In Whaddon church may be seen a large and eroded stone tomb. The inscription, now much eroded, commemorates Arthur Lord Grey de Wilton, (by whom the old Whaddon Hall was greatly rebuilt), and reads;
‘TO THE GLORIE OF THE GOD OF HOSTES HERE UNDER RESTETH ARTHUR LORD GREY DE WILTON BORNE AT HAMES IN FRANCE, WHO FROM HIS YOUTH TRAINED UPP UNDER HIS FATHER THE LORD WILLIAM GREY IN MILITAIRE AFFAIRES, SERVED IN QUEEN MARIE’S TYME AT ST QUINTIN AND AT GUIENNES BEING THEN OF TH’AGE OF XX YEARS. THERE, LEAVING HIS FATHER PRISONER HE WAS DISPATCHED INTO SCOTLAND FOR THE TRUICE AT EDINBURGE AND AFTER IN QUEEN ELIZABETH’S TYME SERVED UNDER HIS FATHER AT LEETE. LASTLY HE WAS IMPLIED LORD DEPUTY INTO IRELAND AND THERE HE DEFEATED THE SPANISH FORT AT SMERWICK, ROOTED OUT THE TRAITORS OF THE ENGLISH PALE AND SUBDUED THE REBELS IN THE REST OF ALL THE PROVINCES AND HAVING GOVERNED THERE ABOUT TWOO YEARS RETOURNED INTO ENGLAND AND DIED HERE AT WHADDON THE IN 14TH OCTOBER 1593 THE 57TH YEAR OF HIS LIFE.’
‘LEETE’ refers to Leith, taken by the English after a siege of two months, and having been shot in the shoulder during the campaign this ‘inspirited him with a constant antipathy against the Scots.’ However, following his appointment as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland by Queen Elizabeth he would also display a similar antipathy against the Irish, having departed for that land with his capable secretary, Edmund Spenser, in 1580. In fact possessed of a strict Puritanical outlook, he took swift action when news arrived of an armed invasion, sanctioned by no less than the Pope, and although it was fortified by Italian and Spanish soldiers he overran the Kerry port of Smerwick, slaughtered the garrison and as his tomb recalls ‘rooted out the traitors of the English pale.’ For almost two years his ruthless approach rampaged, and with the blood of many seeping into Irish soil the fury of his campaign, as Spenser observed, ‘almost changed his very naturall disposition.’ Yet Spenser continued to support his master in all these doubtful deeds, until the financial burdens imposed by the position, plus the mounting displeasure of Queen Elizabeth, caused him to vacate the office in August 1582. Thereon he would devote a greater attention to his estates, although nevertheless he was appointed in 1586 as a Commissioner at the Fotheringay trial of Mary, Queen of Scots, the outcome of which would result in her execution. However, he could sometimes display a more benevolent nature for, having by royal award acquired the manor of ‘Biddlesdon’, about the year 1590 he granted 14 ‘Cows Commons’ to seven ancient cottages of that parish, and to the Vicar ‘hee gave a mare and colt and Bull common.‘ Arthur died on October 14th, 1593 and lies buried at Whaddon, probably greatly mourned by Spenser, the ‘Most noble lord the pillor of my life.’