A WELSH MEDIEVAL OAK CHEST

The chest's use as a 'poor box' recalls the direction given at the start of Edward VI's reign that every parish should 'provide a strong chest with a hole in the upper part thereof, and having three keys, for the oblations and alms of the parishioners'. A related 16th century slab-ended chest in the Old Church, Esher, Surrey is illustrated in F. Roe, Ancient Church Chests and Chairs, London, 1929 (p.114, fig.88)..