in 1775 in Isfield Church, misappropriated as a tombstone over one of the Shirley family, and by the care of Sir William Burrel removed to the church of Southover, immediately adjoining the ruins of the Priory.  It is very singular that now, after an interval of eight years, her very bones should be brought to the same church (under the superintendence of the Rev. Mr. Scobell) there to undergo a third burial under Gundrada’s marble slab.

“The tombstone of Gundred Countess of Warren was discovered about the year 1775, by Dr. Clarke, rector of Buxted, in the Shirley chancel of Isfield Church, forming the table part of a mural monument of Edward Shirley, Esq., by whose father probably it was preserved at the demolition of the Priory, and conveyed to Isfield, his manorial estate.  At the expense of Dr., afterwards Sir William, Burrell, it was removed from its obscure station, and placed upon a suitable shrine, in the vestry-pew of Southover Church, that being the nearest convenient spot to its original station.  The stone is of black marble, sculptured in very high relief.  The lower end had been broken off before its discovery at Isfield.  Around the rim, and along the middle, is the following inscription: 

  Stirps Gundrada ducum, decus evi, nobile germen,
  Intulit ecclesiis Anglorum balsama morum,
  Martir (is hanc aedem struxit Pancrati in honorem)
  Martha fuit miseris, fuit ex pietate Maria;
  Pars obiit Marthe, superest pars magna Marie. 
  O pie Pancrati, testis pietatis et equi,
  Te facit heredem, tu clemens suscipe matrem. 
  Sexta kalendarum junii lux obvia carnis
  Fregit alabastrum (superest pars optima coelo).
    (Conjectured words in parenthesis.)

“Another leaden coffin, full of bones, but without any inscription, has also been found, longer than those of the founder’s, having a semicircular top, and six large rings of 3-1/4 inches diameter attached to the outsides.  At a little distance from the two small chests, there was also found the remains of an ecclesiastic, buried without any coffin, but lying upon a bed of coarse gravel within a hollow space formed by large flat stones.  His hands were in a position indicating that they had been joined together in the attitude of prayer over his breast, as usual.  Not only his bones, but much of his thick woollen gown, his under-garment of linen, and his leather shoes have been preserved.  These, too, have been carefully transferred to Southover Church.  It has been conjectured with much probability that these remains were those of Peter, the son of John, Earl de Warren, the patron of the monastery, who was appointed prior contrary to the nomination of the Pope in favour of the suggestion that the reinterment of the remains of the founders took place about the beginning of the thirteenth century.”

[Illustration:  ANNE OF CLEVE’S HOUSE, SOUTHOVER.]

A chapel specially designed to receive the leaden caskets was erected in excellent taste at St. John’s, Southover, in 1847.  The names are plainly decipherable.  The tombstone on the floor is that of Gundrada, brought here from Isfield.  The effigy in the wall of the chapel is conjectured to be that of John de Braose, who died in 1232.