Victorian antiquarian returns to share knowledge on Epping Forest treasures

11:09am Wednesday 3rd February 2010

By Claire Hack

AS Epping Forest District Museum prepares for a visit from beyond the grave from Victorian antiquarian William Winters, CLAIRE HACK finds out more about some of the treasures he will speak on.

Mr Winters will of course be played by an actor but the real focus of his visit will be the various antiquities on display at the museum.

These include the world-famous Waltham Abbey Bible, touted by the BBC as being one of the 100 most important artefacts in history, featuring in its History of the World programme on Radio 4.

The Bible, which is believed to date from about 1200 AD, is the only object surviving from the original Abbey library.

Biblical, philosophical, medicinal and legal texts were all destroyed, as well as a Latin translation of Homer's Iliad.

The book contains a list of 126 other texts in the once distinguished collection and an inscription inside suggests it belonged to the Prior, who was the second-most important official at the Abbey.

It is not lavishly decorated as many Bibles of the time were, meaning it was probably used for personal study rather than public display.

Written on 238 pages of parchment in tiny Latin script, the Bible contains both the Old and New Testaments.

The parchment, or vellum, which was made from treated animal skins, was damaged during the treatment process but it was so expensive that the scribe who copied the text used it anyway.

The museum also features gold coins found in Abridge, dating from the reign of Edward III in the 14th century.

A total of six coins were uncovered in 2002, with a face value of about £1,000 in modern terms, and were believed to have been deliberately buried.

They would have been worth £2 when they were first made and were known as “nobles”.

The museum was able to buy the coins in 2004 with the help of a grant from the National Arts Collections Fund, financial support from Waltham Abbey Historical Society and Loughton and District Historical Society, as well as cash from the museum purchase fund.

Nobles were the first English coins produced in large quantities and were first introduced during Edward III's reign but fell out of use during Edward IV's reign, about 100 years later.

William Winters was a 19th-century antiquarian and wrote The History of the Ancient Parish of Waltham Abbey or Holy Cross.

Talks on the treasures on display at the museum, in Sun Street, will take place on February 13 and 20, between 11am and 1pm and 2pm and 4pm on both days.

His book was published in 1888 and was considered to be one of the most important texts on the history of Waltham Abbey.