St TORNEY’S CHURCH SILVER

The Communion Set that was used in St Torney’s is featured on this page. The three pieces that have survived are the paten, the chalice and the flagon. They are all inscribed identifying their benefactors.

Today these objects are not in the church but are securely stored on a remote site.

The Communion Service or Eucharist is at the heart of Christian worship. It is celebrated by Christians as a memorial of the death and resurrection of Jesus, in response to his words at the Last Supper, "Do this in remembrance of me". In the Eucharist, God invites us to his table as a foretaste of the heavenly banquet which he has prepared for all people.

At a celebration of the Eucharist in the Church of England, the community gathers, asks God’s forgiveness for its sins, listens to readings from the Bible including a reading from one of the Gospels. A sermon may be preached and the community prays together. Bread and wine are brought to the holy table or altar, the priest prays a Eucharistic Prayer, and everyone says the Lord’s Prayer together. The community then receives the consecrated bread and wine from the paten (plate) and chalice (cup). At the end of the service, the community is sent out into the world as a ‘living sacrifice’ to live and work to God’s praise and glory.

Paten

Inscription:
"Gentill Bant : Thomas Dawe : Church Wardens : 1697 :"

Gentill Bant and Thomas Dawe were probably in their forties or early fifties when they presented this paten to the parish, inscribed with their names. It is also likely that they had been churchwardens for some years. As far as church doctrine and leadership was concerned, the decade before the presentation of the paten would have been quite settled when compared with earlier times. This period of quietude followed the coronations of William III and Mary II as monarchs and head of the protestant, established Church of England. The timing of the gift of the paten was important, the establishment landscape being less turbulent and carrying less risk.

Gentill and Thomas were yeomen of the parish and being churchwardens were regarded, in this class dominated society, as of a slightly higher social status than most of their local contemporaries. Accordingly they rubbed shoulders with the parish gentry. The gift was therefore a consolidation of their position in society as much as it was an indicator of their commitment to the established church. It was also a lasting statement for their descendants to point towards as their own heritage and legacy. Thomas died in 1700 when he was just 43 years old. Gentill lived until 1735. Both men were buried in St Torney's churchyard.

Chalice and Flagon

Inscriptions:
"1774 This Chalice was presented to the Parish of Northill by Mrs Elizabeth Darley as a gratefull Remembrance of her late Husband Vincent Darley Esq. of Battens"
and
"1774 This Flagon was presented to the Parish of Northill by Mrs Elizabeth Darley as a gratefull Remembrance of her late Husband Vincent Darley Esq. of Battens"

Vincent Darley was baptised in St Torney’s Church on 14th March 1703. Vincent had no children of his own. In 1744 he married Elizabeth, the widow of George Newton, née Lyne. It was Elizabeth that commissioned the chalice and flagon for St Torney's.