Edmund Dummer monument - St Mary's church, South Stoneham

Image: © Mike Searle Taken: 1 Nov 2011

The north transept of the church was rebuilt in 1728 to house this fine baroque monument to Edmund Dummer after his death in 1724. The Dummers were the lords of the manor of Swaythling, generations of whom lived at the Grange, a C16 house now demolished. The residence of Edmund Dummer was South Stoneham House a mansion he built in 1708, and attributed to the architect Nicholas Hawksmoor (who may also have been commissioned for the monument). Today the house is a hall of residence of Southampton University. The Dummer family vault lies directly beneath the north transept where Edmund Dummer is buried. A transcript of the Latin inscription on the monument reads: 'Sacred to the memory of Edmund Dummer of Swathling in the County of Hampshire, a yeoman and barrister of Lincoln's Inn. Who from his wife Leonora Sophia, daughter of William Dutton Colt, Knight, once ambassador to Hanover, bore five children, two sons and three daughters, of whom John, Maria and Elizabeth survived; for Edmund and Catherine as children he performed his final duty as devoted parent. While he lived he was loving to his kindred, a hospitable neighbour and a trusted confidant, and died cherished and admired by all, the 10th June in the sixty-first year of his age, 1724.'

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