A censer, also known as a thurible, was a container which was swung from chains to produce scented smoke during church services. It comprised a metal vessel containing incense, ignited with burning embers or charcoal, with an openwork cover which allowed the resulting smoke to disperse. These covers were often highly decorative objects, but today are extremely rare survivors from the Medieval period, with less than twenty examples known. A particularly rare type are the early “architectural” style covers, modelled on the square towers of late Anglo-Saxon churches, which date to the 10th-11th centuries. Recently an object resembling one of these and likely either a small censer cover or an associated fitting, has been discovered near Guildford and recorded with the Portable Antiquities Scheme as SUR-777720.
The object is 45.4mm in height and decorated in a simple style which is comparable to the Winchester style or Romanesque traditions, with cast openwork panels to the side walls and four lozenge-shaped fields forming the roof. The base comprises a plinth with two projecting rounded perforated lugs which contain rusted iron. These are possibly the remains of narrow rods which would have attached to a suspension chain, allowing the cover to be raised so that the bowl beneath could be filled with incense.
The side wall panels on the long axis contain trefoils, probably stylised depictions of angels, with small central bosses; these alternate with panels above the fixing lugs which depict a flower bud between a pair of facing scrolls. The perforations in these panels would have allowed the incense to disperse. The four lozengiform roof facets have five-leaved foliate motifs, possibly palm fronds. These form pointed arches to each of the four sides. One of these roof panels has a small hole drilled into it near the apex. The top of the object has a rounded terminal knop and there are eight smaller decorative knops at the angles between the roof and sides.
According to Zarnecki et al (1984) only three examples of this style of architectural censer cover were known from this period before the PAS, including an elaborate example from Canterbury (1927,1116.1) one from Pershore, Worcestershire (1960,0701.1) and an incomplete example found in the Thames in the 19th century (1837,0328.1), all of which are held by the British Museum. Another, much simpler example has since been recorded by the PAS (NMS-DFB8F0) which has been infilled with lead and re-used as a weight. A couple of comparable objects in the British Museum collection of near identical size, form and decoration albeit labelled as “finials” (1997,0403.2 and 1997,0403.1) have also survived by being infilled with lead for re-use.
The object must have come from a relatively wealthy church and is certainly contemporary to the foundation of the royal castle complex in Guildford at the end of the 11th century, a time when wealth and power were concentrating on the area following the Norman Conquest. The reasons why this object was found in a field outside the modern town however, are unclear. Perhaps the most likely explanation is that it was stripped from a local church during the chaos and religious zeal of the reformation or the English civil war and subsequently thrown away. A late Medieval gilded mount, probably from an altar cross or mazer (SUR-3D236F) has been previously found in the area which could perhaps add weight to the idea that a number of Medieval liturgical fittings were once dumped here and have since become dispersed across the site.
References
Clinch, G, 1903, Old English Churches: Their Architecture, Furniture, Decoration, Monuments, Vestments, and Plate, London
Tonnochy, A. B. (1932). A Romanesque censer-cover in the British Museum. The Archaeological Journal 89. Vol 89, pp. 1-16.
Zarnecki, G., Holt, J. and Holland, T. 1984, English Romanesque Art 1066-1200, London Arts Council of Great Britain in association with Weidenfield and Nicolson
