Good Friday

A biting cold but sunny day.

Now for some local history: Sir John de Dummer, knight. The Dummer family originated from the village of Dummer in Hampshire and a branch of that family spread to Somerset in about the 13/14C. Thomas Bond writes in 1871:

".... In 25 Edward I, 1297, John de Dommere held lands in Somerset of the value of £20 per annum, and was summoned to perform military service in person with horse and arms beyond the seas, and in the same year he was summoned as a knight to appear with horse and arms at a military council at Rochester before Edward the King's son Lieutenant in England."

In the little church of Pendomer (which takes its name from the said knight), he is found resting on a slab of Ham stone. "The hands are joined in an attitude of prayer, the legs are crossed, and the feet rest on a lion couchant. A flowing surcoat, confined at the waist by a strap or cord, reaches five inches below the knees, and a slit or opening at the bottom in front permits the corners to fall back, exhibiting the hauberk or shirt of mail. Below this again is seen about an inch of the haqueton or quilted under garment. A coif de mailles takes the form of the head, the face alone being exposed to view through an opening of oval form. ... The hands are protected by gauntlets of peculiar character, reaching two inches and a half above the wrists. .... The head reposes on a helmet which is secured to the neck of the figure by a cord fastened at each end to a mall staple or loop..... Both the surcoat and the shield exhibit the armorial bearings of the knight, viz, a crescent between six billets 3, 2, and 1. .... "

The description is lengthy and I was unable to take a satisfactory blip of the whole body as the font was in the way. He does carry a sword on his belt, only the very top is visible.

This day last year the weather was in the 80F, hotter than Greece and Cyprus!