Robert Skerne lived at Downe-Hall (Downhall), in the parish; his wife was daughter of the celebrated Alice Perrers, by some historians supposed to have been Edward III's mistress

He was a lawyer it seems and an altogether good sort, according to his inscription.

Marmorie petre, conjugis atque suæ,
Qui validus, sidus, disertus, lege peritus;
Nobilis, ingenuus, persidiam renuit:
Constans sermone, vitâ, sensu, ratione,
Communiter cuique justitiam voluit.
Regalis juris unicos promovit honores;
Fallere vel falli, res odiosa sibi.
Gaudeat in celis, qui vixit in orbe fidelis;
Nonas Aprilis pridie qui moritur,
Mille quadringentis D[omi]ni trigintaque septem

"The tomb constructed here of marble stone contains
All that of Robert Skerne and of his wife remains,
He being valient, faithful, cautious, skilled in law,
Noble, ingenious, did treachery abhor:
Constant in speech, in life, in feeling and in thought,
That justice freely and to all was due, he taught.
The honours of the royal law alone he prized.
To cheat or be deceived a thing he quite despised.
May he in heaven rejoice, who lived on earth sincere,
Who died upon the fourth of April in the year
Of Christ one thousand twenty score and thirty seven.
Have mercy on his soul, Jesus, Thou King of Heaven."