Basic info

Collection

Archaeology

Object name

Mortar (vessel)

Object category

Medieval

Creators

Towthorpe, William of (Bell-founder)

Description

Copper alloy mortar, of a similar alloy to bell metal, decorated with quatrefoils and animal motifs. An inscription in Latin records that it was made (or commissioned) by Brother William for the infirmary of Saint Mary's Abbey York in 1308. Extract from English Decorated Mortars (Michael Finlay) The earliest dated mortar of undoubted English origin was cast by Brother William of Towthorpe for the infirmary of the Abbot of Saint Mary, at York, in 1308, and apart from being bu far the earliest dated example, is also perhaps the finest. Of simple bucket form, it has two cabled handles. And is decorated with two rows of quatrefoils containing heraldic lions, griffins and birds, between two bands of cabled decoration. Around the rim is the inscription in simple Lombardic lettering: MORTARIV.SCI.JOHIS.EWANGEL.DE.INFIRMARIA.BE.MARIE.EBOR Which in full reads, Mortarium Sancti Johannis Evangelistae de Infrimaria Beatae Mariae Eborancensis, or the Mortar of [or dedicated to] Saint John the Evangelist, belonging to the Informary [of the Abbey] of the Blessed Mary of York. Above the foot is a second inscription: FR.WILLA.DE.TOVTHORPE.ME.FECIT.A.D.M.CCCVIII Which may be translated as, Borther William of Towthorpe made me, AD 1308. After the dissolution of the Abbey of Saint Mary, in the 1550s nothing is know of the history of the mortar until 1734, when it is mentioned in a letter to the Gent, published by him in his History of Hull, from an anonymous correspondent who had seen it in the Minster yard at York, in the custody of the son of a Mr Addington, its then owner. Addington was said to have bought it from Mr Smith, a bellfounder in York, probably Samuel Smith II, who was likely to have obtained it from the Fairfax family, in whose possession it was said to have been for a considerable time. Gough in his translation of Campden’s Britannia, publishedin 1789 (in Vol. III, p.66) referring to the mortar, says, “It was lately in the hands of an apothecary at Selby, after whose death all traces of it were lost.” Its chequered history continues, when in 1811, it was rediscovered by a Mr Rudder, a bellfounder in Birmingham, among a large quantity of old metal he probably purchased in York or its neighbourhood. A man obviously of some sensibility, instead of melting it as scrap metal, he kept the mortar for some years, eventually presenting it to an antiquarian friend, Mr Blount, an eminent surgeon in Birmingham. After the latter’s death, it was sold at public auction, in 1835, where it was purchased for a considerable sum by a Mr S. Kendrick, who public-spritedly restored it to York. William of Towthorpe was probably a professional bell-founder.

Production date start

1308

Production date end

1308

Period

Medieval