School seal

Governors Seal 1566

In 1995, the then Headmaster, Mr Mellor received a surprise letter from a Mrs Majorie Morrison of Peterborough with some news about the school's ancient seal. Mrs Morrison's letter tells the story of its discovery. 'Before the last war, in the mid 1930s, my mother attended a house sale in Sandwich. The owner of the house, an elderly Colonel had died and everything was being sold. My mother bought a small oak table - and it was not until it was delivered to our house in Eastry did we find there were many more items, including two old portable writing desks. In one of the desks my mother found an old seal. According to the inscription on the back, it is the Governor Seal of Sir Roger Manwood's School in Sandwich'. The seal was kindly forwarded to school and it was in the safe keeping of Colin Worman of the OMA and it now sits in the school safe. 

Local historian, William Boys (1735 - 1803) wrote that the seal was supposed to have been kept with Sandwich Corporation's seals but had clearly become separated. Research by the Canterbury Cathedral Archives, who looked at the seal in 1997 revealed that, 'The seal is impressed on a thin film of wax , covered with what looks like another film of lead, on a leather base. One wonders, if it was indeed intended to act as a seal, how it was attached to a document, as there is no sign of tags or strings. One of my colleagues thought it might be a sort of exhibit.' 

The front of the seal has been heavily damaged over time as you can see in the picture below. On its reverse is written “The Governors seal of Roger Manwoods Grammar School in Sandwich. This seal wich is of silver and lodge in a shallow cell cut in small round piece of Oak at the back of which is marked with a pen March 1566”.

This is quite different from how it probably looked when it was first struck - see the images below. As the school's history (a History of Sir Roger Manwood's School, written by John Kavell and Brian Kennett) says "Also in 1566 the governors' seal was cast in silver. It embodied Roger Manwood's arms, entwined in a motto chosen for the school by the founder, Sinite parvulos venire ad me." This comes from Matthew 19:14. That translates as “Let the Little Children Come to Me”. The full text of versus 13 - 16 of Matthew’s gospel is (in the translation in the New International Version) “People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.”