THE CHURCH PLATE OF THE DEANERY OF 

 GUERNSEY. 



PART I. 



BY S. CAREY CURTIS, 



Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



Before dealing- with the separate pieces of plate of the 

 various Churches in the Deanery of Guernsey, a brief 

 historical review of the religious vicissitudes which the 

 Channel Islands have passed through during the last five 

 hundred years may be useful. 



There are three distinct epochs during that period of 

 500 years, and all have influenced the design, size and use of 

 the plate. These epochs are as follows : 



(1) Pre-Reformation ; (2) Calvinistic; (3) Episcopalian. 



(1) The Pre-Reformation Epoch. The Channel Islands 

 previous to the Reformation belonged to the diocese of 

 Coutances and were consequently under the see of Rome, 

 having no doubt the extensive and elaborate ritual, with the 

 instruments, then prevailing. We do not know that this was 

 actually the case, but the recent discovery of many instru- 

 ments of Pre-Reformation times in the Belfry of St. Samp- 

 son's Church seems to bear out this theory. 



The only piece of plate we have of this epoch is the 

 well-known Chalice of St. Sampson's Church. 



(2) The Calvinistic Epoch. This lasted about 100 years 

 in Guernsey, from 1560 to 1660, (the year of the Restoration 

 in England) in Jersey until 1623. The old plate had been all 

 swept away. Guernsey was a poor island, and probably to carry 

 out the Ordonnance of 1 583, ordering the Collecteurs des Tresors 

 of the various Churches to provide for the use of their con- 

 gregations, " plats et gobelets honnestes et necessaires pour 

 le Saint Cene, qui seront payes du Tresor de chacune paroisse " 

 (Receuil d'Ordonnances, Vol. I. p. 52), recourse was had to 

 vessels not always of precious metal. In England we know 

 use was made of pewter, glass and even wooden vessels for 

 the Communion, and we may hazard the guess this also oc- 

 curred in Guernsey. 



