Grave Slab at St Leonard's Church

Grave Slab at St Leonard's Church, Rodney Stoke

This is a grave slab, probably for a double grave, originally the cover of a chest tomb or stone coffin, dating from the late 12th or 13th century. The grave marker is made of local Draycott marble and now stands upright approximately 5 metres from the east end of the Church of St Leonard.

The slab measures approximately 1.2 metres high at its highest point and approximately 0.8 metres wide. The top and left-hand edges are deeply under-chamfered; the right-hand edge and the right-hand part of the top have been cut down slightly. The front is covered almost entirely with incised decoration. A straight line divides the memorial vertically into two halves. The left-hand side has an incised cross on a staff with flared cross arms, while the right-hand side has an incised cross of similar size, also on a staff, with lobed arms.

Rodney Stoke is recorded in the Domesday Book as Stoches and in 1291 as Stokgifford, named after the Gifford or Gifard family who were lords of the manor. The Giffords were Saxon nobility at the time of Edward the Confessor, with Walter Gifford appointed Earl of Buckingham. The first church on the site was constructed during the 12th century and was rebuilt in the 15th century. The village was later renamed after the Rodney family, subsequent lords of the manor. The church is notable for its collection of Rodney family monuments dating from the late 15th to mid-17th centuries.

On stylistic grounds, the grave marker appears to date from the late 12th or 13th century and likely covered a double burial, each marked on the surface with its own cross. The form suggests it originally formed the cover of a chest tomb or stone coffin. Its date and relatively high status indicate it may have been associated with members of the Gifford family. The monument was subsequently cut down on two sides and a notch was cut in the top, probably to allow re-use for paving, perhaps when the church was rebuilt in the 15th century. Later, probably during the 19th century when the church was heavily restored and enlarged, the slab was resited upright close to the churchyard wall, along with two other later grave markers.