Thomas Stanley of Weaver and Alderley 1530 – 1591
Thomas was the first Stanley member to truly settle in Alderley and was amongst the first to be buried there. He rebuilt and improved the manor house and it was he who began the long dispute with Sir Edward Fitton regarding the right to use the chapel in the church.
This is the oldest memorial in the church and the original stone was made of marble and showed Thomas Stanley in a suit of armour with his 5 children at his feet. In 1800, the lettering was barely visible so to preserve it the marble was covered with stone on which the same inscription was engraved.
During a restoration in 1878, the floor was lowered and this slab was found in the aisle, under the ‘Stanley Pew’.
‘Here lyeth the body of Thomas Stanley Esq. eldest son of Thomas Stanley Esq. and Joan, daughter of Thomas Davenport of Henbury.
He married Ursula daughter of Richard Cholmondley and sister of Sir Hugh Cholmondley and had issue. Thomas who died young and Randle his successor, also Dorothy who died unmarried and Elizabeth married to Roger Downes Esq. of Shrigley and Frances married to Henry Delves of Doddington.
He rebuilt the houses of Alderley and died August 1591. Also the body of Sir James Stanley (4th Baronet) who died without issue 1746 and was succeeded by his brother Sir Edward Stanley, who died at Alderley 1751, Also the body of his sister Mary Stanley who died unmarried, Park House in Alderley, 1766’.
