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Devcreux in 3() Henry V[II. — 151"), t> ".Tamos a Oapel, of Peterchurch, gent," 

 but I have failed to find any earlier connection between the Capels and Peter- 

 church than this date, or any settlement of Capels nearer to Bacton than 

 Peterchurch. I should be grateful for any information establishing this connec- 

 tion. It is certain that the Chalice was at Bacton before 1553, since it was found 

 there in that year by Lord Northampton's Commissioners. 



After the Dissolution of the .Monasteries a spoliation of the Churches also 

 took place. Clmrchwanlens and others seem to have made away with the Church 

 plate freely. Even those occupying high positions were not ashamed to annex 

 some of the Church goods. Sir Thomas Pope, an officer of King Henry's house- 

 hold, is credited with having "conveyed" one of the Chalices of St. Alban's 

 Abbey. This he gave to Trinity College, Oxford, his own foundation, and there 

 it happily yet rem.ains. This spoliation having gone on for some years. King 

 Edward VI. in 1.553, the last year of his reign, issued instructions to the Marquis 

 of Northampton and others to make inventories of "all manner of goods, plate, 

 jewels, bells, and ornaments as yet remaining or any wise forthcoming, and 

 belonging to any Churches, Chapels, Fraternities, or Guilds." The instructions 

 run on, " leaving nevertheless in every parish Church or Chapel of common resort 

 one, two, or more Chalices or cups according to the multitude of the people in 

 every such Church or Chapel." [Cardwell's Documentary Annals, Vol. i., p. 110]. 

 The rest was to be recovered to the King's use, and to go to the Treasury. 



The Commissioners for Herefordshire were Sir John Pryse, Knight, Sir 

 George Cornewall, Knight, and Thomas Dantzey, Esq. Their inventory is extant 

 in the Record office, for an extract from which anent Bacton I am indebted to 

 Canon Phillott. They find at Bacton "one Chalice with Paten, gilt, 11 oz.." and 

 they note "Reserved, Chalice and Paten; cope of velvet coloured." Here then 

 is our Chalice with Paten, silver gilt. I had them weighed in London, and their 

 weight differs but one pennyweight from that of the Commissioners in 1553. But 

 though " reserved " for the use of the parish by the Commissioners, the Chalice 

 was now in great danger from Protestant zeal. During Edward's reign his 

 injunctions had been published that "all monuments of feigned miracles, 

 pilgrimages, idolatry, and superstition," were to be utterly extinguished and 

 destroyed." [Cripps O.E.P., p. 155]. The Chalice would be such a "monument 

 of superstition," inasmuch as adoration was considered to be offered by the priest 

 to the Crucifixion engraved on the hexagon, while he elevated it in celebrating the 

 Mass. There is a tradition at Leominster that their splendid Chalice escaped 

 destruction in these critical times, by the Crucifixion having been cut out, and a 

 plate of silver bearing I.H.S. having been inserted in its place. The loose piece 

 of silver was in existence up to a few years ago. 



In Queen Elizabeth's reign, the Archbishop of Canterbury (Matthew 

 Parker) in 1569 asks in his Visitation (Questions whether they [the curates or 

 ministers] " do minister in any prophane cupjjes, bowles, dishes, or chalices 

 heretofore used at masse, or els in a decent communion cuppe provided and kept 

 for the same purpose only." His successor (Grindal) in 1576 inquires at his 

 Visitation, " whether you have in your parish churches and chapels a fair and 



