Seal Matrices

The Company is fortunate to possess the original seal matrices for the hospital and for the mistery of mercers. It is likely that the seal was made soon after the establishment of the hospital in the early 1370s. Although some have dated the present seal matrix to c. 1400, there is nothing, art historically, to prevent it being dated slightly earlier to the last quarter of the fourteenth century. There is no such uncertainty about the date of the seal of the mistery. The account roll for 1435 records the following entry: 'Item, payde for a grate sele, that is to say the common sele of the cumpany, 3s.'. The seal was lost to the Company for many years, and the earlier hospital seal is found for a time being used to seal Company documents. Dr Sellers records how the lost matrix was dug up at Shap Abbey in Westmorland in the 19th century and subsequently restored to the Company, where it is now back in use (Sellers, x).