The Water Newton Silver: Votive or Liturgical?

Abstract

The Roman silver vessels from Water Newton are often written about as the earliest surviving liturgical church plate; but this has been accepted rather than proved. The major difficulty is that the Water Newton hoard, if liturgical, would be the earliest surviving such group, and so its nature cannot be determined by the reference to the use and nature of later liturgical hoards. This paper, therefore, considers a number if problems. Why were the objects put into the ground? The motive seems likely not to have been concealment from raiding Germans, who were interested in raw materials such as bronze or iron, but probably to have been concealment by Roman robbers after a theft. What was the nature and purpose of the objects when above the ground? Were they simply dedications, like the objects from a pagan temple hoard? Or were the Water Newton vessels used in the liturgy? Comparison with the contents of various temples and churches shows that the Water Newton treasure is a religious hoard. The forms of vessels and any religious decoration, however, do not help to decide whether any vessels, whether pagan or Christian, were used in a liturgy. Analysis of the inscriptions, on the other hand, shows that the Christian hoards alone contain some objects with inscriptions which are not simple statements of gift or of thanks for a favour received from a god or gods. These other inscriptions are quotations from or allusions to the Bible or the liturgy. In many cases the references are particularly apt for the points in the service at which the particular object would have been used. The conclusion is drawn, therefore, that the Water Newton silver is a hoard of church plate, of the second half of the 4th century A.D., which was used in the liturgy. The vessels are the earliest surviving liturgical plate from the Early Church from anywhere in the Roman Empire.

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