Sir Robert Scargill of Thorpe Hall (d.1531): The Nobleman Whose True Face Survived the Chisel

Hidden within the quiet beauty of St Mary’s Church, Whitkirk, rests one of Tudor England’s most revealing monuments — the alabaster tomb of Sir Robert Scargill of Thorpe Hall and his wife Jane Conyers Scargill. At first glance, the effigies appear typical of a noble couple of their age. But a closer examination tells a deeper, more uncomfortable truth: this is a monument that someone, at some point, tried very hard to rewrite.

A Lord of Land, Wealth, and Power

Sir Robert Scargill was no minor figure. Born into the powerful Scargill family of Thorpe Hall near Richmond, he stood among the landed elite of Northern England.
The Scargills were:

• Major landowners across North Yorkshire

• Lords of Thorpe Hall, a significant estate with agricultural, economic, and feudal influence

• A family connected to regional governance and royal service

• Members of the enduring gentry who shaped politics, land law, and noble alliances

Robert’s marriage to Jane Conyers only deepened this prestige. The Conyers were one of the oldest and most influential dynasties in Yorkshire — lords of Sockburn and Marske, sheriffs, knights, and power brokers for centuries. Their union was not just matrimonial; it was the merging of two of the region’s strongest noble houses.

These were not peasants carved in stone.
These were people of status, power, land, and generational wealth.

A Family Legacy Jane Fought to Preserve

Though highly placed in society, Robert and Jane’s private lineage carried sorrow. Their three sons died in childhood, leaving only their daughters, Margaret and Mary, to inherit the Scargill legacy.

Determined to secure their memory, Jane specified in her will the creation of an elaborate tomb — carved in alabaster, adorned with shields, and crafted to reflect their true likeness. This was meant to be a faithful record of the Scargills as they lived: noble, wealthy, and visibly distinct.

And originally, it was.

The Chisel Marks Tell the Truth

Today, the monument reveals something far more telling than the sculptor’s artistry.

Across the faces of both Robert and Jane, the evidence of deliberate iconoclasm is unmistakable:

• Noses flattened and narrowed

• Lips scraped thin and reshaped

• Robert’s hairline re-carved to appear more “European”

• Facial contours softened, as though someone sought to erase the fullness and depth of their original features

These are not accidents of age.
These are intentional alterations, performed long after the monument was erected.

What survives beneath the damage is undeniable:
full lips, rounded features, broad nasal structure — the unmistakable visage of a swarthy, African-featured noble family.

Even under centuries of scraping and sanding, the truth still forces its way through the alabaster.

A Monument That Speaks in Two Voices

The Scargill tomb does more than commemorate a noble couple. It reveals a deliberate attempt, sometime after the 16th century, to whiten and obscure the physical identity of a family whose appearance did not fit the later racial narratives imposed on English history.

In the serene south chapel of Whitkirk’s 15th-century church, their effigy stands as a dual testimony:

1. To their power, wealth, land, and noble status — among the great families of Yorkshire.

2. To the racial truth that someone later attempted to chisel away.

Despite the efforts of revisionists, the stone tells the true story.
The features remain.
The truth remains.

Sir Robert Scargill and Jane Conyers Scargill endure not only as nobles of their time, but as evidence of a swarthy, dark-featured lineage that once shaped the courts, halls, and estates of England.

Their monument was meant to honor them.
Ironically, it now exposes the very truth others worked to hide.

“Truth leaves marks, even when others try to scrape it away.”

Guinevere Jackson

Image citation Church image Wikipedia – Effigy images Flickr