ABSTRACT
One of the most loved and well-known tombs from the early modern period is the quirky monument representing three generations of the Fettiplace family at Swinbrook, a parish in rural Oxfordshire. The memorial, on the north wall of the chancel, is composed of three tiers surrounded by elegant columns and crowned by a generous arch. Three effigies represent Sir Edmund Fettiplace (d. 1613), below him his father William (d. 1562) and at the base his grandfather Alexander (d. 1504). The visual impact of this striking tomb is memorable. Pevsner described the style as ‘primitive classicism’ with each figure ‘painfully reclining on an elbow’ and displayed ‘like merchandise in a shop’.1 The whole effect is heightened by a second monument to the east of the first, which displays a further three generations of rather more portly Fettiplace men and brings the pedigree through to the 1680s.
