MW_027 Purbeck Marble Portable Altar

3D Model

This object is polished on one side and left rough on the other. It was initally interpreted as a paver common across all medieval cathedrals in England but these are usually square rather than rectangular. There is also the issue of why there is only one on the site, if this was a paving slab you would expect more on the site suggesting that maybe it was salvaged?

However Dominique Beneult found a slab of the same dimentions in Normandy which had been consecrated to act as a portable altar. This could suggest that this object was on its way to a Cathedral where it could be consecrated by a bishop and be used for the sacretments in places that may not have access to churches. Other examples of purbeck stlye altars of this dimention have been noted in Coventry, Abbey Dore and Great Milton.