Lillington Local History Society JULY 2015 JULY 2015 Contents The Turnpike Road Lillington Parish Church Plate Excerpt from 1711 map Cottages in Cubbington Road Programme of meetings Regular monthly meeting Free Church Hall, Cubbington Road, 4.30 pm on the first Lillington Church Plate. Friday of each month. An eight inch diameter standing paten (a dish on a foot), which lives at the bank, has the inscription “Given by R. Lees to the Contact us by Communion Table of the Parish Church of Lillington in the -Coming to one of the County of Warwick, in the year 1774.” Lees gave an almost Society’s monthly identical paten to Rowington church the same year. Ours was meetings, made by Thomas Wynne, of London and Bath, and is of -or by referring any queries about the society, ‘Britannia’ silver, shown by the figure of Britannia stamped on it, contributions, photographs meaning it contains at least 95.8% silver by weight (the rest is or reminiscences to usually copper). This is a higher proportion than Sterling silver, Graham Cooper – marked with a lion, which need only contain 92.5% telephone 01926 426942 silver, but it is considerably softer. It has a ‘gadroon’ edge – a decorative band of raised beads. Photo: Robert Burdett 1 THE TURNPIKE ROAD Sales details can often reveal interesting aspects of history, particularly if they date from 1862 and are related to Lillington. The Turnpike Road on the plan is the current Cubbington Road The plot of land (20,552 Sq. Yards) shown in the plan is occupied by Mr. Turrell and Mr. Bradshaw, whilst the house is that of Mr. Evans according to the auction information provided by John Margetts, Auctioneers. The sale was to be held on Tuesday 17th June 1862 at the Crown Hotel, Leamington Spa. The land is promoted as ‘very valuable freehold building land’ as capitalists will find this a most unusual opportunity of purchasing Land to re-sell for building purposes. There appears to be no restrictions as to the type of building that can be erected, although it is suggested it may be formed into streets for cottages. Mention is also made of a deep bed of sharp sand for which there is an increasing demand. The Turnpike Road had its boundary with Cubbington Parish and ran just under a mile to the Kenilworth Old Road. 2 The plan shows the Stone House (now the Manor House) in the north when occupied by Captain James Montgomery of the Prince of Wales 3rd Dragoon Guard. Running from west – east is Church Lane through to then Farm Lane (Wootton – Cubbington on plan ) with a link to Vicarage Road on to the Turnpike. On the south side of Church Lane, opposite the Manor House, is a hovel with gate access to the adjacent plot. Thomas Baker depicts this scene, looking west along Farm Road, in one of his paintings. I am indebted to the late Elaine Rumary for obtaining the original sales information from the Shakespeare Centre Library and Archive, also my wife Janet for her perseverance in tracking down Captain James Montgomery. Peter Coulls Plan from Peter Coulls collection, image from Herbert Art Gallery Collection 3 LILLINGTON PARISH CHURCH PLATE Historic artefacts from the time of Elizabeth I to George V hree of the four Gospels record the last Passover meal which Jesus ate in Jerusalem with his disciples, at which he shared bread and wine with them, telling them, ‘This is T my body’, and ‘This is my blood.’ St Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians adds a command, ‘Do this as a memorial of me.’ With varying degrees of rigour, the Christian church has followed this command during the succeeding two thousand years, and made the Holy Communion one of its central acts of worship. In the Church of England at the present time, weekly celebrations are still usual, if sometimes rather early in the morning, though the Book of Common Prayer only instructs that ‘every Parishioner shall communicate at the least three times in the year, of which Easter to be one.’ Flagon Alms Dish Krall Elkington Elkington 1774 Elizabethan Cup Ramsden Paten Chalice Chalice Paten Milne Chalice Chalice 1575 Paten Cover 4 Specially-made vessels add to the solemnity of the rite in many traditions. A simple set of church plate might include a chalice (from the Latin calix), which is a cup for the wine, and a paten (Latin patina), a shallow dish for the bread. A flagon for the wine before it is consecrated, and an alms dish to receive the offerings of the congregation often form part of the set. If wafers are used rather than bread, a ciborium may replace the paten. This has a bowl with a stem and lid, like a small chalice. St Mary Magdalene’s Church in Lillington has a collection of silverware including examples of all of these items, dating from 1575 up to 1932, and shown in the photograph above. Very few English churches have any plate earlier than the time of Elizabeth, the first reason being the financial difficulties of Edward VI. In March 1551, the Privy Council, led by John Dudley (father of Robert), ordered “that for as much as the King’s majesty had need presently of a mass of money...” commissioners would “...take into the King’s hands such church plate as remaineth, to be employed unto his highness use.” In Warwickshire, only three pre-Reformation items of plate still exist – at Monks Kirby, Preston on Stour and Wolston. Then, when Elizabeth became Queen in 1558, the protestant practice of communion in both kinds, bread and wine, for the whole congregation was introduced. Any of the old chalices still left were found to be simply too small to hold enough wine for more than just the priest. Old silver was melted down and reworked throughout the kingdom, and in Warwickshire there are forty six communion cups from Elizabeth’s time. Lillington is fortunate to have one of these, possibly made in Leicester, with a lid which serves as a paten. The cup is parcel gilt (‘parcel’ meaning partial – it is gilded inside only). It is not quite seven inches high, and has no date, but the lid is marked 1575. There is one very similar at Offchurch. For three hundred years this was the only chalice belonging to the church. Nowadays it lives mainly in a bank vault in Leamington, but is brought out occasionally for festivals. An eight inch diameter standing paten (a dish on a foot), which also lives at the bank, has the inscription “Given by R. Lees to the Communion Table of the Parish Church of Lillington in the County of Warwick, in the year 1774.” Lees gave an almost identical paten to Rowington church the same year. Ours was made by Thomas Wynne, of London and Bath, and is of ‘Britannia’ silver, shown by the figure of Britannia stamped on it, meaning it contains at least 95.8% silver by weight (the rest is usually copper). This is a higher proportion than Sterling silver, marked with a lion, which need only contain 92.5% silver, but it is considerably softer. It has a ‘gadroon’ edge – a decorative band of raised beads. 5 In 1907 a new silver paten, engraved with the head of Our Lord, was made by Barkentin and Krall of Regent Street, London. It was meant for use with the Elizabethan cup in place of its own lid, which was thought to be ‘hardly fit for general use.’ A ‘grail’- style chalice in silver, about six and a half inches high, was presented to the church in 1927 in memory of Robert Milne. This is still in regular use. Another larger and more ornate chalice in silver gilt (silver plated with gold) and set with semi-precious stones, was given in 1932 in memory of Mary Dewhirst. The artist was Omar Ramsden (1873 – 1939), who was born in Sheffield, and worked in London. This chalice was displayed at Warwick Museum in the Market Place from 1978 for many years, where some readers may remember seeing it. Later it fell from official favour, and was put away. Lodging and insurance payments were demanded for it. The church authorities considering this to be a poor state of affairs, the chalice was returned to Lillington Church in October 2010, where it is also kept in store, but free of charge. A silver flagon of 1863, and an alms dish ornamented with the Lamb and Flag given in 1929 complete the service, apart from a pair of Elkington chalices. The name Elkington is mainly associated with electroplate, but they made solid silver items too, and Lillington church has a pair made in Birmingham in 1887/8. The then vicar, the Revd. Joseph May Ward, presided over much alteration in the church in the 1880’s. The whole east end, except for one wall, was rebuilt in 1884. A stone pulpit (much larger than the present wooden one) appeared in 1885, and a carved stone altar piece representing the Last Supper, installed in 1890, belatedly commemorated Victoria’s golden jubilee. The two chalices must have been acquired to accommodate the increasing congregations of the time, and they are still in weekly use today. ST. MARY MAGDALENE LILLINGTON There are many more items in the 1939 photograph in FEAST OF PATRON William Cooper’s History of Lillington than I have mentioned here. In the 1930’s and early 1940’s Displays of the JULY 21st Sung Evensong, Sermon and Procession, church plate were a feature of the Patronal Festival 8pm Preacher: celebrations (the patron saint being of course St Mary The Rt.