Quarles

Edmund Qualres was appointed vicar of Chewton Mendip,  Ston Easton and Emborough on 15th of June 1665. He replaced John Bown, Bowne, or Brown who had been the incumbent during the civil war. The patron of Edmund Quarles was Anna Kingsmill who may have married into the Taswell family.

Most of the Quarles family were based in Northamptonshire, Essex and London but several members of the family were involved with the church. The Clergy database does not list Edmund Quarles but that is a deficiency of the that database because the tenure of the Rev Emund Quarles is set in stone.

Edmund Quarles and other members of his family are commemorated in the Lady Chapel of Chewton Mendip which confirms his ‘high church credentials. The inscription is in Latin but translations have been supplied by Collinsons History Of Somerset and Dr Atis Antonovic .

“…The Reverend and Dutiful Minister of Jesus Christ, D(ominus?)Lord? The honourable?) Edmund Quarles, rector of Chewton, is sited (buried) here.  Likewise  the reverend lord Solomon Quarles, rector of Lambourn in the dictrict(county?) of Berkshire?,  son of Edmund, is buried here, together with Maria Quarles, lately the wife of Edmund, and the mother of Solomon.  There were deposed here also the mortal remains? Of Walter Brice, knight, and the daughters of his wife Rebecca. And D. Annabell Copleston, John Copleston, distinguished knights, who were?daughters of his wife Rebecca.  And the remains of the daughters of Annabel And all of them together hope for resurrection…”  A Francis Quarles wrote a pamphlet attacking the a pamphlet published by Cornelius Burges and but the relationship between him and Edmund Quarles has yet to be stablished.  It is possible Edmund Quarles was introduced by a member of the Curtis family who was living in Berkshire at the time. Edmund Quarles had previously been living in Bekshire. The other people with memorials in the lady chapel from the same period are members of Brice, Plaister and Webb families.