CHURCHES of SUSSEX
Shipley Reliquary
For one treasure of Shipley we must go to South Kensington,
where the Albert & Victoria Museum cherishes a reliquary of the 13th century,
beautifully enamelled with a scene from the crucifixion, and probably brought
from the East by the Knights Templars.
It is a famous and lovely shrine and belongs to Shipley. A remarkable story
is told of this precious casket. Some years ago a part of it was missing,
and a lady who came upon the casket at an exibition, struck by the resemblance
to a fragment of enamel-work in her possession, went home, brought the fragment
to the exhibition, and found that it fitted the reliquary.
So, after nobody knows how long, the lost fragment of beauty came home,
and the reliquary is now complete.
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