his lifetime, and soon after the latter's death in 1789 appears to have acquired the remainder of his moiety. Peter Pegge Burnell in his turn died without male heir, 8 Feb. 1836, aged 85, and left the estate to his nephew Broughton Benjamin Steade, whose father, Thomas Steade, of the old Yorkshire family of Steade of Onesacre, had married Melliscent Pegge of Beauchief, 30 Aug. 1768. Broughton Benjamin Steade took the name of Burnell, 11 Mch. 1836, and his grandson, Col. Edward Strelley Pegge "Burnell," is the present squire—by virtue of his direct male ancestor having married a lady in 1768 whose ancestor had married a lady in 1662 whose ancestor had married a Burnell in 1603, 312 years ago!"

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Approximate Age of Artefact: 1774 Relevant Website: Not listed

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