Geograph - photograph every grid square

This memorial to the English Baroque architect Thomas Archer (1669 - 1743) forms the centrepiece of a charming group of monuments in the small country church of St Mary, adjacent to Hale Park. Despite having no direct link with Hampshire (his birthplace was in Warwickshire), it is nevertheless fitting that his memorial is here at Hale Park the estate he purchased in 1715.

Archer set about building a house befitting an C18 country gentleman by pulling down the old house and building a Palladian mansion in its place. His passion for the Baroque however was reserved for the little church, which he redesigned creating the classic Archer style in the north and south transepts. His memorial in white and grey marble was designed by himself and carved by Sir Henry Cheere. It depicts him as a Roman senator reclining upon a sarchophagus flanked by his first and second wives.