Mural monument in Church of St John the Baptist, Higher Ashton, Devon, to Sir George Chudleigh, 1st Baronet (d.1656).  For a description of the monument and its heraldry see: <i>Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association, Vol.31, 1st Series (Vol 1, 2nd Series), Plymouth, 1899, Maxwell Adams, A Brief Account of Ashton Church and of Some of the Chudleighs of Ashton</i>, pp.185-198<a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="https://archive.org/stream/reportandtransa08artgoog#page/n202/mode/2up">[1]</a>. See also <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="https://heraldryofthewestcountry.wordpress.com/2017/02/03/chudleigh-wives-at-ashton/">[2]</a>. (NB erroneously "St Michael's Church, Ashton" per Pevsner).
<p>Text per Maxwell Adams, pp.191-3<a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="https://archive.org/details/reportandtransa08artgoog/page/190/mode/2up?view=theater">[3]</a>: 
</p><p>We  come  now  to  the  monuments  in  the  church.  The principal  of  these  is  a  large  seventeenth-century  erection, made  of  wood,  painted  and  gilded,  and  fixed  to  the  north wall  of  the  Lady  Chapel.  It  is  remarkable  for  the  number and  excellence  of  the  heraldic  shields  painted  on  it.  It consists  of  two  pillars,  decorated  with  crossed  scythes  and an  hour-glass,  and  surmounted  by  two  pinnacles  with  a semicircular  head  between,  on  which  is  painted  a  shield of  arms  in  the  uncommon  form  of  a  hemisphere,  with  the following  eight  quarterings,  viz. : —
</p>
<ul><li>1&amp;8: <i>Ermine,  three  lioncels  rampant  gules</i>  (Chudleigh);</li>
<li>2:  <i>Azure,  three  bendlets  argent</i>  (Merton) (Arms of de Merton of Merton in Devon: <i>Azure, three bends argent</i> (<a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Pole_(antiquary)&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1" class="new" title="William Pole (antiquary) (page does not exist)">Pole, Sir William</a> (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sir_John_de_la_Pole,_6th_Baronet&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1" class="new" title="Sir John de la Pole, 6th Baronet (page does not exist)">Sir John-William de la Pole</a> (ed.), London, 1791, p.493);</li>
<li>3:  <i>Or,   on   a  chevron   azure  three  cinquefoils   of  the  field</i> (Stretchleigh);</li>
<li>4:  <i>Argent,  a  chevron  ermine  between  three  barnacle  birds sable</i>  (Wyke  of  Bindon);</li>
<li>5:  <i>Argent,  a  lion  rampant  gules</i>  (Nonant);</li>
<li>6:  <i>Sable,  three  lions  rampant  argent</i>  (Prous);</li>
<li>7: <i>Or,  on  a  chevron  azure  between three  roses  gules, as many leaves of  the  field</i>  (Gould  or  Golde (Gould of Seaborough)).</li></ul><p>Above  the  shield  is  a  helmet  with  the  crest  of  the Chudleighs: <i>On  a  wreath  a  savage  proper  a  garland  about his  head,  a  bugle  horn  hanging  on  a  string  from  his  shoulder, on  his  left  side,  his  left  arm  bent,  and  in  his  right  hand  a Hercules  club  proper</i>.  On  each  side  the  supporters <i>Two savages proper</i> and  below  the  motto:  <i>"A  Deo  Prudentia  et Potentia"</i>. Under  this  shield  there  are  twenty-five  other  coats  of  arms showing  the  various  matrimonial  alliances  of  the  Chudleighs, arranged  with  Sir  George  Chudleigh's  coat  in  the  centre,  and twelve  of  the  others,  placed  on  each  side  of  it  in  two  vertical lines  of  six  each.  The  centre  coat  is  <i>Ermine,  three  lioncels rampant  gules</i> with canton of a baronet  (for  Sir  George  Chudleigh, 1st Baronet (1582-1656))  impaling: <i>Argent,  a  chevron  between  three  conies  couchant  sable</i> (Strode), Sir  George  Chudleigh, 1st Baronet having  married  Mary Strode,  the  eldest daughter  of  Sir  William  Strode,  Knight,  of  Newnham, Plympton St Mary, Devon, and  a sister  of  William  Strode,  one  of  the  five  Members of Parliament  whom King Charles I  tried  to  arrest  in  the  House  of  Commons. The  other  twenty-four  shields  are  as  follows,  taken  in vertical  order,  viz. — Chudleigh  impaling —
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<ul><li>1: <i>Or, three  negro's  heads proper</i>  (Canynges)</li>
<li>2:  Quarterly of 4:</li></ul><dl><dd><ul><li>1&amp;4: <i>Argent,  a  chevron sable between three cocks sable</i> (Cockworthy);</li>
<li>2&amp;3: <i>Sable, a  chevron ermine between three barnacle geese argent (Wykes/Burnell);</i></li></ul></dd></dl><ul><li>3: <i>Or,  a  lion  rampant  gules  a  bordure engrailed  of   the second</i>  (Pomeroy);</li>
<li>4: <i>Argent, two  glazier's irons  in  saltire  sable  between four pears  pendant gules</i>  (Kelloway);</li>
<li>5: <i>Argent,  a  chevron sable  between three round  buckles  gules</i>  (FitzWalter);</li>
<li>6: <i>Azure,  a  cinquefoil  ermine</i>  (Ashley);</li>
<li>7: <i>Gules, a  saltire  vaire  between twelve  billets  or</i>  (Champernoun);</li>
<li>8: <i>Or,  a  chevron between three  escallops azure</i> (Trenchard);</li>
<li>9: <i>Argent, a chevron  engrailed  between three leopard's faces  azure</i> (Coplestone);</li>
<li>10: <i>Sable, three lions  rampant  argent  (Prouse);</i></li>
<li>11: <i>Vair</i> (Beauchamp  of Hatch, Somerset);</li>
<li>12: <i>Argent, a  lion  rampant  gules</i> (Nonant);</li>
<li>13: <i>Azure, three  bendlets  argent</i>  (Merton);</li>
<li>14: <i>Barry  of  six vair and  gules</i> (Beaumont  of  Gittesham);</li>
<li>15: <i>Argent, three lions  rampant  gules a  bordure engrailed sable</i> (Kirkham);</li>
<li>16: <i>Sable, a  bend  or  between six fountains  proper</i> (Stourton);</li>
<li>17: <i>Gules, three dexter  arms  joined  at  the  shoulder  in  triangle (Tremaine);</i></li>
<li>18: <i>Argent,  a  fess  indented  per  fess  indented  vert  and  sable between two barrulets  of  the  first  and  second</i>  (Hody);</li>
<li>19: <i>Sable, three swords  in  pile  argent hilts  or</i> (Pawlet);</li>
<li>20: <i>Gules, a  chevron or between three roses  argent (Wadham);</i></li>
<li>21: <i>Or,  on  a  chevron azure three cinquefoils  of  the  field</i>  (Stretchley of  Dorset);</li>
<li>22: <i>Argent, two  bars  azure over  all  an  eagle  displayed  with  two heads  gules</i>  (Speke  of  Whitelackington, Somerset);</li>
<li>23: <i>Argent,  a  chevron sable between three conies couchant  sable</i>  (Strode);</li>
<li>24: <i>Azure,  a  bend  engrailed  argent  cotised  or</i>  (Fortescue).</li></ul><p>It  will  be  observed  that  six  of  these  coats  also  appear  in the  windows  of  the  north  aisle. The  inscription  on  this  monument  is  as  follows:
</p>
<dl><dd><i>"Beneath  this  Structure  lies  buried  the  Body  of  Sir  George Chudleigh,  Barronett,  who  died  the  15th  day  of  January  1657  &amp; was  buried  the  21st  day  of  the  same  Month  and  also  the  Body of  the  Lady  Mary  Chudleigh  his  wife  the  eldest  daughter  of Sir  William  Strode  of  Newingham (i.e. Newnham) in  the  County  of  Devon, Knight;  from  whom  descended  nine  sons  &amp;  nine  daughters"</i>.</dd></dl><div class="poem">
<p>                                                  Skull<br>
                          "Absorpta  est  Mors ......... ad  Victoriam" ("Death is absorbed into Victory")<br>
                                            and crossed  bones
</p>
</div>
<a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Lobsterthermidor" title="User:Lobsterthermidor">Lobsterthermidor</a> (<a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Lobsterthermidor" title="User talk:Lobsterthermidor"><span class="signature-talk">talk</span></a>) 19:01, 28 October 2017 (UTC)
CC BY-SA 3.0
<span class="int-own-work">Self-photographed</span>