3-078-202 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Sacramental gold dish and cup found buried near Dolgelly, North Wales, 1890. Men returning from work in Merionethshire, '...perceived what appeared to be a plate embedded in the rock...After some trouble they loosened it from its resting-place and carried it home, where it was found by washing and scraping to be of gold. With the expectation that this was not the only article to be found, they made further search, till a vase-shaped vessel was brought to light. Both these articles were handed to Mr. Pritchard Morgan, who had them examined by London experts. The two pieces seem to belong to each other, and it is affirmed that they are a sacramental wafer dish and wine cup, composed of a low class of gold...Both are very beautifully chased and hammered, and bear inscriptions. The metal was encrusted, when found, with nearly two inches of vegetable matter. Near the spot is the ancient monastery of Llanelltyd, and it is supposed that the vessels now found must at one time have belonged to the monks, who, during the reign of Henry VIII., buried them in the place where they have just been uncovered. We are told that the land on which they were found belongs to the Crown, which will, therefore, claim the treasure'. From "Illustrated London News", 1890.