Gone But Not Forgotten: Three Hatchments at the Church of St Peter & St Paul, Eye, Suffolk

Abstract

Funerary hatchments are heraldic memorial boards, identifiable principally by their diamond shape and use of a white and/or black background behind the arms to indicate the deceased. Hatchments became popular amongst the gentry and aristocracy after the Restoration and eventually declined in the late nineteenth century. Where they survive, hatchments are often found in churches. They can be difficult to interpret due to inaccurate heraldry, the absence of names and dates, and the replacement of family mottoes. The Church of St Peter and St Paul in the Suffolk market town of Eye has three surviving hatchments, known to be connected to the Deye, Sayer and Cunningham families. The hatchments themselves are fairly inaccessible, however, and the families they represent have fallen out of the narrative of the town’s history. This research analyses the hatchments, drawing on nineteenth-century church surveys as a starting point for a genealogical investigation. It finds that by reconstituting the lives and families of three  individuals, a better understanding of gentry society in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries is achieved, enhancing this chapter of Eye’s history. It also demonstrates the rewards and challenges of researching with such sources during this period.