Minutes of meeting, 10 March 1791
Reference code
SAL/02/024/009
Title
Minutes of meeting, 10 March 1791
Date
10/3/1791
Level of description
Item
Scope and content
The following Fellow was recommended for election: Thomas Meredith of Wrexham, Denbighshire.
The following Fellows were elected: Thomas Walker, Henry Barry and Dr. Robert Willan.
The following Fellows were admitted to the Society: Thomas Ruggles and John Spranger.
Letter from John Pownall giving a more particular account of the sepulture lately found near Lincoln was read and a more accurate drawing presented. He then showed another drawing, of urns more recently excavated in the same cemetery, and an account of a large chamber, both provided to him by Dr Gordon, Precentor of Lincoln. One urn was in perfect condition, made of a very thick, bluish green glass which had become opaque, perhaps with time, and bore a handle. Some of the other urns were of unusual form and decoration. The chamber, found in a quarry about 100 yds from the sepulture, previously described, extended down to the underlying rock; it contained two skeletons, a large but shallow stone trough, and showed evidence of fire. Dr Gordon suggested the space might have been used for cremation; a view supported by Mr Pownall based on the writings of others.
Letter from Rev. Samuel Denne on portraits in the window of Brereton Church (St. Oswald’s), Cheshire, as exhibited in Archaeologia Vol. IX. Plate. XXIII. He dismissed objections from others against attribution of the figures depicted to Thomas à Becket (distinguished by the mitre, etc.), the four armed knights who slew him at the high altar of Canterbury Cathedral in 1170, and other saints or priests, but concluded that the central figure wearing armour in the lower part of the window was intended to represent King Henry II. He set out reasoning in detail, considering the ordering of the assassination, the precise location, consequences for the King and also for the murderers, the leniency of which lay in the peculiar opinions, maxims and habits of the twelfth century. Nonetheless, he concluded there was clear intention in their public identification through the ages, in named effigy, as the instruments of St. Thomas’ martyrdom. This was not to be a memorial of honour but, as displayed in the windows of Brereton Church, to serve as a mark of infamy and detestation.
The following Fellows were elected: Thomas Walker, Henry Barry and Dr. Robert Willan.
The following Fellows were admitted to the Society: Thomas Ruggles and John Spranger.
Letter from John Pownall giving a more particular account of the sepulture lately found near Lincoln was read and a more accurate drawing presented. He then showed another drawing, of urns more recently excavated in the same cemetery, and an account of a large chamber, both provided to him by Dr Gordon, Precentor of Lincoln. One urn was in perfect condition, made of a very thick, bluish green glass which had become opaque, perhaps with time, and bore a handle. Some of the other urns were of unusual form and decoration. The chamber, found in a quarry about 100 yds from the sepulture, previously described, extended down to the underlying rock; it contained two skeletons, a large but shallow stone trough, and showed evidence of fire. Dr Gordon suggested the space might have been used for cremation; a view supported by Mr Pownall based on the writings of others.
Letter from Rev. Samuel Denne on portraits in the window of Brereton Church (St. Oswald’s), Cheshire, as exhibited in Archaeologia Vol. IX. Plate. XXIII. He dismissed objections from others against attribution of the figures depicted to Thomas à Becket (distinguished by the mitre, etc.), the four armed knights who slew him at the high altar of Canterbury Cathedral in 1170, and other saints or priests, but concluded that the central figure wearing armour in the lower part of the window was intended to represent King Henry II. He set out reasoning in detail, considering the ordering of the assassination, the precise location, consequences for the King and also for the murderers, the leniency of which lay in the peculiar opinions, maxims and habits of the twelfth century. Nonetheless, he concluded there was clear intention in their public identification through the ages, in named effigy, as the instruments of St. Thomas’ martyrdom. This was not to be a memorial of honour but, as displayed in the windows of Brereton Church, to serve as a mark of infamy and detestation.
Creator
Society of Antiquaries of London
Archival history
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