Crystal Cup: The undisputed facts
There is an entry in the Churchwardens Accounts in 1675:
Given by Mrs. Sarah Cocks, when she was a widow, to the Parish Church of Yateley, for the use of the Communion Table, one Christiall silver and gilt bowl with cover; one damask table cloth and one damask napkin.
This is the Crystal Cup which, with its canopy, then stood some eighteen inches high. Now it stands at only twelve inches high. We know it was originally taller since its wooden case is larger than the present cup.
The change of height results from the Crystal Cup's chequered history. The cup was stolen (early C19?) but was found the next day in the Churchyard ditch. Later (in 1868-69) the cost of restoring the Church was so great that the Churchwardens resolved unanimously to sell the Crystal Cup for £50. However the Bishop of
Winchester refused his consent, sending instead a cheque for the asking price. A new resolution was passed by the Vestry:
That in consideration of the handsome donation of £50 by the Right Rev. Bishop Sumner, when Bishop of the Diocese, to the fund for the restoration of the Church, the Crystal Cup, a gift of Widow Cocks, shall be preserved by the Churchwardens as inalienable property of the Parish.
The next major mishap was about 100 years ago. The parish Clerk had to carry the Cup in its case backwards and forwards to his own house for safe keeping. One day he slipped on the frozen snow, the cup fell out of its case onto the ground, and shattered. All the fragments were found and the Cup was pieced together by Messrs Hunt and Roskell.
After that mishap a special iron safe, called an ambry, was constructed in the church. Fortunately, sometime before the arsonist burned down St Peter's in 1979, the Crystal Cup was removed to Winchester Cathedral for safe keeping -- where it remains today. The ambry did not survive the fire.
Back to the Crystal Cup Myth
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