John Greenway (died 1529)

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

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).

  1. ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p. 808
  2. ^ Pevsner, p. 814