Stone tablet above entrance gate to Livery Dole, dedicated to Sir Robert Dennis, with Denys arms and quarterings above, inscribed: "These alms-houses were founded by Sir Robert Dennis, knight, in March 1591 and finished by Sir Thomas Dennis his brother (sic) in 1594"
English: Livery Dole Almshouses, Heavitree, Exeter, stone tablet erected over the entrance to the formerly existing quadrangle inscribed: "These alms-houses were founded by Sir Robert Dennis, knight, in March 1591 and finished by Sir Thomas Dennis his brother (sic) in 1594". Sir Thomas Dennis was in fact his son. The heraldic escutcheon sculpted in relief shows ten quarterings of the Dennis family as follows: 1: Dennis of Holcombe Burnell & Bicton, Devon: Ermine, three Danish battle-axes erect gules; 2: ? Dabernon of Bradford, Devon (a Dennis heiress): Argent, a cross moline and on a chief azure three estoiles or (Colby, Rev. Frederick T., The Heraldry of Exeter, Archaeological Journal, Volume 30, 1873, p. 236). However Pole gives the arms very differently as Azure, a chevron or (Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p. 479) 3: Giffard of Halsbury, Devon (a Dabernon heiress): Sable, three fusils conjoined in fesse ermine ; 4: Brewer of Buckland Brewer & Tor Brewer (Tor Mohun) (a Giffard heiress): Gules, two bends undée or (Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.473; given erroneously by Harding as "Stapledon"); 5: Buckerell of Buckerell, near Honiton (Pole, p.200) (or Bokerell in Heavitree, Pole, p.235) and "lord of Allertrewe" (Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.279, unidentified location, ???Aller Tree Farm, Beaford, Winkleigh) (a Dennis heiress): Sable, two bucks passant in pale argent a bordure of bezants (Pole, p.471); 6: Cristenstow of Weycroft, Axminster, Devon (a Dennis heiress): Azure, a bend (party per bend) indented or and ermine two cotises ermine (Pole, p.479); 7: Gobodislegh (alias Gabodsleigh, Gabadesley alias Dadscombe, Goboldsley, Gobadsbey, etc.) of Weycroft (a Cristenstow heiress); 8: Chiderlegh/Chidersley/Chiderleigh of Chiderlegh and Weycroft (a Gobadsbey heiress): Argent, on a chevron sable three acorns or between three raven's heads erased sable (Pole, p.478) 9: Donne "of London" (a Dennis heiress): Azure semé of cross-crosslets or, a unicorn salient argent (Noble, Mark (1787). Memoirs of the Protectorate-house of Cromwell: Deduced from an Early Period, and Continued Down to the Present Time... 1 (3 ed.). London, p. 19 cites Lives of Oliver lord protector. Chronicles of Hall, Fabian, and Grafton, Stow's survey of London, Fuller's worthies. Visitation of Huntingdonshire, in 1613, given in the Harl, M.S.S. vol. 1179); alternatively: Azure, a unicorn rampant armed or between ten cross-crosslets of the third (Encyclopaedia Heraldica, or Complete Dictionary of Heraldry, Volume 2, By William Berry[1] which however gives a "unicorn couchant"); Sir Thomas Dennis (c.1477-1561) of Holcombe Burnell, six times Sheriff of Devon, thrice MP for Devon, married Elizabeth Donne, widow of Thomas Murfyn (d. 1523), Lord Mayor of London, and daughter of Sir Angel Donne (d.1506) (or Aungel/Angell Dun/Dunn) a member of the Worshipful Company of Grocers and an Alderman for the Bassishaw Ward of the City of London and a Merchant of the Staple of Calais. Based on his will Angel Donne was buried in the Lady Chapel of St Margaret Pattens, London. The will referred to his wife Anne, son Gabriel (a friend of Thomas Cromwell, who made him the last abbot of Buckfast Abbey, acquired after the Dissolution by Dennis), and his minor children Edward, Francis and Elizabeth. (source: Angell Donne (abt. 1463 - abt. 1506) [2]) Arms of Donne "of London": Azure, a unicorn rampant argent between ten crosses crosslet or; arms of Don "of Kidwelly, Glamorgan: Azure, a wolf rampant argent[3] (Sutton A F (2013) John, Don, Edward IV’s first Mayor of Southampton, 1461-1462. Proc. Hampshire Field Club Archaeol Soc. 68, 2013, 149-160 (Hampshire Studies)[4]). 10: Godolphin, a Dennis heiress. Sources Colby, Rev. Frederick T., The Heraldry of Exeter, Archaeological Journal, Volume 30, 1873, pp.236-7[5] Harding,Lt.-Col. William. An Account of the Ecclesiastical Edifices of Exeter, published in Exeter Diocesan Architectural Association Transactions, 1851–1853 and 1863, pp. 276–279, p.278; Devon Notes & Queries, Vol.5, 1909, pp.6-8, Dennis Shield and Quarterings[6]