A
rebuilding of the Priory Church was begun on the anniversary of William
the founder's death in 1243, and from the antique form of the letters G
and M the inscriptions cannot be fixed at a later period. The
characters, indeed, more resemble the form used in the twelfth century.
Of the genuine antiquity of these relics there cannot be the slightest
doubt. It is locally notorious that the black marble slab which
formerly covered the remains of Gundrada, beautifully carved and
bordered with nine Latin verses in her honour cut in the rim and down
the middle, was discovered in 1775 in Isfield Church, misappropriated
as a tombstone over one of the Shirley family, and by the care of Sir
William Burrel removed to the church of Southover, immediately
adjoining the ruins of the Priory. It is very singular that now, after
an interval of eight years, her very bones should be brought to the
same church (under the superintendence of the Rev. Mr. Scobell) there
to undergo a third burial under Gundrada's marble slab.
"The tombstone of Gundred Countess of Warren was discovered about the
year 1775, by Dr. Clarke, rector of Buxted, in the Shirley chancel of
Isfield Church, forming the table part of a mural monument of Edward
Shirley, Esq.
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