Bishop Blomfield
Sir: I have been abroad, and find on my return that my letter on Bishop Blomfield's trowel appears in the issue of 19 March. Some confusuion was caused by your printing Aldgate for Bishopsgate, so I now quote the exact wording engraved on it:
Presented by the inhabitants of St Botolph Bishopsgate to their highly esteemed Rector The Right Rev. Charles James Lord Bishop of Chester at the laying of the first stone of the new Church in Skinner Street, Bishops- gate, on the 24 day of June 1828 as a slight
`You can quote me.'
but sincere mark of their regard and affec- tion, and in grateful acknowledgement of those spiritual exertions in promulgating the word of God, among his Parishioners, which rendered it necessary to erect this new Temple, and of those zealous endeavours by which it has been procured for them.
The punctuation I can show, but not the splendidly neat and flowery engraving all within a space of 5in x 3in on the reverse side of the spade. The handle is a solid 41/2in with a small cross atop the mitre. The maker's mark is IET at the front of the hallmark, which shows the London marks appropriate to the year 1828.
Camilla Williams,
Cross Roads, Currie, Midlothian
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