English: Mural monument in Church of St John the Baptist, Higher Ashton, Devon, to Sir George Chudleigh, 1st Baronet (d.1656). For a description of the monument and its heraldry see: Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association, Vol.31, 1st Series (Vol 1, 2nd Series), Plymouth, 1899, Maxwell Adams, A Brief Account of Ashton Church and of Some of the Chudleighs of Ashton, pp.185-198[1]. See also [2]. (NB erroneously "St Michael's Church, Ashton" per Pevsner).

Text per Maxwell Adams, pp.191-3[3]:

We come now to the monuments in the church. The principal of these is a large seventeenth-century erection, made of wood, painted and gilded, and fixed to the north wall of the Lady Chapel. It is remarkable for the number and excellence of the heraldic shields painted on it. It consists of two pillars, decorated with crossed scythes and an hour-glass, and surmounted by two pinnacles with a semicircular head between, on which is painted a shield of arms in the uncommon form of a hemisphere, with the following eight quarterings, viz. : —

• 1&8: Ermine, three lioncels rampant gules (Chudleigh);
• 2: Azure, three bendlets argent (Merton) (Arms of de Merton of Merton in Devon: Azure, three bends argent (Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.493);
• 3: Or, on a chevron azure three cinquefoils of the field (Stretchleigh);
• 4: Argent, a chevron ermine between three barnacle birds sable (Wyke of Bindon);
• 5: Argent, a lion rampant gules (Nonant);
• 6: Sable, three lions rampant argent (Prous);
• 7: Or, on a chevron azure between three roses gules, as many leaves of the field (Gould or Golde (Gould of Seaborough)).

Above the shield is a helmet with the crest of the Chudleighs: On a wreath a savage proper a garland about his head, a bugle horn hanging on a string from his shoulder, on his left side, his left arm bent, and in his right hand a Hercules club proper. On each side the supporters Two savages proper and below the motto: "A Deo Prudentia et Potentia". Under this shield there are twenty-five other coats of arms showing the various matrimonial alliances of the Chudleighs, arranged with Sir George Chudleigh's coat in the centre, and twelve of the others, placed on each side of it in two vertical lines of six each. The centre coat is Ermine, three lioncels rampant gules with canton of a baronet (for Sir George Chudleigh, 1st Baronet (1582-1656)) impaling: Argent, a chevron between three conies couchant sable (Strode), Sir George Chudleigh, 1st Baronet having married Mary Strode, the eldest daughter of Sir William Strode, Knight, of Newnham, Plympton St Mary, Devon, and a sister of William Strode, one of the five Members of Parliament whom King Charles I tried to arrest in the House of Commons. The other twenty-four shields are as follows, taken in vertical order, viz. — Chudleigh impaling —

• 1: Or, three negro's heads proper (Canynges)
• 2: Quarterly of 4:

• 1&4: Argent, a chevron sable between three cocks sable (Cockworthy);
• 2&3: Sable, a chevron ermine between three barnacle geese argent (Wykes/Burnell);

• 3: Or, a lion rampant gules a bordure engrailed of the second (Pomeroy);
• 4: Argent, two glazier's irons in saltire sable between four pears pendant gules (Kelloway);
• 5: Argent, a chevron sable between three round buckles gules (FitzWalter);
• 6: Azure, a cinquefoil ermine (Ashley);
• 7: Gules, a saltire vaire between twelve billets or (Champernoun);
• 8: Or, a chevron between three escallops azure (Trenchard);
• 9: Argent, a chevron engrailed between three leopard's faces azure (Coplestone);
• 10: Sable, three lions rampant argent (Prouse);
• 11: Vair (Beauchamp of Hatch, Somerset);
• 12: Argent, a lion rampant gules (Nonant);
• 13: Azure, three bendlets argent (Merton);
• 14: Barry of six vair and gules (Beaumont of Gittesham);
• 15: Argent, three lions rampant gules a bordure engrailed sable (Kirkham);
• 16: Sable, a bend or between six fountains proper (Stourton);
• 17: Gules, three dexter arms joined at the shoulder in triangle (Tremaine);
• 18: Argent, a fess indented per fess indented vert and sable between two barrulets of the first and second (Hody);
• 19: Sable, three swords in pile argent hilts or (Pawlet);
• 20: Gules, a chevron or between three roses argent (Wadham);
• 21: Or, on a chevron azure three cinquefoils of the field (Stretchley of Dorset);
• 22: Argent, two bars azure over all an eagle displayed with two heads gules (Speke of Whitelackington, Somerset);
• 23: Argent, a chevron sable between three conies couchant sable (Strode);
• 24: Azure, a bend engrailed argent cotised or (Fortescue).

It will be observed that six of these coats also appear in the windows of the north aisle. The inscription on this monument is as follows:

"Beneath this Structure lies buried the Body of Sir George Chudleigh, Barronett, who died the 15th day of January 1657 & was buried the 21st day of the same Month and also the Body of the Lady Mary Chudleigh his wife the eldest daughter of Sir William Strode of Newingham (i.e. Newnham) in the County of Devon, Knight; from whom descended nine sons & nine daughters".