Griswold Shakespeare and Becket

Griswold Shakespeare and Becket

FROM HARPER'S 1876 via PioneerPictures.com:

† The Griswolds and Wolcotts were of the old English gentry. Matthew Griswold, the first magistrate of the Saybrook colony, married Annah, the daughter of Henry Wolcott. Matthew Griswold was a descendant of Sir Humphrey Griswold, whose seat was at Malvern Hall.


Malvern Hall

Henry Wolcott was the son and heir of John Wolcott, of Golden Manor. The manor-house is still standing, an immense castle of great antiquity, designed for the purposes of defense against the excesses of a lawless age, as well as for a permanent family residence. It is richly ornamented with carved work, and upon the walls may be seen the motto of the family arms, "Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri" --inclined to swear in the words of no master. It was in keeping with the independent spirit of an English gentleman of the Middle Ages, and with that of a Puritan of a later date, who spurned the dictation of ecclesiastical wisdom. Wolcott sold a portion of his estate before he left England. He was a magistrate in the Connecticut colony, and his descendants in the direct line were magistrates, judges, and Governors for a period of over one hundred and eighty successive years.

Wolcott-Griswold family of Connecticut
Griswold Heritage Tour
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Shakespeare and Griswold


St Thomas à Becket's Chapel, Solihull Parish

In the stonework behind the reredos can be seen the tower buttress on to which the wall of the north transept was built. In the angle between the buttress and the archway, later blocked, was the original chapel of St. Thomas à Becket. The builders of the first church would have shared the popular reverence for the martyred Archbishop who was murdered in 1170 and canonised in 1173.
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The pediment contains the shield of Henry Greswold Lewis of Malvern Hall and was part of the screen to the family pew. On the south wall of the chapel is a Jacobean monument containing a brass, dated 1610, to William and Ursula Hawes, the builders of Hillfield Hall. Below it in a modern window opening is a stained glass panel from Hillfield Hall, containing the coats of arms of Fielding, Greswold and Aston. Opposite, in the north wall, is a dramatic portrayal of the martyrdom of Thomas à Becket.

Extra Credit: What is the connection between Becket and Beckwith?