REGINA | 97
ALMOST ALL ENGLISH MEDIEVAL CHURCH SILVER WAS MELTED DOWN DURING THE DISSOLUTION OF THE MONASTERIES. This beautiful censer is a unique survival; its design is similar to that of a Gothic building. It was discovered in 1850 in Whittlesea Mere, Huntingdonshire, which was being drained for conversion to farmland. It is not known whether the censer had been deliberately hidden in the mere during the Dissolution, or whether it had been lost there at some earlier date in a boat accident. (Photo & description courtesy of Victoria & Albert Museum.)