386 



Old Church Plate in Wilts. 



Some particulars of the usage concerning the holy loaf, which 

 seems to have had its origin in the early ages of the Church, are 

 also found in the " Depositions and Ecclesiastical Proceedings" pub- 

 lished by the Surtees Society, 1845. In the course of some evidence 

 given by a parishioner relating to a dispute as to certain rights of 

 St. Margaret's and St. Oswald's, at Durham, about 1570, he says : — 



"That about 30 yeres agoo, and senc, the inhabitors apperteyning to the 

 chappell of St. Margaret's according as ther course fell, to have brought every 

 Sonday ther hallybread caike in a towell open on ther brest, and laid yt downe 

 upon the ende of the hye alter of St. Oswald's, and 1-d. in money also with the 

 said caik ; and the clerke toke the caik, and the proctor the silver ; and after the 

 caik was hallowed, the said clerk cut off a part of the said caike, cauld, the hally 

 bred cantle, to gyve to ther next neighbour, whose course was to gyve the holly 

 bread the next sonday then next after ; and this order was comonly used of all 

 the inhabitors apperteyning to the said chappell of St. Margarett's, so long as 

 the order and gyving of the hollibred sylver dyd remaine, referinge hym to the 

 Quene's boke." 



In the earlier years of the accounts of St. Martin's are found 

 sundry small sums, expended for " singing bread/' for example, 

 1585, "for singing hreade iiij d * also, in 1588, "for singing brede 

 jjd. » This was essentially " altar bread," other bread was provided 

 for ordinary communicants. 



Previous to the Reformation howselling bread and singing bread 

 are often found in old Church accounts. The howselling bread was 

 the small bread used for the communion of the people, and the 

 singing bread was the large bread used by the priest for the mass, 

 so called, it is said, from the host, or unleavened bread, consecrated 

 by the priest singing. In Queen Elizabeth's " Injunctions " it is 

 ordered that the sacramental bread shall be " of the same fineness 

 and fashion, though somewhat bigger in compass and thickness, as 

 the usual bread and water heretofore named singing-cakes, which 

 served for the use of the private mass." It was made into small 

 cakes, impressed with the cross. 



In the same accounts, from about 1570 to the end of the century, 

 separate annual statements are given of the sums expended for 

 sacramental wine in each month, and on the principal festivals of 

 the Church. The following account of disbursements for wine 



