Walker Monument Approximately 20 Metres South of Chancel of Church of St Andrew, Leyland, Lancashire

Entry Name: Walker Monument Approximately 20 Metres South of Chancel of Church of St Andrew

Listing Date: 27 February 1984

Last Amended: 26 June 1992

Grade: II*

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1290442

English Heritage Legacy ID: 357926

ID on this website: 101290442

Location: St Andrew's Church, Leyland, South Ribble, Lancashire, PR25

County: Lancashire

District: South Ribble

Electoral Ward/Division: Buckshaw & Worden

Parish: Non Civil Parish

Built-Up Area: Leyland

Traditional County: Lancashire

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Lancashire

Church of England Parish: Leyland St Andrew

Church of England Diocese: Blackburn

Tagged with: Monument

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Leyland

Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 05/10/2012

SD 52 SW
119/8/20

LEYLAND
CHURCH ROAD
Walker monument approx. 20 metres south of chancel of Church of St Andrew

(Formerly listed as Raised slab over grave c.20 metres south of chancel of Church of St.Andrew)

GV II*

Raised monumental slab. Probably 1588. Commemorates William Walker, Clerk of the Parish of Leyland (d.1588). Sandstone. Rectangular slab on low stone base. The surface bears a very unusual life-sized primitive figure drawn with incised line of flowing simplicity, and the margin has a continuous inscription round all 4 sides, beginning at the head:

HEARE LIETH THE BODIE OF
WILLIAM WALKER BATCHELOROF MUSICKE OF THIS
PARISHE OF LEYLAND FOR
THE SPACE OF XXV YEARES AND DYED THE XX APRIL 1588

(the name "Walker" now worn and almost illegible). There are also inscriptions above the head of the figure:

Musica Mentis Medicina
Maestae
(translation: "Music the Medicine of a Sad Soul"); to the left
of the head the initials:
B
R:C

and below the feet another Latin inscription:

Nulla die
sine Linea

(approximate translation: "No day without a purpose"); and left
of this the initials:

W.F.
Esq

(probably William Farington).

HISTORY: may have connection with Shakespeare, since Shakespeare as a young man is now thought to have been in the households of the Hoghton family of Lea and Hoghton and the Hesketh family of Rufford during the 1580s (ref. E.A.J.Honigman Shakespeare: the 'lost years', Manchester 1985); William Farington of Worden has
been suggested as the model for the character of Malvolio in Twelfth Night; and the first line of this play ("If music be the food of love, play on") clearly echoes the first Latin inscription quoted above. NOTE: at the time of this inspection (June 1992), the monument was found to have been seriously disturbed (though not defaced), the slab turned at right angles and pushed off its base.

External Links

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