Relhan Collection : 219 Horseheath church. Monument of Sir Gyles Alyngton, d. 1586 aged 86, and of Sir Gyles Alington, d. 1522

Relhan, Richard, 1782-1844

Relhan Collection

<p style='text-align: justify;'><p>William Gyles Alyngton was killed at Bosworth in 1485 when his son and heir, the first Sir Gyles, was only 12. During his minority his mother Elizabeth and her second husband William Cheyne held the estates. In his career the first Sir Gyles was active in national and local life, as a Sheriff of Cambs and Hunts, cup-bearer for Henry VIII at his coronation dinner and with him at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. Cooper says he died aged 49 from an infectious disease contracted through attending the Lent Assizes held at Cambridge, ‘<i>whether from the savour of the prisoners or from the filth of the house is not known</i>’. The second Sir Giles was another courtier with local duties, and during his long life was Sheriff of Cambs and Hunts in 1530, Justice of the Peace, cup-bearer at the coronation dinner of Anne Boleyn, fought with Henry VIII against Lincolnshire rebels, attended the christening of Edward VI and was at the siege of Boulogne in 1544, bringing home a copper ball said to hold 60 gallons and a bell which was used at the Hall for a dinner bell. There had been a large (320 acre) park around Horseheath Hall since 1459 and in 1550 the second Sir Gyles added another 400 acres to create Horseheath great park. The park survived until the Hall was demolished in 1792. The monument has 2 tiers of recumbent effigies (father and son), with the back canopy dismantled. The second Sir Gyles left orders that he should be buried with a simple inscription, just his name, wives, number of children and name of heir. His first wife was Mary, daughter of one of his guardians and his second was Alice Middleton. He ordered a similar inscription for his father’s grave. This originally had an ornate canopy with 2 small figures (blocking a whole church window), with shields of arms. He had married three times, Ursula, daughter of Sir Robert Drury, from whose son Robert the next Sir Gyles (<b>221</b>) descended, then Alice, daughter of John Middleton, who had 10 children, and thirdly Margaret, who survived him.</p><p>Cooper 1808 – 1886; Parsons 1948; VCH 1978</p></p>