The Baynard family - Lackham Countryside Centre

The Baynards of Lackham
fine piece of medieval plate circa 1350 284 ”there is no such chalice
recorded in the survey of church plate carried out by the
commissioners of King Edward VI in 1553 285 .
284 Vernon, T (>1971) St Cyriac’s Church Lacock Wiltshire Friends of Lacock
Church p15 I thank Mr ON Menhinick, MBE for his kindness in gifting me a
copy of this history. Vernon’s date may be a bit early; the British Museum holds
that it is a “Standing Covered Cup English, about AD1400-50” and go on to say
that During the religious Reformation in England in the 1540,s much of the silver
used in churches was destroyed. Therefore this standing covered cup is an
extremely rare survival. Originally made as a domestic drinking cup, it was
adopted during or after the Reformation as a Protestant communion cup. The
new practices of worship demanded a larger cup that could hold sufficient wine
for the entire congregation. Strict laws prohibited the use of religious imagery.
BM description of the Lacock Chalice
The entry in the V&A Catalogue for their exhibition of Gothic Art for England
1400-1547 has
Cup and cover, Silver, partially gilt, unmarked; h. 35 cm
St Cyriac’s church, Lacock, Wiltshire,On loan to the British Museum, London
A plain conical cover sits on the simple hemispherical bowl, which is supported on
a trumpet-shaped foot. Cast and gilt crestings of Gothic foliage with twisted
ropework decorate the top and base of the foot and the rim of the cover, which
is surmounted by a large spherical finial. This is decorated with gilt twisted
ropework; the protruding stalk is probably a modern replacement.
The elegant simplicity of this cup makes it one of the most beautiful pieces of
medieval plate. It is of a type now extremely rare, but which was probably one
of the most common forms in the Late Gothic period. Known as a “chalice
shaped” cup from its resemblance to a chalice, the form of the bowl probably
varied little from the thirteenth century onwards, but the exaggerated lid,
finial and foot are typically fifteenth century features. Although it is difficult
to date precisely, its form resembles a drawing of 1429, showing a gold cup
presented by Henry VI to the Lord Mayor at his coronation
My thanks to Dr. J P Catchpole, St Cyriac’s PCC, for making this information
available to me and also for pointing out inconsistencies in the previous version
of events. These are, hopefully, corrected here
285 Vernon, T (>1971) ibid
87