Crystal Cup: Most likely explanation

Contributed by Peter Tipton, and originally written in 2000

Mrs Sarah Ball, widow, before she married Nathaniel Cocks, presented the Crystal Cup to the church, either in memory of her recently deceased friend Sir Richard Ryves, perhaps using his bequest to her, or more likely gave the Cup in memory of her own recently deceased first husband, John Ball, purchased out of her own more than adequate financial resources.

It is not likely that she had inherited the Crystal Cup from a Yateley royal cupmaker, or had sought out a cup made by a Yateley silversmith on the open market. It is more than likely she bought the Crystal Cup because she liked it, and thought it appropriate to adorn the communion table.

Earlier local historians, noting the surprising coincidence of two royal cup-makers with Yateley associations, and a Crystal Cup as the major treasure of St Peter's Church, jumped to the conclusion that the words cup in cupmaker meant silverware, and therefore could relate to the Crystal Cup. They could have made this mistake since they were not then aware that Borderware was produced in local potteries, both within Yateley parish, in Farnbourgh, Frimley, Ash and, significantly, in Pirbright. Knowing now the existence of this major local industry, we can now speculate that our royal cupmakers, living at the zenith of Borderware fineware production, were probably associated with the local potteries, and may not have been silversmiths.

The association with Yateley of two royal cup-makers, as noted by the former local historians, is still a most remarkable fact about our town. We now need to research the local aspects of the production of Borderware, how it was traded, and how this industry affected the wealth of local individuals. We may then finally confirm that William Geale and Richard White, the two royal cupmakers, were potters and not goldsmiths or silversmiths.

The last paragraph was written for St Peter's Church Millennium Exhibition and Flower Show in 2000. The detailed research into the Borderware potters is now under way and can be viewed on the website of the Berkshire, Hampshire and Surrey Borders Heathland History Forum by clicking the link to the Borderware page