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Image of Sponne coat of arms
St Lawrence Church, Towcester

T.Trotter's coloured engraving of Sponne's Tomb 1801

Image of Sponne's Tomb
Trotter's inscription at bottom:

"North View of the MONUMENT and CHANTRY CHAPEL of WILLm. SPONN, at TOWCESTER, Northamptonshire. At the upper end of the South ile was formerly a small Chapel parted off and called Sponns Chantry, of which this Monument now forms the North side, the above gives a view of the Chapel as it now appears, the Monument itself is still in a very high state of preservation, and may be look’d upon as a truly Valuable remnant of Antiquity, for which in all probability we are indebted to the very high respect his memory is held in, by every Inhabitant of the Town of Towcester. What the emaciated Skeleton like Figure underneath is intended to represent, the Artist cannot to a certainty assertain; in his peregrinations and enquiries he has discovered no less than Six of these horrible Figures, one at Winchester; two at Salisbury, one at Frome, one at Bristol, and the present at Towcester. They are uniformly attach’d to the Monuments of Ecclesiasticks, and an interesting Tradition usually repeated by those which shew them to straingers, to substantiate their personality, but it may be with more propriety be presumed that they are given as moral Lessons; as Emblems to remind us that frail humanity tho clad in the most gorgeous Apparel, tho incensed with adulation, and pampered with delicacies, to this Complexion it must come at last."