Wall monument — effigial in Unknown Townland

17th-century two-tiered wall monument of Thomas Jones (1550-1615), Archbishop of Dublin (1605-19), Lord Chancellor of Ireland (1605-19) located in the north aisle of St Patrick’s Cathedral (DU018-020269-) (Fenton 2012, 85-6).  Described in the Urban Survey of Dublin City (Bradley and King 1988, Vol. 1, 88-9) as; ‘Wall monument of the altar pedestal style. The pedestal has recessed panels and string mouIdings and supports two storeys with crocketed columns above which there is a dome and crown. The first storey shows tripartite recesses behind a figure in full armour, without helmet, lying on a rectangular shallow sarcophagus. Two ladies kneel at his head and feet. The second storey shows a figure kneeling at a prie-dieu [prayer-desk]. The main inscription reads : D. O. M. S. 'THOMAS IONES' ARCHIEPISCOPUS DUBLIN' HYBERNIAE CANCELLARIUS' BIS E JUSTICIATIIS UNUS' OBIIT 10 APR: A. D. 1619' MARGARETA THOMAE UXOR' OBI IT 15 DEC 1618  D.O.M.S. ROGER IONES EQUES VICE-COMs' RANELAH CONNACIAE PRAEFES' IACOBO ET CAROLO REGIBUS A' SECRETIORIBUS CONSILIIS' PARENTIBUS SIBI ET POSTERIS' POSUIT PRIOR UXOR FRANCISEA' FILIA GIRALDI VICE-COMITIS' MOORE DE DROGHEDAH OBIIT' 23 NOV A. D. 1620 ALTERA' CATHARINA FILIA HENRICI LONGUEVIL DE COMITAT BUCKS ' EQUITIS 0BIIT 4 DEC 1628' FILIUS ET CONJUX MAESTI MONUMENTA DOLORIS' HIC PATRI MATRI CONJUGIBUSQ LOCO’ (Bernard 1906, 544). According to Fenton (2012, 86); ‘his son Viscount Ranelagh had the monument erected. It formerly stood in the quire of the Cathedral where it occupied a whole arch and is attributed to Edmond Tingham, who also created the Boyle monument. It fell into disrepair and was restored by Lady Catherine Jones in 1731, at the request of Dean Swift’.   The Dictionary of Irish Biography recorded the following details about the life and career of Thomas Jones; 'Church of Ireland archbishop of Dublin and lord chancellor of Ireland, was the younger son of Henry Jones of Middleton, Lancashire; nothing is known of his mother. He was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge (BA, 1570; MA, 1573) and went to Ireland in 1574, after ordination, where he became the protégé of Adam Loftus, archbishop of Dublin, whose sister-in-law, Margaret, daughter of Adam Purdon of Co. Louth, he married. He was appointed to the chancellorship of St Patrick's cathedral in Dublin in 1577 and to the deanery in 1581. Through the influence of Loftus, who had become lord chancellor in 1581 and initially recommended him for the vacant see of Armagh, Jones was consecrated bishop of Meath on 12 May 1584 and appointed a member of the Irish council on 22 June. Catholics held him responsible for the execution in 1591 of a recusant schoolteacher, Michael Fitzsimons, whose lands at Forrowes in Meath he later secured. Jones officiated at the clandestine marriage of Hugh O'Neill and Mable Bagenal in 1591 and was for some time regarded as well disposed towards O'Neill, from whom he was suspected of accepting bribes and to whom he was suspected of supplying information. The expulsion of catholic clergy by proclamation, and the enforcement of a mandatory requirement that corporation officers should attend the services of the reformed church, coincided with the twin appointments of Jones as archbishop of Dublin and lord chancellor on 8 November 1605 on the recommendation of Chichester, who declared that Jones provided him with his ‘best assistance’. Jones did not wholly neglect his see: he is credited with having made repairs to Christ Church cathedral, including the restoration of its ruined steeple. He finally resigned as chancellor of St Patrick's in 1611. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Dublin in 1614 and served as lord justice in 1614 and 1615/16, but there are hints of failing energy, and perhaps approaching senility, in his later years. Certainly his death, which took place in Dublin on 10 April 1619, was awaited with some impatience. He was buried in St Patrick's cathedral. Thomas Jones was survived by three of his children: Roger, who was created earl of Ranelagh in 1628; Margaret, who married Gilbert Domville, clerk of the hanaper; and Jane, who married Henry Piers of Tristernagh, Co. Meath, secretary to Lord Deputy Chichester' (Barry 2009).    Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien