230 



NOTES ON THE BACTON CHALICE. 

 [By E. W. Colt [Williams], M.A., Ch. Ch., Oxford]. 



Inasmuch as up to four years ago only seven niediEeval chalices of English 

 workmanship were known to exist in Great Britain, the beautiful specimen of 

 15th Century art, which is so carefully preserved at Bacton, deserves more than 

 passing mention. Since 1884 the researches of Messrs. Cripps, Fallow, and 

 St. John Hope have brought to lisjht some 24 additional Chalices and 50 to 60 

 Patens, and so well has the kingdom been searched that it is doubtful if another 

 half-dozen Chalices can be found. 



The existence of the Bacton Chalice as a inedicBval one was unknown 

 previously to 1886, when, with the kind permission of the Vicar, Mr. Harrison, I 

 exhibited it at a meeting of the Archteological Institute in London. The other 

 Herefordshire Chalice, that of Leominster, had been fully described years ago by 

 Mr. Octavius Morgan. The rarity of these sacred vessels is so great that in most 

 counties not a single specimen remains ; Herefordshire is, therefore, singularly 

 fortunate in possessing two Chalices and Patens in e.xcellent preservation. The 

 Leominster Chalice has been repaired most tenderly by and at the expense of Mr. 

 George Lambert, F.S.A., of Coventry-street, London. The Bacton one is 

 untouched. This silver-gilt Chalice is 5gin. in height, 4in. wide at the bottom 

 from side to side of the hexagon foot, and 5in. from "toe'' to "toe." It 

 consists of three pieces, bowl, stem, and foot. The bowl is secured in the 

 hexagonal stem by a pin, the stem in the foot by solder. Midway the stem 

 swells into a knop, pierced in its upper and under sides, and having a head in 

 relief six times repeated, which, I have little doubt, is that of Our Lord. From 

 the base of the stem the foot gradually slopes in hexagonal form ending at the 

 union of each compartment with the next in a peculiar trefoil foot or "toe." 

 It is this peculiarity, confined to a very few Chalices, which has enabled me to 

 assign the date of its manufacture with some degree of precision, for neither 

 Chalice nor Paten bear Hall marks. The Paten, also silver gilt, is Sin. in 

 diameter. The head of Our Lord, surrounded by the 7iimhus, and enclosed within 

 a double circle, is engraved in the centre. 



The Chalice of Old Hutton, in Westmoreland, an engraving of which I 

 have brought with me, is almost a counterpart of that of Bacton, but it, too, is 

 unmarked, and all that could be done was to assign the two Chalices to the end of 

 the 15th or beginning of the 16th Century ; but in September, 188G, the present 

 Dean of Chester, Dr. Darby, was good enough to show me a little Chalice of 

 5in. high, which he had acquired by purchase. This, to my delight, had the 

 Bacton and Old Hutton "toes," and was Hall marked, the annual letter, though 

 faint, being undoubtedly that of 1496. The maker's mark, as Mr. Cripps, whose 

 work on Old English plate it is hardly necessary to say is the standard one, 

 kindly informed me, was the same as that on the Nettlecombe Chalice, 



J 



