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The lady is portrayed as a young woman in a pleated ?wool dress, belted at the waist perhaps with a key chain weighing it down, hands clasped in prayer, her head resting on an embroidered cushion with four ornate tassels. My translation: Here lies Dorethea Markham/ Daughter of John Justice of the Bench of the Court of the King, and Alice his wife who died 20th day /in the month of January and in the year of our Lord /One thousand four hundred and ninety four upon whose soul may God have mercy Amen.
Starting at top left, the inscription appears to me to read: Hic iacet DoretheaMarkh’ma/ filiaIoh’is I’us’B’na CuriRgi et AliacUxorEius qz obiit XX die/ mensis JanuariiEtAnnoDni’/ MILLIo CCCC LXXXXIIIIo cui’ a’i’e propicietur deus amen.
In full this could be something like Hic Jacet Dorethea Markhama/ Filia Johannis Justicia Banco Curia Regis et Aliciae Uxor eius Qui obiit XX die/ Mensis Januarii et Anno Domini/ Millesimo CCCC L XXXX IIIIimo Cuius Anime propicietur Deus Amen
To decipher this inscription, I have made many assumptions. 1 That the lettering is original and has not been sharpened by eg a Victorian antiquary parson. 2 It is all by the same hand and consistent within itself. 3 Almost everywhere there is a dot above a letter, it isn’t an I but indicates an abbreviation of a Latin word. 4 The abbreviations either appear in full on contemporary incised slabs or 5 They represent something well known or likely to have been documented nearby. 6 Some letters or words may have been swapped around, to improve the physical stability of the inscription 7 The letter A is the same everywhere but when missing is represented by a double dot. 8 A variant reading Iust’ Bn’ Armiger does not make use of the descender (tail) of what I read as a g. 9 Justice of the Court of the Kings Bench was equivalent to a later Lord Lieutenant of the County 10 More titles eg Armiger (knight) would not dignify John Markham further. (Photo Apr 2014).
These interpretation should not be taken as authoritative or complete. In particular, my Anno Domini appears to end with an A so I am unsure of it; I cannot see mention of her age, and the Kings Bench part is entirely new to me.