106 The Westburi/ Acorn Cup. 



"28 Aug., 1648. Noted that the Earl of Marlborough was a delinquent 



whose rents were secured. 

 " 28 April, 1619. He compounds for delinquency in arms. Has no legal 



estate in the Kingdom, but may in equity claim that named in his 



particular. 

 " 24 May. Fine at 1/3 £\ 13 6«. Od. 

 " 1650 (?). Fine advanced, for a claim in reversion to lands in Heywood, 



to 1200." 



Ill Wilts Notes mid Queries, vol. III., there occur the following •} — 



p. 348. "Thomas Wanklin, Esq., Bratton, for subsidy and hearth money, 

 temp. Car. II. 2 guineas." 



p. 476. " Thomas Wanklin, of Haywood, Wilts, Esq., widower, about 40, 

 and Mrs. Frances Brandsby, of Bristowe Towne, co. Somerset, widow, about 

 84, at St. Mary, Savoy, Middx., 8 July, lb71." 



(Chester's Loiiilun Marriage Tjceu'Ci, ed. by J. Foster.) 



As to the cup itself, it is a silver gilt piece of great interest, 

 fashioned — as will be seen from the illustration — in the shape of 

 an acorn. Its dimensions are: — height to top of cover, lOf inclies ; 

 diameter of base, 4 inches; diameter of cover and lip of cup, o\ inches. 



On the cover are engraved the hiitials T. W. on one side and 

 M. M. on the other. Just below the lip of the cup is a band 

 without strap-work or foliage containing the inscription : — " Giuen 

 to the Church of Westbury by Collonel Wancklen and JMary 

 Contes of Malbrou," and below this the date " 1671." 



Now it is plain that this curious cup was never fashioned for a 

 chalice, and as a matter of fact the cover bears the hall-marks of 

 1585, the date letter H, lion passant,- leopard's head, and the 

 maker's mark M. It was, thei'efore, clearly a piece of domestic 

 plate given by the donors whose names are inscribed on the bowl 

 to be used as a chalice. It is also to be noted that the mouldings 

 of the base of the cup are plain and there is none of the " egg 

 and tongue " ornament which is so common in this position on 

 Elizabethan cups. Moreover, the stem unscrews from the bowl 

 of the cup, an arrangement by no means usual, and there are no 

 hall-marks on either the bowl or the foot, only on the cover. All 



' It also appears that there were Wanklyns at Cholderton and Wilton in 

 the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. 



- It will be noted that the newspaper extract given above wrongly gives 

 the date of the hall-mark as 1589. 



