File:The church of St Mary in Middleton - C18 memorial - geograph.org.uk - 1742652.jpg

English: St Mary's Church, Middleton, NorfolkMural monument to Thomas Rolfe Peirson (1730-1760), Esq., who died Dec. 21, 1760, aged 30 (See: Farrer, Edmund, Church Heraldry of Norfolk, Vol 2 (1889), p.260 [1]). He appears to have been a son from the marriage in 1725 of "Thomas Peirson of Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, Esq.", and Elizabeth Rolfe, sister, heir and administratrix of Robert Rolfe (see below). Arms: Per fesse embattled gules and azure, three suns in splendour (Pearson/Peirson of Wisbech, Cambridgeshire) (Peirson/Pierson/Pearson). Crest: A parrot proper. The earliest bearer of these arms is recorded by Burke (1884) as: Pearson of Lowthorp, York (1665); possibly more ancient (two ancestors given) are arms granted in 1714 to Hugh Pearson, "descended from Pearson of Wisbeach, Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire", with tinctures transposed (Per fesse embattled azure and gules, three suns in splendour), with crest: A paroquet vert. (Burke, Sir Bernard, The General Armory, London, 1884, p.784).

Ancestry

See Dorset Record Office, Catalogue description: Capital messuage of manor and farm, Turnerspuddle Farm (field names) and advowson...., Reference: D/FRA/T199 [2]: Probate copy will of Wm. Rolfe of Stoke Bruern, Northants., clerk, made and proved 1693; Administration of goods of Robert Rolfe, formerly of Balliol College, Oxford, but later of St. Clements Danes, Middlesex, 1721; Copy marriage settlement of Thomas Peirson of Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, esq., and Elizabeth, sister, heir and administratrix of Robert Rolfe, concerning also manors of Lyttylbury and Delalond and messuage called Eldersgate in Tydd St. Mary, LINCOLNSHIRE, and messuage or tenement and land in Syresham, NORTHANTS, 1725; Copy will Thomas Peirson of N. Runcton, Norfolk, esq., concerns also all his estate in Elm and Wisbeach St. Peters, CAMBS., Outwell, CAMBS. and NORFOLK, Blackborough, Emneth, Hardwick, Middleton, N. Runcton, Setchey, Terrington in Marshland, Walpole St. Antony and St. Peter, E. Winch and Wormgay, NORFOLK, Syresham, NORTHANTS., Kersey, SUFFOLK, and capital mansion house in Kings Lynn, NORFOLK, 1731, with further instructions, 1741/2.

Other information

The church of St Mary in Middleton - C18 memorial. The church of St Mary > 1742635 stands on an elevation about 36 metres high (which is high in this flat fenland area), beside the busy A47 road > 1742628 that winds its way through the village of Middleton. The church as we see it now was built during the 13th century from local carstone, with the corners of the building and the door and window frames reinforced by freestone quoins. This is a fairly large church with a clerestory and a north and south aisle. The church was extensively restored in the 19th century and furnishings > 1742651 as well as baptismal font > 1742658 date from this time. The organ case > 1742654 is richly decorated and painted with angels, and some of the original rood screen panels depicting apostles (heavily restored in 2008) can be found right beside it. A stained glass window in the north aisle > 1742650 was made in the medieval style and there is a counterpart in the south aisle > 1742646 - both these windows were made by J Powell & Sons.