lection of curios.

Souvenir hunter dreW\

the line at baby’s body

A UNIQUE collection of souvenirs and coins ac-
cumulated by a 17th Century traveller has gone

The collection was
made by Dr John
Bargrave, who was
appointed a canon in
1622 and whose uncle,
Isaac Bargrave, was
Dean of Canterbury.

Until now. it has lain

hid d e n in t h e
Cathedral library,
s to re d in th re e
cabinets. But the

Canterbury festival,
wit’ ; Italian theme,
has -riovided an ideal
opportunity for its
public display.

 

Chapel.

 

Dean V Isaac Bargrave,

3 on show to the public for the first time in the
,.Cathedral Crypt.

Many of the tiny and _

very fragile exhibits
are of Italian origin
and were collected by
Dr Bargra‘ve- du.ring
four Grand Tours he
made while acting as

tu t o r to y o u n g
noblemen.
The result is a

private museum
which has remained
almost intact since his

death in 1680. It was
presented to the
Cathedral by his

widow five years later.

 

uncle of Dr John
Bargrave, whose tomb rests in the Dea.n’s

_l-[is portrait, painted on copper, has

recently been cleaned.

 
  

 

by Rosemary
. Braithwaite

 

The collection pro-
vides a dating
reference against
which other items of
the period can be set
and is one of the
earliest private collec-
tions of a museum

character in ex-
istence.
The exhibition,

mounted by Cathedral
archivist Miss Anne
Oakley, includes items
of a macabre nature
as well as more con-
ventional curios.

On show is the
shrunken finger of a
Frenchman presented
to Dr Bargrave on a
triptoFrance. Onthis
tour, he visited Fran-
ciscan vaults to see the
well-preserved corp-
ses, but declined the
offer of a baby's body.

Ransom

He also collected
Italian playing cards.
glass phials, a bronze
phallic pendant and a
bronze knuckle bone, a
small bust of the
Emperor Nero and
many. bronze
figurines.

The collection also
includes examples of
American Indian
ceremonial dress,
presented to him by a
grateful merchant.

The gift came after
Dr Bargrave visited
Algiers in 1622 as a
semi-official envoy
sent by the Church to
ransom captured
English seamen and
merchants.

67

   

Examples of North American beadwork and leather from Algeria, all part of Dr Bar-grave’s col-

Dr Bargrave’s con-
nections with Canter-
bury_ extend to his
family who were pro-
sperous farmers or
yeomen. His father
was a mercenary who
married a London
heiress and built in
1615, a house called
Bifrons, at Patrix-
bourne.

T h e c o l l e c t o r
himself was educated
at the King's School
and went on to become

a F e 1 l o w o f
Peterhouse, Cam-
bridge.

In 1643, his High
Church opinions lost
him his fellowship and
in the last year of the
Civil War, in 1646, he
started his new career.
as travell.ing tutor.

The exhibition runs

law

until the end of Oc-
tober and is open on

_weekdays from 10.30- .;

12.30 and £rom.2.30pm-
4.30pm.

A lecture on the life
and times of Dr
Bargrave will be given
by Canon Derek In-
gram Hill on October
2, at 6.30pm in the

t

Also on show in the
Crypt are two silver
gilt candlesticks which
are new additions to

the collection of
Cathedral plate.
The candlesticks

were presented to Ar-
chbishop Geoffrey
Fisher and his wife as
a golden wedding pre-
sent from the Queen in
1967. Lady Rosamund
Fisher has the Queer '
permission to W
them to the T‘