Gothic Tomb To North Of North Aisle Of Church Of St Mark

SP48767394 1641/0/1055

RUGBY CHURCH WALK Gothic Tomb to North of North Aisle of Church of St Mark

II

Churchyard monument in the form of a canopied shrine on 2 low steps. Limestone ashlar. Mid C19. Rectangular plan with open trefoil-arched gable ends to east and west and 3 pointed moulded arches, also open, to long sides; roof is of limestone slabs, carved to resemble fishscale tiles with roll moulding and decorative iron cresting to ridge; grave slab to base has raised cross to lid; chamfered plinth. Brass plaques to base of each arch have armorial shields to gable ends and inscriptions to the remainder, now all missing save one commemorating Julian Hibbert (d.1834) and another Dorothy Masrsfield (d.1848), wife of Thomas Hibbert. The Hibbert family lived at Bilton Grange, near Dunchurch, built by A.W.N. Pugin in 1841-6 and both this connection and the style of the monument itself suggest that the tomb may have been designed by Pugin.

References: N. Pevsner & A. Wedgwood, Buildings of England: Warwickshire (1966), 94-5; The Parish Church of Bilton- a Guide to St Mark's (2000).