ST PETER'S CHURCH
TAWSTOCK, DEVON
Countess Rachel (nee Fane) of Bath (1612-1680) is commemorated by a life-sized marble statue near the altar of St Peter’s in Tawstock, which was a gift of the diocese of Bath and Wells. The work is attributed to the sculptor Balthazar Burman, the original commission having been given to his father Thomas who died before it could be executed. Balthazar then copied a statue of the Countess of Shrewsbury which his father had completed before his death and which now stands in a niche above the gateway of Shrewsbury Tower of St John’s College, Cambridge.
Rachel was daughter of Sir Francis Fane (1580-1628) and Mary Mildmay (1581-1640), and aunt of Frances Fane who married John Giffard (1639-1712).
[image copyright: Jane Sercombe Lewis]