CIMRM 830 - Torchbearer (?). North wall; and the lost Handbridge statue. Chester, Britain.

CIMRM 830 is accessioned as CHEGM: 1999.6.171 (Haverfield's 171). Sandstone statue in the Grosvenor museum in Chester, Britain, of a man with crossed legs in eastern dress. Head is missing. It was found in the in the North Wall (West) in 1891 (that is the north section of the town wall). This is on display at the Grosvenor Museum.

The correct details may be found in the Richmond-Wright catalogue (1955), entry 169 (and see plate, left):

171, pl. XL.- Figure in high relief, 18 by 31 by 12 in., found in 1891 in the North Wall (West); cross-legged youth, with head now missing and arms broken and devoid of attributes. The attitude would fit Cautes, the fellow deity of Cautopates, but the absence of attributes precludes certainty. In any case, the whole piece was free-standing and did not match no. 169.

Haverfield's catalogue (1900) reads:

171. - Figure of a boy erect with legs crossed and arms spread out, draped to the knees, the head broken off, in bold relief, 30 inches high by 18 inches wide by 10 inches thick. Like 169 and 170, this may be Mithraic, but is more probably sepulchral. Found in the North Wall (West) in March 1891. See the Plates.

The CIMRM entry is hopelessly confused. It states that CIMRM 830 is Haverfield No. 169, but this is plainly CIMRM 831 which also references Haverfield 169. It also confuses Haverfield No. 171, found only in 1891, with the lost Handbridge item once owned before 1732 by a Mr Prescot.

CIMRM entry

830. Small stone statue, found at Chester in 1853 "built into a cellar wall in "White Friars". Still seen in Chester by Stukeley in 1725, when being in the possession of Mr. Pescot. Now lost; dimension unknown. Watkins, Roman Cheshire1, 191; Pannant, Tour Wales, I, 116; Horsley, Britannia Romana2, p.316 No. V and Pl. 67, V; Stukeley, Pal. Brit., III, 1752, p.33; MMM II p.390f No. 268; Haverfield, Cat. Grosv. Mus., p.78f No. 169 with fig. Standing torchbearer in Eastern attire and cross-legged. With both hands he holds a torch downwards.

Cumont's article is also confusing to the modern reader, as it lists three items for Chester. Two, TMMM II p.391, monument 269a and 269b, are plainly CIMRM 831 and CIMRM 832. TMMM II, p.390-391, Monument 268, is as follows:

268. DEVA. Small statue of stone found at Chester before the year 1725 [Stukely] near the river by the scite of the roman warrior i.e. the statue of Minerva in Handbridge[Watkin]. It is now lost. Reproduced: Horsley, Britannia Romana, London 1732, p.316, pl. 67, no. 5 [line-drawing]. Cited: Stukely, Paleographica Britannica, vol. 3 (1752), p.33. Camden, op. cit., [no. 270], I, p. 430; Watkin, Roman Cheshire, 1886, p.191.

2. The lost Handbridge statue (pre-1723)

The lost Handbridge statue. From: Horsley, Britannia Romana (1732), 316 No. V and Pl. 67.

The confusion is explicable if a fourth item, now lost, once existed.

Watkin states in 1889, before the discovery of the 1891 statue:

Horsley* says:- "Mr. Prescot has also a small statue of stone found near the river. It has a Phrygian bonnet, and holds a torch, as is supposed, at each end. This image may represent either Atys or Mithras," &c. He gives an engraving of it, which is, however, valueless from its rudeness. From it the figure seems to have the right leg crossed over the left, and the object which he speaks of as a torch is held diagonally across the breast. Foote Gower,+ speaking of Horsley's words, "near the river," says, quoting from Stone's Miscellanea, it was found "by the scite of the Roman warrior" (i.e., the figure of Minerva in Handbridge). He adds that it was then "the property of Mr. Prescot, Fellow of Catherine Hall, in Cambridge." Hemingway ++ says that it was cc in the possession of the late Rev. Mr. Prescot, of Stockport." This gentleman died in 1820, and if the statue had been in his possession, I think that it would have been cared for as well as the altar erected by Longus, and have descended to his son with the last named stone; but in 1874 nothing was known of it, nor was it sent with the altar to Chestor. It is therefore apparently lost.*** The figure is described both by Hemingway and Ormerod as having a little mantle across the shoulders, and a short jacket on the body. Instead of representing Mithras, as both Horsley and Stukeley thought it did, it was probably one of the usual attendants of that deity, who are generally represented - one with an upright and the other with an inverted torch. They are also sculptured cross-legged and with Phrygian caps. * Britannia Romana p.316 and fig. 5, Cheshire. + Addl. MSS., Brit. Mus. 11,838, p.99. ++ Hist. of Chester, vol. ii., p.351; see also Ormerod, vol. i., p.295. *** Stukeley, Iter Boreale p.32, apparently from Mr Prescot's information, says, "it was found under a niche of the wall between the East gate and the river."

Horsley's entry (1732) reads:

V. Mr Prescot has also a small statue of stone found near the river. It has a Phrygian bonnet, and holds a torch, as is supposed, at each end. This image may represent either Atys or Mithras. If it be Atys, what he holds in his hand must be a thick staff bent at the end. If Mithras, it may perhaps express the rays of the meridian sun by its situation; or rather the sun after it has passed the meridian a little; for the torch manifeftly declines, tho' not much. As Atys and Mithras both signify the sun, it is less material which of the two 'tis supposed to be. We have inscriptions in Britain DEO MITRAE and SOLI INVICTO, as I have shewn already.

To finish this litany of confusion, here is a map of Chester indicating some of the supposed find spots: