OPENING OF THE CHAPEL OF THE PYX.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13597, 4 December 1909, Page 13

OPENING OF THE CHAPEL OF THE PYX.

The promise made in March, 1904, that the Chapel of the Pyx minster Abbey- was "joresently" to be thrown open to the public haeQiow been made good, and it is announced that it will henceforward be open to the ■public .on Tuesdays and Fridays. For a good many years past it has been dis- • used, and the "trial of the Pyx" now takes place at the Mint. For centuries it was lie depository of the box in which the standard gold and silver coins of the realm were kept for comparison with the current mintage; but the Chapel chiefly depends for its very great historical interest upon the fact that it was for ages the Royal Treasury of England. There the Normans and Plantagenets kept their reserves of cash, their barbaric store of gems, the gold and silver vessels for the regal banquets , , and other famous treasures which would be .Tinique did they still exist; The regalia of the Saxon Kings would be a priceless possession now, so would the Royal diadem of the Plantagenete, King Athelstan's sword, the ampulla of Henry IV., and the dagger which wounded Edward I. at Acre. The Chapel, which still contains an ancient stone altar, was, no doubt, chosen by the Conqueror or. his son as the national Treasury because of the sanctity of its surroundings—close to the ashes of the Confessor, and forming part of the inviolable Sanctuary of Westminster, it is one of the Norman substructures of the Abbey, and b entered from the eastern cloister.. Save to a few , officials, this remarkable chamber, with its massive walls and vaulted roof, is practically unknown, for, despite its emptiness, access to it has been , jealously barred down to "the present time, seven archaio locks having to be unfastened with enormous keys by their seven, official custodians before it could be entered. Had the Treasury been guarded with equal vigilance while Edward I. was engaged in his - favourite pastime of hammering the Scots, John de Podeli- '■ cote and his confederates would "have been unable, on St. Mark's Day, 1303, to carry away a booty such as no modern burglar has ever 'dreamed of. If the old chroniclers can be believed— and, as a rule, it is well to be sceptical when they deal :n numbers and figures —a million sterling of our currency was stolen, together with inoalcu.ablo riches in the wav of plate and jewels. Three of the robbers , wore hanged for (their pains, and the body of monks were kept in the Tower for two years on suspicion of confederacy..