Hall marks on gold & silver plate

ENGLISH GOLDSMITHS. 9
i2go. William Torel, goldsmith and citizen of London. It
has been attempted to prove that he was an Italian of the family
of Torelli, but the name of Torel occurs in documents from the time
of the Confessor down to the said William Torel. He is celebrated
for the beautiful recumbent statue of Eleanore of Castile, Queen of
Edward I, ob. 1290, in Westminster Abbey, on the altar tomb at the
east end of Edward the Confessor's chapel, which has been thus
"
described : Her image, most curiously done in brass, gilt with gold,
her hair dishevelled and falling very handsomely about her
shoulders, on her head a crown, under a fine canopy supported by
two cherubim, all of brass gilt." It is well preserved, and uninjured
as when originally placed there. The stone work of the Queen's
tomb was constructed by Master Richard de Crundale, mason. Torel
built the furnace in which the statue was cast in St. Margaret's
Churchyard. Torel also executed the effigy of gilt bronze on the
tomb of Henry III (1291), in the Confessor's chapel. The shrine
of Edward the Confessor, erected by Henry III, when the church was
rebuilt, was decorated with mosaics, the work of Peter, the Roman
Citizen. The pavement before the altar was executed by Roman
workmen, with materials brought from Rome. The name of the
artist was Odoricus (1267-8).
1300. Ade, the King's goldsmith in the reign of Edward I,
made many of the gold and silver vessels for the sideboard of that
monarch. In the wardrobe accounts of Edward I his name fre-
quently occurs; from which we select the following: "Duo disci
argenti pro interferculis facti per filium Ade Aurifabri Regis de
proprio vesselo ipsius Regis pond vj/i. viji". iijW."
1307. John de Louthe and William de Berkinge, goldsmiths
of London, were the principal jewellers of Queen Isabella, consort
of King Edward II. In a Cottonian MS. communicated to the
Society of Antiquaries by Mr. E. A. Bond, is noticed some jewellery
purchased of them by the Queen for ^2\. Among these were : "A
chaplet of gold, set with balays, sapphires, emeralds, diamonds and
pearls, price ;^I05; a crown of gold, set with sapphires and rubies
of Alexandria, price %o\ a circlet of gold, price "60," etc.
1308. Sir Nicholas Faringdon (son of Sir William), of
"
Chepe," goldsmith, was four times Mayor, 1308, 1313, 1320 and
1323. Warden of the Goldsmiths' Company. He was buried at
St. Peter's le Chepe, a church that, before the great fire, stood where
the tree still stands in the churchyard at the corner of Wood Street.
1323. Walter de Lincoln, goldsmith, is spoken of as having a
tenement adjoining the eastern site purchased for the Goldsmiths'
<strong>Hall</strong>, in 1323, in the way called St. Vedast, in the parish of St. John
Zachary, London. In the deed of sale by the executors of Sir
came. These establishments were frequently schools for teaching the various
arts and the technicalities of trades, among which was that of the goldsmith ;
by which custom the actual surname in many instances became altogether forgotten.
This was the case, more or less, all over Europe. Hence we have John
of Limoges, William de Gloucester, Solomon of Elv, "Walter de Merton, John
de Chichester, Jan Van Delft, Roger of Ely, etc.