Yesterday I met up with some friends at Goldsmiths’ Hall to see the Treasures of the English Church exhibition. We were expecting to see a great deal of Victorian silver and just a little mediaeval stuff (our main interest), but actually there was a great deal of beautiful and fascinating mediaeval church silver on display. I did pick up a very cool fact, though. Apparently the Victorians built so many new churches that specialist suppliers started to sell their wares through catalogues, from which you could buy everything for your new church, from gold and silverware through pews to general fixtures and fittings. The Victoria and Albert Museum has some of these catalogues, which I’d love to see.
Once we’d finished at the exhibition we repaired to the Cittie of Yorke for a spot of lunch and then made our way via a couple of other pubs (we wanted to check them out for possible hire for an event) to Clerkenwell where we had a quick look at the well before heading to St. John’s Gate and the museum of the Order of St. John there.
I arrived home with very sore feet but I think it was well worth it.
I really love churches. I’m not really a religion person, but there’s definitely something about being inside a church.
In a bizarre way it’s satisfying to find that the feelings of reverence are just the results of a skilled sales team. (With a glossy catalogue no less!) Much easier to swallow than spirituality.