English: Monument to Christopher Layer (died 1600), Church of St John Maddermarket, Norwich, marble mural monument with Northern Mannerist sculpture. Monumental Tablet in the South Aisle, with Kneeling Figures and Three coloured Shields. (Source: Farrer, Edmund, Church Heraldry of Norfolk, Vol 3 (1893) Lynn, Norwich, Thetford, Yarmouth, p.69 [1] )

Heraldry

Three shields:

• 1: Quarterly of 4, with crest: Issuing from a ducal coronet an unicorn's head argent :
  • 1&4: Per pale argent and sable, a unicorn courant between three crosses-crosslet all counter-changed (Layer) (Burke, Sir Bernard, The General Armory, London, 1884, p.590);
  • 2&3: Argent, on a bend gules three Catherine Wheels or (Buttivant/Butifant) (Burke, Sir Bernard, The General Armory, London, 1884, p.155 "Buttevant/Bonifant").
• 2: Layer.
• 3: Argent, a lion rampant gules debruised by a bendlet or (Steward ?) — See Blomefield, History of Norfolk, iv. 293. Steward Augmentation (Steward/Stewart of the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire): Argent, a lion rampant gules debruised by a bend raguly or . w:Augmentation of honour to the arms of Steward given by the French King Charles VI (1368-1422) to Sir Alexander Steward "The Fierce" (a grandson of w:Alexander Stewart, 4th High Steward of Scotland (died 1283), from whose first son were descended all the Stuart kings of Scotland), for service done by his father Andrew Steward to that king and to the king of Scots, and also to John the French king, grand-father to Charles VI. Evidently alludes to the following event. An armed knight fought with a lion, and having broken his sword, which lay in fragments at his feet, snatched up a rude club with which he combatted the beast. In allusion to this, the following crest is given to the Steward family: A sword broken in two, the pieces placed in saltire on a wreath, and surmounting a ragged staff erectly or . (Source: Archaeologia: Or Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity , 1777, pp.183-5 [2] )

Inscription

Christopheru(s) Layer, gestante pectore Christu CoDsareosq animos Justiti&q numam Juridicaq. toga Fabium rigidisq. Catonem Moribus, haec gelidi marmoris uma tegit. Qui ter vicenos et ter tres viderat anos Cum sua Telluri membra tegenda dare Annis magnus erat, sed multo major honore Nam bis Norwici Maximus urbe fuit. Quinas cui peperit natas charissima conjux Tresq. mares viduo mcesta relicta Thoro At bmsB periere satae, Patriq. superstes Unicus hie posuit filius hunc Tumulum. Obiit 19 Junii, 1600. llla, 23 Junii, 1604.