Monument, marble, to John Nicolls Raynsford, by John Hunt, Northamptonshire, about 1746

Monument, marble. A white marble slab bearing an epitaph in English is flanked by pilasters in brown marble with volutes of white marble on either side. On the cornices there are two flaming urns, the falmes are gilded and painted wood and between them a large cartouche with a coat of arms set on a pyramidal base surmounted by a wreath of colours, the crest wanting. Inscribed on a small marble rectangle at the bottom: JOHN HUNT Northampton Fect.

Given to the museum by the Rector and Churchwardens of Lamport with Faxton

From the demolished church of St Denis, Faxton, Northamptonshire. Given to the Museum by the Rector and Churchwardens of Lamport with Faxtn in 1965, together with A.9-1965, A.10-1965.

Historical significance: The hamlet of Faxton, is an abandoned village and chapelry in the county of Northamptonshire in England in a remote position two miles to the north-east of Lamport. In the Domesday Book it was a village of thirty-two families. By 1801 the total population was 54. By 1841 it had risen to 108 but by 1921 it was 37. No one lives in the village now. in 1939 services in the church came to an end. Eventually lead was stripped from the roof and in 1958 it was demolished as a 'dangerous structure'. The wall monuments were removed in pieces to the stables of Lamport rectory. In 1965, the Museum agreed to accept the monuments in the rectory stables as a gift. By then they were in poor condition and the reassembly of the monument was laborious and complex.
Three memorials in Faxton church have not come to the Museum. A plain slabe to Elizabeth Framwell, who died in 1781, has been included in the paving round the base of the column that marks the site of Faxton church. Another simple slab to Susanna Danvers, who died in 1730, daughter of Sir Edward Nicolls, second baronet, has disappeared, although it was photographed by the National Buildings Record in 1945. The monument to Hester Raynsfor, born Isham, who died in 1763, was installed in the Ishal chapel in Lamport church. It was executed by William Cox of Northampton (b. 1717, d. 1793).

This monument is one of a group of dynastic tombs commemorating members of the Nicolls family. The inscriptions and heraldic devices take precedence over the figurative elements in evoking the deceased. This funerary monument commemorates John Nicolls Raynsford (1723-1746). He was a descendant of Sir Augustine Nicolls, whose monument is also in the Museum's collection (Museum no. A.9-1965). John Hunt, a local Northampton sculptor, was apprenticed to the famous wood carver and sculptor Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721).

A.11-1965