John Greenway (died 1529)

John Greenway (c. 1460—1529) was a wealthy wool merchant of Tiverton in Devon who is chiefly remembered for his surviving building works in that town, namely the Greenway Chapel and the Greenway Porch (both 1517)[1] in St Peter's Church, and the Greenway Almshouse (1517)[2] in Gold Street. He was a member of the Company of Merchant Adventurers of London and of the Worshipful Company of Drapers, the arms of which Companies adorn the Greenway Chapel. He is one of the Worthies of Devon of the Devonshire biographer John Prince (1643–1723).

Assumption of the Virgin relief sculpture, 1517, in the Greenway Porch, showing John Greenway (left, with initials "JG" above) and his wife kneeling either side of the Virgin Mary who stands on a crescent moon and ascends to Heaven, with backdrop of a martyr's palm-frond, lifted up by angels to a figure of God the Father crowned as the King of Heaven, above. Below the Virgin is an heraldic escutcheon showing the arms of the Drapers Company (Azure, three clouds radiated proper each adorned with a triple crown or), with the very rarely surviving pre-Reformation angel supporters, the Virgin being the patroness of the Drapers Company

Origins

Greenway was born in Tiverton "of very mean parentage". Prince discovered no information concerning his ancestry but speculated that he was possibly descended from the Greenway family of Greenway in the parish of Brixham near Dartmouth, Devon, which family died out in the male line leaving a sole heiress Joan Greenway who became the wife of one of the "knightly family" of Gilbert[3] of Compton Castle, which marriage is not however recorded in the Gilbert pedigree in the Heraldic Visitations of Devon up to 1620.[4] Prince concluded that in his case ancestry was not "much material, a worthy man carries honor about him whatever his descent be".[5]

Career
Greenway Almshouse on Gold Street in 2021

Prince states that "by the blessing of God and a diligent hand he grew vastly rich". His main business was the very profitable trade of importing Irish wool into England.[6]

Death and burial

He died in 1529 and was buried in the "Greenway Chapel" which he had built against the southern wall of St Peter's Church in Tiverton.

Further reading
  • Welsford, Anne E. John Greenway 1460-1529 Merchant of Tiverton and London, A Devon Worthy, Tiverton, 1984
  • Harding, Lt-Col. The History of Tiverton in the County of Devon; Vol. I. Tiverton, 1845
    • Historical Memoirs etc., Book I, General History and Remarkable Occurrences, p. 272-3 for drawing of Greenway's merchant mark. Arms, book 4, p. 5 ; book 4, p. 7, footnote, re resemblance of Drapers arms to papal tiaras; Greenway Almshouses, pp. 77-

Sources
  • Prince, John, (1643–1723) The Worthies of Devon, 1810 edition, London, pp. 438–9, Greenway, John
  • Goodall, John, Parish Church Treasures: The Nation's Greatest Art Collection, Chapter 68: The Church of St Peter, Tiverton, Devon, pp. 119–120 Google books

References
  1. Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p. 808
  2. Pevsner, p. 814
  3. Prince, p.438
  4. Vivian, Lt.Col. J. L. (ed.) The Visitation of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895; p. 405 "Gilbert of Compton"
  5. Prince, p. 438
  6. Prince, p. 438
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