Webmaster Notes
This page needs to be renamed and Swynbourne changed to Swynborne - plus other pages that link to it
If the tomb in the aisle of St. Mary's church is that of Sir Robert Swynborne then it makes sense that we know a wholw lot more about him and his involvement in the region and countries history.
Martin Stuchfield is clear that the brass would have been him but provided no recognition that he knew why he would have a brass in Belchamp Walter.
There is obviously a lot more to Robert Swynbourne and the Swynbourne family. Why he was resident of Little Horkesley and have a tomb with a brass in Belchamp Walter does not make sense. He cannot have been buried in two places! The 2nd World War bomb on the church in Horkesley doesn't help.
The "replacement for particular causes" needs to be explained.
The spelling of Swymborne as Swinborne is most probably due to The Great Vowel Shift of the English language that took place primarily between the 1400s and 1600s.
In Northern and Southern English, the first step of the Great Vowel Shift raised the close-mid vowels to become close. Northern Middle English had two close-mid vowels – /eː/ in feet and /øː/ in boot – which were raised to /iː/ and /yː/. Later on[when?], Northern English /yː/ changed to /iː/ in many dialects (though not in all, see Phonological history of Scots § Vowel 7), so that boot has the same vowel as feet. Southern Middle English had two close-mid vowels – /eː/ in feet and /oː/ in boot – which were raised to /iː/ and /uː/.
The shift from /y to /i is aslo seen in the spelling of Helion - in addition the /ll seems to have become /ion
Belchamp Walter - The Swynbourne Years
1391-1431
The manor and rectory of Bechamp Walter was the advowson of Swynbourne 1391-1431
The matrix of brass from the tomb in the aisle has been dated as 1425. The brass appears to be that of a knight and a priest.
1422 would have been the start of Henry VI's reign - Newcourt seems to have the regnal year off by 10 years.
Newcourt in his account of the clergy at Belchamp Walter seems to confirm that Sir Robert Swynbourne was assocaited with the village of Belchamp Walter.
Top
Sir Robert's family history
The reasons for the Swynbornes to be associated with Belchamp Walter and Little Horkesley are quite interesting.
The History of Parliament website (HoP) gives us to a clue what the story was.
The HoP website describes the Swynbornes of Gunnerton, Northumberland, East Mersea and Little Horkesley. The history of his Offices is quite interesting and shows that he was involved with the antics of Richard II.
