2000 Eaw Kite, anastat. SILVER GILT VESSEL FOUND IN TRINITY CHURCHYARD, SHAFTESBURY. (Height of original 17 inches) Arms of Humphrey Bishop: ob. 1709. (From the Communion Plate of Trinity Church) SHAFTESBURY BOROUGH SEALS, & Edw Ki, anasta.. of Humphrey Bishop, Gent., to the Parish Church of the Holy Trinity Shaston," and a shield of arms, Or, on three lozenges Azure an eagle displayed of the first, two and one-these are all of silver; and a large pewter flagon, inscribed, "Shaston St. Peter's 1770." Humphrey Bishop, named above, we find by his epitaph in St. Trinity Church, was a Barrister of an ancient loyal family. He died 1709, June 8th. The Church registers go back to 1623. In the Church of St. Peter is a stone seemingly removed from the Abbey, in which a small Brass remains, with an inscription to Stephen Payne, Esq., Seneschal of this monastery, who died December 4th, 1508. There appear to have been two small shields of arms now gone. The South aisle of this Church is evidently an addition, and in fact an encroachment, built on columns over a court below; the intervals between the columns have since been walled in, and the space thus enclosed is now used as a cellar. In 1611 Matthew. Chubb founded an Almshouse for sixteen poor women. In 1642, Sir Henry Spiller founded another for ten "of the most aged and impotent persons within the said borough of · Shaftesbury." The motto over the door is, "Donum Dei et Deo." It has been already observed, that there are few wells in the town, owing to the trouble and expense of sinking them to the great depth required. Water was generally obtained from certain wells about a quarter of a mile below the town, in the parish of Motcombe, belonging to the Manor of Gillingham. By agreement dated 1662, between the Lord of the Manor of Gillingham and the Mayor and Burgesses of Shaftesbury, the Mayor was to carry a Byzant, as it was called, a sort of besom, dressed like a May garland, to the wells and there present it, together with a calf's head, a gallon of ale, two penny loaves and a pair of gloves, to the Lord of the Manor, or his deputy. The Byzant was then restored to the Mayor and brought back to the town in procession with music, &c. 'The Marquis of Westminster has recently augmented the endowment of this almshouse, by the very liberal gift of £5000. |