By J. E. Nightingale, F.S.A. 361 



Longespee, who deceased in 1297. This was found when removing 

 the pavement of the Lady Chapel in 1789. At any rate the form 

 of the chalice would agree very well with that which obtained in 

 the thirteenth century, the bowl being wide and shallow, the stem 

 and foot circular. This vessel is decorated with foliated chasing, 

 with an ornamental knop, and is in fairly good condition. 



In the fourteenth century chalices were made taller, the bowls 

 assumed a more conical form, being narrow at the bottom, and 

 having the sides sloping straight outwards ; it would, however, be 

 difficult to quote any existing English example of this period. The 

 round form of the base of the chalice had now g-iven way to the 

 hexagonal, to prevent its rolling when placed on its side to drain — 

 a custom which held its ground for a long way into the Reformation. 



In the fifteenth century they became broader at the base, and 

 towards the end of that century and beginning of the sixteenth the 

 bowls became almost hemispherical in form. We have, happily, a 

 very fine and well-preserved example of the latter part of this period 

 in the Wylye chalice. There are now about a dozen specimens 

 known of English chalices, ranging from the middle of the fifteenth 

 century to the first quarter of the sixteenth, for the most part still 

 in use in the parish Churches to which they originally belonged; 

 and this is all, as far as we know, that is left of the numberless 

 beautiful objects of Church plate that existed all over England at 

 the time of the dissolution of the monasteries, and, to a smaller 

 extent, for some years later. 



The necessary adjunct of the chalice, the paten — a small silver 

 plate, slightly sunk in the middle, and frequently ornamented in the 

 centre with some sacred device in engraving or enamel — is more 

 often found. A good example is preserved in the parish of St. 

 Edmund's, Salisbury. This paten bears the hall-mark of the year 

 1533-4, it was, therefore, made just on the eve of the Reformation. 

 It is not likely that much new Church plate was afterwards manu- 

 factured during the remaining years of Henry VIII. 



Some half-dozen cups made in the time of Edward VI. are still 

 in existence. The chalice and paten belonging to the Church of 

 Hunstanton, having the date-letter of 1551, indicate the great 



