James Wathen gave this brass lectern to St Mary Redcliffe parish in Bristol. Sculpted lecterns were a key feature of churches from the medieval period into the early modern and demonstrated the wealth and status of the parish and its congregation. It was used to support books and the eagle as attribute of St John the Evangelist, author of the gospel of John, provided an appropriate symbol for the holy text. The sphere supporting this eagle’s feet has the inscription: ‘This is the free gifte of James Wathen senior of this parish pinn maker. Anno Dmni 1638’. Wathen was involved in the administration of the parish, first becoming churchwarden in 1638, so he may have given this gift to mark the beginning of this office. It is also a representation of his wider charitable acts: he employed poor boys of the parish in pinmaking and gifted twenty dozen loaves of bread to the poor in his will.<br /> <br /> This lectern is described as a ‘free gift’ which is an important echo of sermons about charity like Robert Allen’s <em>The Oderifferous Garden of Charitie</em>, where he writes that a gift must ‘be free and proceede of a liberall and franke mind’ (p.15) so that the giver does not expect anything in return. Wathen would nonetheless have increased his profile in the parish with such a significant and showy church object, which would have been visible to all his neighbours at Bible readings in the church.
Brass lectern (Lectern), 1638

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Brass lectern

Brass lectern (Lectern), 1638

James Wathen gave this brass lectern to St Mary Redcliffe parish in Bristol. Sculpted lecterns were a key feature of churches from the medieval period into the early modern and demonstrated the wealth and status of the parish and its congregation. It was used to support books and the eagle as attribute of St John the Evangelist, author of the gospel of John, provided an appropriate symbol for the holy text. The sphere supporting this eagle’s feet has the inscription: ‘This is the free gifte of James Wathen senior of this parish pinn maker. Anno Dmni 1638’. Wathen was involved in the administration of the parish, first becoming churchwarden in 1638, so he may have given this gift to mark the beginning of this office. It is also a representation of his wider charitable acts: he employed poor boys of the parish in pinmaking and gifted twenty dozen loaves of bread to the poor in his will.

This lectern is described as a ‘free gift’ which is an important echo of sermons about charity like Robert Allen’s The Oderifferous Garden of Charitie, where he writes that a gift must ‘be free and proceede of a liberall and franke mind’ (p.15) so that the giver does not expect anything in return. Wathen would nonetheless have increased his profile in the parish with such a significant and showy church object, which would have been visible to all his neighbours at Bible readings in the church.

Object Type Lectern
Year 1638
Material Brass
Discovered St Mary Radcliffe, Bristol
Keywords worshipping; praying; reading; giving; performing; displaying; self-fashioning; remembering; belief; charity; bible; church; memorial; brass
Image Credit Brass lectern, St Mary Radcliffe, Bristol (1638). Image by NotfromUtrecht, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported.

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