350 Notes on the Church Plate of North Wilts. 



Pewter flagons still exist in many places, though almost invariably 

 disused now. They are generally heavy, clumsy vessels, but some 

 six of them are interesting as belonging to a type which is not 

 found in silver in North Wilts. They are very tall tankards, with 

 broad spreading base and tapering to a comparatively narrow top 

 without any spout. The cover is very high and surmounted by an 

 acorn, but their chief peculiarity lies in the handle, which approaches 

 the body of the vessel and then recedes again in a double curve. 

 The only one which is dated is that belonging now to Malmesbury 

 Abbey, which belonged formerly to the destroyed Church of St. 

 Paul. This is dated 1736. Others are at Clyffe Pypard, Lydiard 

 Millicent, Lydington, Stanton St. Bernard, and Edington. 



I know of no example of an old pewter chalice remaining, but 

 patens and alms plates are not uncommon. On the other hand, a 

 large number of parishes have plated vessels, especially in the 

 neighbourhood of Bradford and Trowbridge. Indeed it is recorded 

 of Archdeacon Daubeny, Vicar of North Bradley 1778—1827, that 

 he said upon his death-bed, " Let the communion vessels be plated. 

 I have always condemned those who have placed unnecessary 

 temptations in the path of their fellow-mortals, and I am anxious 

 that the last act of my life should hold out to others no inducement 

 to sin." A laudable and excellent motive doubtless, but for all that 

 one cannot help feeling that the quaint and touching inscription on 

 the silver paten of Long Newnton expresses a truer aspiration : " In 

 the year of Our Lord God 1691 August 10. * I hope my Lord will 

 take this little present well and in good part, because tis my best 

 I give to God my heart." 



In the reaction of the last fifty years towards the Gothic style 

 too many of us have seemed anxious to wipe out every trace of the 

 seventeenth and eighteenth centuries altogether — whether in archi- 

 tecture, wood-work, or plate ; but, after all, those centuries do form 

 a part of the history of our nation and our Church, and the men 

 who lived in them did sometimes, at least " give to God their best M 

 and surely, unless there is really urgent cause to the contrary, their 

 offerings should be respected and preserved. If new plate is given, 

 well and good ; use it if it seems more convenient, but at least let 



