This article focuses on some especially well-documented funerals of Somerset gentry which took place between 1662 and 1714, and in particular on that of Colonel Edward Phelips of Montacute (1680). His funeral is described in an exceptionally-detailed personal narrative-cum-expenditure account, probably by his son William. This document is possibly unique in its combination of meticulous itemization of expenditure with detailed narration of the funeral arrangements. It throws a flood of light on one gentry family's attempt to bury its deceased head 'decently' and 'suitable to his quality', fulfilling the requirements of neighbourhood, hospitality and charity, but also 'privately', without 'vain pomp' or 'vain expense'. The relatively modest (though nevertheless quite expensive) obsequies of Colonel Phelips may be contrasted with two other funerals. The splendid heraldic funeral of Sir John Stawell (1662) looks like a triumphal celebration, at the high tide of Cavalier reaction, of the service of one of Somerset's most stubbornly faithful royalists. The funeral of Mrs Anne Phelips, the Colonel's granddaughter, in 1707, was by contrast on a far smaller scale than his. Some interesting directions, probably penned by her husband, illustrate the writer's concern that this seemingly rather quiet and small funeral should nevertheless be conducted with appropriate dignity, decency and decorum. But the account of Colonel Phelips's funeral, unusually explicit in its articulation of family aims and priorities, forms the centrepiece of the article.