HERE in this Church, while it was Part of the Monastery of St. Leonard, was buried a right noble Personage, (if we may believe one of our Antiquaries) namely, Earl John de Bohun, Son of Humfrey, Earl of Hereford and Essex, Lord of Brecknock, and Constable of England. And there is at this Day a large Stone lying in the Body of the Church, having formerly much Brass, now torn off; containing the Effigies of a Man and a Woman; and much ornamental Work over their Heads. They seem to be some Nobleman and his Wife, interred in this Religious House: Perhaps the said Earl and his Lady.

But how to reconcile the said Antiquary with an elder than he, viz. John Leland, and the Monasticon Anglicanum, I cannot yet tell. For Wever writes, that this Monastery was replenished with White Monks, and founded by K. Henry II, in the 23d of his Reign. Leland and the Monasticon report it a Religious House for Nuns. And here again, these two last differ in the Founder. Leland, as we are told by a late Author, makes the Founder to be that William, Bishop of London, that lived in the Conqueror's Time: But the Tenour of a Confirmation of this Priory by K. Stephen (extant in the Monasticon) seems to make it to be founded and endowed by one Christiana de Sumeri, and her Son.

In the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary, within the Claustrum [Cloisters] of this Nunnery, was interred Elizabeth, Sister to Queen Philippa, and one of the Daughters of William Earl of Henault. Her Will bears Date Anno 1375: Wherein she gave a Ring to Sir Tho. de Wodestok.

In this Church of St. Leonard, lay interred Elizabeth Wife of Thomas Torell, of the County of Essex. She dyed An. 1375. Also Joyce, the Wife of Sir Hugh Blount, Kt. according to the Register, viz. Jocosa quondam Dni. Hugonis Blount, Mil. by her last Will, Anno 1375, ordered to be buried in Prioratu Sti. Leonardi de Stratford at Bow.

Richard Gosselyn, Citizen and Ironmonger, by his last Will, bequeathed ten Marks, for mending the Highway at Bromley: Reckoning from the House of Steven Miller usque ad Domum Monialium de Stratford: i.e. unto the House of the Nuns at Stratford.

Rob. Sudbury, Gent. of the Parish of Bromley in the County of Middlesex, by his Will, Oct. 5. 1484, gave to the High Altar of Paddyswyk, for Tiths forgot, 20d. Item, To Katharine, Prioresse of the House of Nuns of St. Leonard of Stratford at Bow, and the Convent, if they shall suffer his Body to be buried where his Executors shall dispose it, his Tenement in the Parish of St. Leonard in the East Part of Eastcheap, London, on Condition they keep his Anniversary on the Day of his Obit.]

Rich. Baynard of Messing, Esq; gave by Will, An. 1432, to the Abbess and Convent of Berking, five Marks, to pray for the Souls of Katharine and Isabel his Daughters. And to the Nuns of Stratford 40s. to pray for his Soul, and the Souls of Johan and Johan his Wives. And five Marks to pray for his Soul, and Isabel Doreward's Soul.

William Gobyonne, buried in the Church of Brambeley in Stratford at Bow, 1435.

Against the South Wall, next the East Part of the Church, is a very fair Monument of Mr. Jacob, sometime Proprietor of this Manour, and his Wife.

They are represented both kneeling. Over his Head is writ, Abraham Jacob, Armiger. Over hers, Maria Conjux. Under him, Obiit 6o. Maii, A.D. 1629. Ætat. suæ 56. The Inscription as follows:

There is the Representation of a Vine, on the Leaves whereof are inscribed the Names of his Children; whereof some were married and some unmarried at the Time of the Erection of this Monument. The Names of those that were married, and their respective Husbands, are expressed, with their Coats of Arms, born Baron and Femme; viz.

1. Henry Rolt married Ellen Jacob.
2. George Bury married Mary.
3. John Jacob married Elizabeth Halliday.
4. Thomas Wilmer married Elizabeth Jacob.
5. Robert Seylliard married Barbara Jacob.

The Children of Henry Rolt, and Ellen, are expressed to be, Mary, Ellen, Thomas, Elizabeth.

George Bury, by his Wife Mary, had Jacob, George, John.

John Jacob, by his Wife Elizabeth, had Susanna, and Jacob.

Thomas Wilmer, by his Wife Elizabeth, had Thomas, Jacob, Mary.

The Names of the unmarried Children inscribed on the Vine Leaves are these: Francis the first Son; Richard the third Son; Henry the fourth Son; Abraham the fifth Son; Robert the sixth Son; Darcy the seventh Son; and Frances the fifth Daughter.

Next Jacob's Monument, on the West against the Wall, is the Monument of Roberts, another Proprietor of the Manour; and these Inscriptions:

In this Vault lyeth the Body of Dame Margaret Roberts, Daughter of Mr. William Amy, Merchant in Exon; and late Wife to Sir John Roberts of Bromley, Bart. By whom he had four Sons and five Daughters; all which dyed in their Infancy. She departed this Life Sept. 21, An. Dom. 1690. In Memory of whom, her Husband caused this Monument to be erected.
Here only is reserv'd her pious Dust,
Until the Resurrection of the Just.

In the same Vault also lyeth Sir John Roberts, Bart. Patron of this Church: Who dyed the 14th of Decemb. 1692. To whose Memory his Relict, Dame Deborah Roberts, being his second Wife, caused this Inscription:

Tho' Death the Body in the Grave doth bind,
The nobler Soul is free and unconfin'd:
And both shall reign with Christ,
When by his Power rejoyn'd.