You approach
St James on foot through this natural archway. The church has little
in the way of medieval memorials or furnishings, though the low blind
arch in the wall of the south aisle is probably all that remains of
an early burial memorial. Most of the families who owned the manor,
the de Greys, Wubrahams and the Earls of Thanet, were large landowners
with other estates and other churches for their memorials. The Thanet
memorials are all at Raynham in Kent.
There
is a good 16th century brass in the north wall of the sanctuary to
Peter Dormer, successor to Sir Michael Dormer of Purston, who bought
the advowson of the church and the rectorial tithes when Dunstable
Priory was dissolved in the time of Henry VIII.
The Dormers
were followed at Purston in the 17th century by the Creswells, in
whose time Purston Manor was rebuilt. The large memorial to John Creswell
and his wife in the south aisle was once larger. It stood where the
organ is now, and had a grand architectural surround with marble pillars
and pediment.
John
Creswell was a man of fiery temper who, having produced a series of
daughters, was so disgusted when yet another was born, that he threw
the child down the stairs, killing her. This is said to be the reason
for the baby angel in the monument.
Creswell
fought as a cavalier in the Civil War and eventually died fighting
a duel. Other wall tablets and large slate tables in the floor are
also Creswell memorials.
The space
around the big memorial was the Purston Manor family pew. An aumbry
in the wall beside it is evidence that a second altar may have originally
stood there.
