Editing John Popham (judge) (section)

==Monument, Wellington Church==
[[File:SirJohnPopham Died1607 WellingtonChurch Somerset.PNG|thumb|Monument to Sir John Popham in Wellington Church, viewed from south]]

At the east end of the north aisle of St John the Baptist's Church in Wellington, survives the 18-foot-high monument with effigies of Sir John Popham and his family. As described by [[John Collinson (historian)|Collinson]] (died 1793) in 1791 it was situated in the south aisle chapel, from which it has been moved to its present position, but retaining the same orientation. Collinson described the monument as follows:<ref>Collinson, vol. 2, p. 483.</ref>
:"In the chapel on the south side of the church is a magnificent tomb, surrounded with a pallisado of wood and iron, on the table of which lie the effigies of Sir John Popham, and that of his lady. He is dressed in his judges robes, chain, and small square black cap; and placed with his head towards the west. On the lower basement, at the head and feet, are four other smaller figures of two men and two women, kneeling face to face. On the north side of the same basement are five boys and eight girls, dressed in black, kneeling in a row. And on the south side are nine women kneeling in the fame manner. Over Sir John and his lady is a superb arched canopy, ornamented with the family arms, roses, paintings, and obelisks; the whole supported by eight round columns of black marble, five feet high, with Corinthian capitals green and gilt".

The two male and female couples kneeling opposite each other separated by a [[prie-dieu]], shown at each end of the monument, are believed to represent his 34-year-old son Sir Francis Popham and the latter's wife (east-end) and his parents, represented as a middle-aged couple (west-end). The nine female kneeling figures on the south side, all facing westward, are believed to represent Sir John Popham's six daughters with three ladies maids, the latter three figures kneeling behind the daughters and wearing plain not lace ruffs. The kneeling figures on the north side are believed to represent the five sons (facing westwards) and eight daughters (facing eastwards) of Sir Francis Popham, the son of Sir John Popham.<ref>Identifications per information sheet in church, which however misidentifies the middle-aged man kneeling at the west-end as Sir Francis Popham (in 1607 only 34 years old) rather than as Alexander Popham, Sir John's father.</ref> Inscribed on a stone tablet on the west side of the [[entablature]] is the following text:
:''Sr John Popham Knighte and Lord Chief Justice of England and of the Honorable Privie Councell to Queene Elizabeth and after to King James, aged 76, died the 10th of June, 1607 and is here interred.''<ref>[https://www.flickr.com/photos/panr/3769299155/ Image of Wellington monument at]</ref>