Denny Monument, Waltham Abbey

This monument which is 'in the South aisle and against the South wall of the Abbey, is of Sir Edward Denny,1599, and Joane (Champnon) his wife. It has a panelled base with figures of six sons and four daughters. The effigies of Sir Edward and Joane are one atop the other, of a man in armour and a woman in ruff, hood, stomacher, etc. Both figures are reclining on the left elbow. Above them is a round-headed wall arch with enriched soffit and figures in spandrels. All is surmounted by a cornice with an achievement and two shields of arms'.²⁹

The two figures in the spandrels are identified elsewhere as 'Fame' and 'Time', (the former is certainly trumpeting something and the latter is carrying the usual scythe and hour-glass). Note the interesting last child on the right, who has an arm replaced in an unusual position and may well be a boy, (boys were not 'breeched' or put into breeches at first and wore a sort of uni-sex dress, as in the Sidney Family portrait at Penshurst Place, Kent).

Denny Monument