Description: | From old card index: "On a bend sinister, a saltire engrailed between a key and flowers. Provenance also Beauvale.
Single pattern tile; square, worn. (Accidental damage - broken (and missing?) edge)."
Shield. On a bend sinister, a saltire engrailed. Key on dexter side, foliated stem on other. Slip inlay, glazed., From Eames, type 1575, provenance Bordesley Abbey, Warwickshire, C13/14, The Abbey of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, also known as St Mary of the Meadows, was founded in 1143 (or possibly 1139)
by Robert Beaumont, second Earl of Leicester, also known as "le Bossu" (the Hunchback). He provided the abbey with many
holdings, including all churches in the town of Leicester, several other churches in other counties, the manor of Asfordby,
and various other properties in Leicester. This made it a very wealthy abbey from the start, and it earned up to £1000 a year
at its peak. However, it was criticized for the extravagance and lack of spiritual strength of the Abbots and Canons,
particularly in its latter days, with one of the last Abbots ridiculed for bringing the disruptive presence of his fool into
those services he actually attended. Although the abbey accepted Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy in 1534, the abbey was never
converted to become Leicester Cathedral as once planned, due to its debts of more than £400, and it was closed in 1538. The
abbey was mostly demolished with the lands given to the aristocracy, who later built homes in the grounds.
Accession number: NCM 1963-336 |