Author Archives: Martin Haddrill

Panto Coming Home to Pilton Church Hall

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The history of theatrical productions in Pilton Church Hall goes back to at least 1923-24 and the play ‘Oliver’.  There’s a photograph on the archive.  The last play produced there was Noèl Coward’s ‘Blithe Spirit’ by Lord Basil’s Reformers in the autumn of 2014 and they also performed for a very successful Murder Mystery Evening ‘Who Killed the Hotel Manager?’ in December 2015.

The last pantomime produced in Pilton was ‘Cinderella’ in 2013 in the Green Man – but now Pilton Panto is back in its old home – Pilton Church Hall – being produced by Pilton Theatre Productions.  The plan is to put on a panto every February Half Term and this year’s is ‘Aladdin’, adapted and directed by Lee Smith.  It can be seen from 18th – 20th February.  This first production is being financially supported by the Pilton Green Man Day Committee and details of times and tickets can be found on www.piltonfestival.co.uk.

The Pilton Priory Seal

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Despite its modest size, Pilton Priory possessed quite a large and ornate seal.  It was all the more unusual for bearing images on both sides, each half being formed in its own metal matrix with three little ‘ears’ that allowed the two halves to be correctly aligned.

The Two Sides of the Pilton Priory Seal

Over 200 years after the suppression of Pilton Priory, both matrices came into the hands of John Bowle (1725-1788), a Wiltshire vicar and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries with a passion for Cervantes’ Don Quixote. Whether the Reverend Bowle (Don Bowle to his friends) was an extra proprietorial type or merely afraid of losing his acquisition, he had not one but both reverse sides of the matrices engraved with his name! Fortunately, future owners of the artefacts did not follow suit.

In the late 1870s, Pilton Priory’s seal matrices were acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.  Dr. Kirstin Kennedy, Curator in the Metalwork Section, re-examined these lovely Pilton artefacts and has also taken the time and trouble to bring together the information available and to produce a document about them. You can access this by clicking on this link: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O322757/seal-matrix/.