The Hatchments

The word “hatchment” is a corruption of the word “achievement” as in “achievement of arms”.  In the 18th and 19th centuries it was the custom to carry the coat of arms of a deceased member of a prominent family at his or her funeral; the arms were painted on canvas that was stretched on a wooden frame.

After the funeral, the hatchments were usually hung outside the family home and were then often moved to the local church.

These three hatchments belonged to the Meysey-Wigley family that owned the nearby Shakenhurst Hall and Estate. When the estate was sold in 2010, the trustees paid for the restoration of all three hatchments and for the memorial plaque on the wall below them. The plaque commemorates the 900 year link between the family and Bayton Church.  There were links too with St John the Baptist Church in Mamble, where family memorials can be seen on the wall and incorporated in the floor of the side aisle. One of the memorials is to Anna-Maria Meysey-Wigley, mentioned below.

 

The following, and more technical, report on the hatchments was written by Graham Hill, an amateur genealogist from Kidderminster.

“For many years St. Bartholomew in Bayton has been home to the hatchment of Edmund Meysey-Wigley (1758-1821), now hanging on the right.  The arms show his connection to the Makepeace family of Worcestershire, the very prominent and wealthy Ludlam family of Leicester and, via his wife Anna Maria, to the families of Watkins and Meysey.

Following the sale of Shakenhurst in 2010, St. Bartholomew’s Church became home to two more hatchments associated with the owners of Shakenhurst.  The first (hanging in the centre) has arms matching, though with some minor differences, the hatchment of Edmund  Meysey-Wigley, but which are contained within a lozenge rather than a shield.  This hatchment will have been for Anna Maria Meysey-Wigley (died 1836), widow of the above Edmund Meysey-Wigley.  Fittingly the couple’s hatchments are now reunited at the church.

The hatchment hanging on the left presents somewhat more of a problem.  It represents a married man whose widow is still living.  The main arms almost fully, and the crest fully, represent the Wicksted family while the motto “Prudentia In Adversis” is the motto of the Tollett family of Betley Hall, Staffordshire.  Tollett was the original surname of Charles Wicksted (1796-1870), a childhood friend of Charles Darwin, who took the name and arms of Wicksted on inheriting property from his great uncle Thomas.  Charles married Mary Charlotte Wigley in 1834 and she was herself entitled to the arms of both her father, the above Edmund Wigley, and her mother, the above Anna Maria Meysey.  The arms on the small shield in the centre of the main shield (escutcheon of pretence) should show the arms of the wife i.e. for the wife of Charles Wicksted these would be Wigley and Meysey.  Unfortunately, although the Meysey arms are shown, Chequy Gules and Argent does not represent Wigley (Paly of eight embattled Argent and Gules).  It seems likely that if a mistake had been made originally then it would have been noticed, as the widow, whose arms they were, was still alive.  It is also possible, and not unknown, for a later restoration to introduce an error.  It is therefore only possible to say that the hatchment is for a male Wicksted, most likely Charles.

More hatchments with a Shakenhurst connection can be found at Solihull (Greswolde), Worcester (Greswolde), Fladbury, Worcs (Perrott) and Wormbridge, Herefordshire (Clive).

The story continues in the stained glass of the chancel memorial window where connections with Shakenhurst include Rachel, Countess of Dudley; Elizabeth Fry, prison reformer; the builders of the Royal Albert Hall and Covent Garden Opera House; Caroline Clive, author of novels and meditative verse.”