Episode #9: Inside the Spencer Tombs

[Music] as someone who did not grow up in a house like this and in fact who grew up in North America it's been really interesting for me to learn about the British aristocracy Spencer family over the last 500 years and English History the church yard where Charles's ancestors are buried set me on a path of discovery that I hadn't anticipated it's The Village Church that the family attended and where they're all buried it is one of those very solemn sort of steeped in history places every single person in here is a sponsor or married interest becoming a spence all of the people who are buried in here they have a rich history behind them the very lifelike carvings of them sitting on top of those tombs it's almost like you're actually getting to see them one of the joys I had was because I love history was going back through letters Diaries Accounts at the time and learning a bit about each of them really I think I sort of know something about all of these people um around and below me so interesting to look at all the symbolism isn't it it was very important back in the 17th 16th century how you were preserved for posterity there was a sincere belief in the afterlife the the sort of dignified treatment of bodies all the mementos that would have meant so much to them in life are here for posterity the swords that they had which they took into battle the coronets they wore when they went to Parliament this is incredible this is a 500 year old tomb of Sir John Spencer who's very much the founder of the family and this is his wife Isabelle he established this as a tomb for his heirs and he took quite rightly as the the founder of this Prime position as near to the altar as possible we know that he basically rebuilt the church and he established this tomb this Chapel for his family I love the statue I love the Simplicity of it this is a man who in 1519 was knighted by Henry VII he looks like a a an absolute stereotype of a Tudor man with that very severe haircut and there he is lying in his armor it's incredible this man paid for the building of all four he was a magnificent sheep farmer he made an enormous amount of money we're looking at the founder and the female founder of the Spencer family they gave their DNA to all of the dozens of other Spencers who were either Below in the Tomb that they designed or actually in some of these finer pieces you really do feel it here don't you the longevity of the family well you do and obviously a pre-photographic age and when portrait painting was in its infancy we still know what these people look like we've got a man with a proper Tudor haircuts we've got a man with a late 16th century beard and they're dressed for eternity with the Spencer coat of arms on the top of their shoulder they're proud to be from this family but at this final sort of repose they're just hoping they're exception to heaven that's what this is about incredible the faith that went into these places you know so when my father died they got rid of the concrete here and pulled this up and underneath is a large room but it was overcrowded after four or five hundred years in the 50s or 60s my grandfather had them sort of tidied up a lot of them there were some broken open that hadn't been tended to and what was interesting was how many he said so many of them still had straggles of red hair the sort of family red hair was still visible so this is the second Baron William Spencer and he died in his mid-40s and his wife Penelope is one of the great heroines of the family she took over as Widow ran the house modified the way it was and made it all work very well so she was a real Force she took on almost the man's role and did it extremely well her father was Shakespeare's Patron big Patron that's right Penelope's father was the third Earl of Southampton who is famous in English History as being the patron of William Shakespeare she was his eldest daughter and she married him to the Spencer family so a lovely connection to Shakespeare who actually was born and died not far from here look at this this is a little boy William Spence a third son of Richard Spencer who died on the 20th of June 1631 at the age of five weeks oh but he's remembered Forever by this carving stone and his body would be below there this is a monument to the the family tragedy they weren't callous about it it was it was agonizing I think that Charles's passion for the history and how wonderful a Storyteller he is is what drew me into this she died very young 1831. all these people on the walls wouldn't mean anything it's the stories and who they were that brings it to life [Music] I mean I'll be dead down there one day and uh it's very comforting to be in this place of Eternal rest I guess surrounded by family even though a lot of them are quite distant one family in one place held together over 500 years by the vision of Sir John and Isabella Spencer foreign

Channel: Spencer 1508

Views: 618,583

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Id: QqLrU2saPCY

Length: 6min 34sec (394 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 09 2022