Letters
From Noel Currer-Briggs: In response to John McCormack's letter in Newsletter no.43 (pp33-5) concerning the 'Mandylion' stone with its unusual cross, in the Vale Church, Guernsey, Noel Currer-Briggs writes:
The cross on the Guernsey Vale church stone is a Templar cross. An illustration of their seal is appended [see right]:
Now it all makes sense. Geoffrey de Charny, the uncle of his namesake who first exhibited the Shroud at Lirey was Templar Master of Normandy. Guernsey, like the rest of the Channel Islands, came under the jurisdiction of the diocese of Coutances and Province of Rouen until the Reformation when they were transferred to Winchester. I have always believed that the Grail was the reliquary in which the Shroud was once kept, and that the lid of the Templecombe panel was the lid of the chest in which it was transported to England from France. It is, after all, carbon-dated to between 1298 and 1310.
A glance at the map shows you that Guernsey is the northernmost Channel Island of consequence and that it lies due south of Lyme Bay, which is the nearest point on the English Channel coast to Templecombe. If this discovery doesn't bear out the thesis that the Templars once owned both the Shroud and the Grail, I'll eat mon chapeau. It all hangs together almost too perfectly. It explains why the Templar Geoffrey de Charny was burnt, and why the Porte Oriflamme was entrusted with the Shroud. Keep it all in the family: a sound old principle....
Noel Currer-Briggs
3 High St., Sutton-in-the-Isle, Cambs CB6 2RB
[EDITOR'S APOLOGY: In the last Newsletter (no.43) one word was inadventently omitted from the concluding sentence of Noel Currer-Briggs letter reproduced on p.38. In the penultimate sentence the phrase 'the two cloths must have been in contact with another' should read 'the two cloths must have been in contact with one another.' Apologies to Noel Currer-Briggs for ruining his intended meaning!]
The British Society for the Turin Shroud was founded in 1977 to act as a forum for individuals from all walks of life sharing an interest in the Shroud mystery. For subscription/membership details contact: General Secretary, Dr. Michael Clift at 9 Glevum Close, Gloucester GL2 9JJ tel. 01452 532515