\ 2092 COUNTRY LIFE-DECEMBER 26, 1952

CHURCH VESSELS IN PEWTER

T HE pieces of pewter illus tra t ed in COUNTRY LIFE of Ap r il 13, 1951 , h ave, t o judge by the

ensuing correspond ence, g iven ri se to considerable inte res t in wh at wa s m ade when the pew te re rs ' c raft was at its zenith in t he 17t h cen t llry, Jt will b e r em e m bered tha t t he late A nton io d e T'o:a\'arro, in hi s CallsfI'ies on E ngl-ish Peu'I,'I', pllh lished il ,' COU :H HY LIcE in 19 11, illll s tmtcd a nllmbe r of till e pieces \\'hi c h hi s zeal a nd th a t o f oUle r (' nUII"i as ts o f the ti m e had hrulIgh t to lig ht , and it h as been m \' a im to c" t C' nd ti ll' li st b y th e addi t ion of flll' l her not able exam p les \\' hi c h h,l\'\' heen discovered during subseque n t years,

One result o f t he H e fo rm a ti n n was the introduct io n in to th e Churc h of large fl ago ns for conta ining t he Sacramenta l \Vine, There was , o f course, a cons id era ble lilll c- Iag between the even t a nd its res lli t, a nd the earliest of t hese fl agons date from the reign of J a m es 1, t ho ll g h som e few may b e s lig h t ly ea rli er. -

Production inc reased co nside r­a bly during th e e ns uing cen t llr)', a nd there is no d Ollbt that il,' the tinl e of Q u een A Il Il C nearl y ~ \ 'l' ry p a rish church i n Eng la nd anci \I 'a il's p ossessed one or 1l1 0 r e fl agons, m a ll," of course b eing o f s il ve r, espcc i,dl \, in cities or ,,,here \\' ealth~! patrolls or parishioners m ade dunat ions, L a rge numbers of pewte r flagons w ere m ad e, h owever; in T he Pcw lcl' Communion V essels of Essex C llIll', hrs (c, 1927) the late r~ev, \ \', .J. ]>n:sse y w rote that v is itat io n books fill' t h e county of Essex s how that u f 1211 c hurches, vis ited between ](,83 a nci 1686, 92 p ossessed p e \\'ter fl agons , and 20 others \l'e re o rd ered to o bta in them,

Flagons r e ma in ed in li St; for 111a ny years, but g radu a l c lia nges of c u stonl in the co nduct (I f st' n°ice:-; eve ntuall y m ad e th e t' lllp l, ,, 'nl cl l l o f such large vesse ls ullnecessa ry.

Silver fl agons, being b y tl1('n

By A. V. SUTHERLAND-GRAEME

I.-SKl HT-BASED CO I\lM UNHlN FLAGON, FORMERLY I N A i\HOLA i\D CHUnCH, ~Ila(: " by Thomas Cooper about 1678

extrem ely v aluable, w ere carefully preserved, but, a las, m a n y pew t er fl agons h ave disappeared, at least fro m t he churches to which they belo nged , They we re d o u b tl ess C0l1-sidered o f little im por tance or va lu e and \l'ere grad ua ll y o m itted from in ve n tor ies an d terrOiers. For t una te ­Iv ma\l\' of t h e m ha,'c fOllnd t h eir ,;'av in to the col lec tions of pewter enthusiasts , \\' h ere thev \l'ill receive' t he at t e ntio n a nd aci ll1iratio ll t hat th e y cl ese r ve, \l'hi c h \\'o u ld nll t havl' beC'n so had t hc , ' remai ll cd in at least som e of t he p la ces in which the ,' ha,'e com e to light. I t sho uld, ho\\'e,'c r , be stressed that anc ie n t sacramen tal vesse ls, b e they of prec ious or base metal, sho uld n ot be a li ena ted other t ha n b y facultv or o th er legal co nsen t , - -

A case in point is illll st ra t ed in F ig, 1. T hi s is a pew ter Commun ion flagon of skirt-based type w hich was d iscovered by its present owner in a la m enta b le state of d eca y in a lVIidla ncl churc h , F unds ;ver e need ed for fabri c r estoration , a nd expenditu re u pon t he presen 'at ion o f t he relic in such c ircu mstances wo uld not h ave been justifiable, Proper p ermission havi ng been ob­tai ned , i t passed into th e possess io n "f Mr. E, \ V , Cooper , of l3 ulcote, \'ottinghamshire, who ha d it care­fnll y res tored a nd c leaned, \\'ith t he bean ti ful res ult see n here,

TIl e fl agon stands 9 ~ ins. i ll heigh t a nd was lll ade by a namesa ke clf th e own er , T homas Cooper , Cl me lllber of t h e jl(·\\' tcn.: rs' CrJlllp<lI1:'

() ( L o ndo n, w ho was wu rk ing between 1660 and 1680 , Aroun,'l t he d rum is e ngraved: " THI S I S ~ I \,

H LOUD, ](i78" The history o f t he chal ice is

\'erv i ll \'o ln .:d , ;tnd tilo:-;e who n H1Y

w ish to gain som e' j';ll()\\' i ('r1gc o f its ra milicati(ln ~~ il l man,' co ull t r ies could \\"i t h a(\\'a llta gl..' read the in troduc tio n t o J, \\ ', a nd M , 1. \Va lker' s Chl/.rch P lale nf DfI'ks h ire,

2,-A CHALICE AND A PAIR OF SMALL REEDED PATENS OF THE 17th CENTURY

I Suffice it to say here that, in the main, the

Church throughout the centuries has a lways

taken t h e view t ha t t he chali ce s hou ld be made

of prec ious metal; and Co unc il s a nd hi gh

ecclesiastics have at various times proh ibited

the consecration of ,·essels o f pewter or other

materials which did no t conform to t hat

v ie\\' . It should be remembered that d uring the

last two centur ies an enormous expansion of

church building took p lace, so t hat where in ,

say, 1750 pa ri shes we re sen·ed by one church ,

they have s ince become s ub-di vicl ecl into s ma ll er

units w ith a chu rch in each. for the new

churches sacramental vessels were needed, a nd

it is obvious that t he regulation as rega rds th e

ma terial from wh ich the vesse ls we re mad e

was relaxed ill orck r thal full minist ra ti'"1

sho ul d begin at once. T his fact, togdh er ,,·ith t he lat er purchCLsc,

or gift, of s ih-cr plate , a s t hl' new chu rc hes got

into their stricie, accou ll ts fo r thc lllajorit)7 of

pewter cha lices which may occasionall y he seen

in a n tique shops or pri\'ate co ll ec tion s to-day,

though even they are few in number . T o thein

must be added vesse ls from ch urches o f other

d enominations; a ll are o f la te date and, with

the exception of some Scottish t ypes , notable

chie fl y for t heir engraved inscriptions, are not

of great interest. In the majority of cases t he old parish

churches, being going concerns, were a lready in

possession, by various means, of silver vessels,

and therefore a 17th-century pewter cha lice is

a rarity, O ne of these is seen in F ig, 2, t ogether

with a pa ir of small reeded p atens. The chalice

stands 6 % ins , in height a nd beneath its foot is

the maker's touch of a dove a nd the initials

C.F, The patens are 4 % ins, in diameter and a re

unmark ed, They were orig ina lly in a Yorkshire

church, In Fig, 3 can be seen a fl agon a nd p a t en in

my collection, This fl agon measures 10% ins, t o

the top of the finial a nd is of graceful propor­

tions, The finia l itself, deeply undercut, forms

a pleasing feature adding distinction to the

whole design , Upon the back of th e h andle are

stamped the words DIMllilTOIiJ [sic] PARISH,

There are three parishes named Dinnington, two

in the North Country and onc in Somerse t, a nd

it is proba ble that the last was t he original

possessor, but of this there is not positive

COUNTRY LIFE - DECEMBER 26. 1952 2093

3 ,-PATEN, POSSIBLY OF THE 16th'CENTURY, AND A FLAGON OF ABOUT

1640, PERHAPS' FROM SOMERSET

knowledge. The maker 's t ouch contains his

initia ls, R.B., with a Heur-de-lis, a nd the p eriod

is about 1640, The paten is obviously earlier, a nd may

even be late 16th-century , It is 9Y4, ins. in

dia met er a nd is d istinguished by an extraordin­

ary breadth of rim (2 Yl ins,) and by the a rms

and ma ntling wit h which it is embellished,

\ l\1hen discovered it was so black and corroded

tha t the a rms were barely visible, but careful

cleaning even t ua lly revealed them, The reverse

of the piece has been left in its original stat,, ;

there is a touch , but it is too corroded to b e

deciphered. T wo furth er ou tstalllling exam ples a re

shown in F igs . 4 a nd 5, The chalice is 7 Ys ins ,

high a nd is unmarked, It is of mid- 17th-century

d ate, The paten is 7 ~~ ins, in diameter and bears

the t o uch of a n anchor with initials I. R. with in

a shield. T h is touch h as been found upon a

flagon dated 1634 at Glympton Church, in

Oxfordshire, Upon t h e face of the rim are

stamped the let ters W STION, possibly mean:ng

St. J ohn at ,,,, , the initial of the parish,

All these examples show that the pewterers'

service to the church , in the 17th century at

least , was no mean one, Though never highly

d ecorative, their products possessed dign ity

a nd were well suited to the high purpose for

which t hey were ma de.

Photographs,' 2, 4 and 5, Victoria. a/ld A Ibut

lIJfuseum,

4 · aild 5,-A CHALICE AND PATEN OF THE MID 17th CENTURY

CHURCH VESSEL~ I?t!j..t,· · PEWTER !'V"'""{&II,n

SIR.-In COCXTRY LIFE of December ~6, 1952, :\IL _-\ , \-, Sutherland-Graeme writes: "One result of the Reformation was the introduction into the Church of large !lagons for containing the Sacramental \\-ine," \\'11\' was it necessary that these flagons'slwuld be so larae:'

Lat~r he says: "Flagons re­maine.j in use for man\' Ycars, but gradual changes of custo-m in the conduct of sen'ices c\'entually mad" the employment of such large'vessels unnecessan'," \\'hat were the changes in custom 0 I am sure \ 'our readers ,,'ould be glad of answers to these questions ,-F, \\', :\IORTOX PAUIER, Wc,od/allds, TollleS, Dei'oll,

-:\IL Sutherland-Graeme writes: _-\fter the Reformation the lait\- was permitted to partake of the' Cup, formerh- denied to them, and Com­munion- Sen'ices were infrequent, in many cases only once a quarter and at Festh-als, These two facts, at a time when attendance at sen'ices was high, necessitated a considerable pro\'ision rA bread and \\;ne for quarterh- Com­munion, :\Ioreo\'er, the Sen-ice e\'i­dently partook more nearl,' of the form of a commemorati\'e Supper, ,,;th the Communion Table set on an east-\\-est axis. the minister officiating on the north side, the parishioners facing him and the wardens in atter;dance, The difficult\, at first was to pro\'ide suitable \'esse'ts to contain the "'ine on the Communion Table, It is known that the nature of some of these vessels was an\'1:hing but digni­fied, and that this led to the pro~iul­gat ion of the XXth Canon of 1603-4 'i]ames \-1 and 11 " \\-ine we require to be brought to the Communion Table in a clean and sweet standing pot or stoup of pe\\'!er, if not of pure'r metal." _\s to the size of these flagons, this ob"iousl" depended upon the a\+erage nUlnber of conlnlunicant parishioners at the time,

The changes in custom, referred to in \'our correspondent's second query, were, like man\- others, \'en' gradual, and no doubt much at tile "'him of the Bishop and Incumbent, The\' included the placing of the Holy Table against the east wall and the fencing of it b\' rails at which com­municimts knelt, as now, This arrangement ,,'as abolished b,' the Long Parliament in 1643, but was later re­introduced; the emphasis gradually changed more and more from what might be called the Imitati\'e to the Sacramental; and the consumption of the Elements became s\'lnbolic rather than practical. Fo r this manner of administration little "'ine was n eeded and the hea"!, and unwield,' flagon ga "e place, in most cast's, to the cruet, :'0 the pendulum gradualh' S\\'tlllg

back, as so often it \\'ill af~er far­reaching changes.-ED. ~

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