Article

Hatchments

Published in Issue 33

A Hatchment is a funeral escutcheon or armorial shield enclosed in a black lozenge-shaped frame. The custom was to hang the hatchment on the house front of the deceased for a period of mourning, which might last as long as a year, and then transfer it to the interior of the parish church.

The custom, which may have been imported from the Netherlands, was in vogue from the early seventeenth century to the mid-nineteenth, and had not entirely died out in the 1920s.

St Michael's church has a number of hatchments to the Smith/Smyth family.

Images

Hatchment of Sir William Smith, 7th Bt., who died 1823, and which is in Theydon Mount Church.

Restored hatchment for Edward, the 3rd Baronet (1686-1744). He married twice, so the small coats of arms each side are of 1st wife Ann (1690-1719), with three swans' necks, and second wife Elizabeth (1691-1748), with three owls. He was the one who rebuilt the impressive east front of Hill Hall, which you can see from the church.

Hatchments

Images

Hatchment of Sir William Smith, 7th Bt., who died 1823, and which is in Theydon Mount Church.

Hatchment

Hatchments

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