3-047-032 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Pastoral staff given to the Bishop of Hereford, 1872. 'The clergy and laity of the diocese of Hereford lately presented a pastoral staff to their Bishop, the Rev. Dr. James Atlay. The staff, which has been made by Messrs. Cox and Sons, and exhibited in the International Exhibition, is carved out of a piece of oak which formed one of the pillars of the episcopal residence at Hereford, built about the year 1180. It is supposed that the tree of which this staff is made must have been growing long before the Norman Conquest, and possibly when the see was re-established by the Saxon Prelate Putta in the seventh century. The staff is 6 ft. 3 in. high, and is divided into four sections. In the centre of the crook is the carved figure of our Lord, with right hand erect, and emblems of Royalty in the left...while an angel with displayed wings, beneath the crook, carries a shield with the arms of the diocese. Silver is the only metal adopted; but the greater part of it has been oxidised, and relieved with gold and elaborate enamel-work. The projections are surrounded with metal bands, in which are set malachites and carbuncles cut in the ancient manner...Portions of the stem are plain, but the remainder has richly-carved patterns incised or in relief'. From "Illustrated London News", 1872.