The Master's Gift 2023

At the end of the Court Luncheon on 27 April the Master, Jonathan Neame, unveiled a beautiful stained glass window celebrating the Brewers’ Company’s connection to its Patron Saint, Thomas Beckett, which he has gifted to the Company.

The window was commissioned from the Stained Glass Studios at Canterbury Cathedral, the site of Thomas Beckett’s martyrdom, and was designed and created by the Director of the Studios, Léonie Seliger. It features the Brewers’ Company’s current coat of arms, which were granted in 1544, atop its original arms which were used before this. The original arms of the Brewers’ Company incorporated the coat of arms of its Patron Saint, but when Beckett (a Catholic Saint) fell out of favour after the Reformation, the Company was required to amend its arms to avoid the King’s ire. Wanting to retain a reference to their Patron Saint, the cunning Brewers’ snuck in a much more subtle nod that wouldn’t get them into trouble. The new arms feature a woman who is supposed to be Beckett’s step mother, a Moorish princess who helped Beckett’s father, Gilbert, escape when he was taken prisoner in North Africa and later followed him to London and married him.

The window is now situated in the display lobby on the first floor of Brewers’ Hall, alongside a number of the Company’s treasures which demonstrate its history and connection to the brewing industry and its schools. These include the Company’s beautiful pall cloth, dating to the early 1500s, which itself features the original arms of the Brewers’ Company and had Beckett’s name picked out of its fine golden stitching after the Reformation. Standing in this room, surrounded by the Company’s history, the Master unveiled the window to the assembled Liverymen and guests. After the window was unveiled it was blessed by the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, The Very Reverend Andrew Tremlett, who said “Dear friends, we gather to bless and dedicate this window to the glory of God and our inspiration. We give thanks for the minds that conceived its beauty, for the hands that crafted its glory, for the generosity that afforded its splendour, and for the Brewers who shall look upon it in wonder.”

The unveiling of the window is the final stage of a fantastic initiative by the Master to raise awareness and funds for the Brewers’ Company General Charitable Trust. This included the Master’s Sponsored Pilgrimage to Canterbury, during which he, the Clerk, the Beadle and a number of volunteers from Shepherd Neame Brewery walked 60 miles of the Pilgrims Way in Kent to the shrine of Thomas Beckett in Canterbury Cathedral. At the end of the Pilgrimage, the Master received the window to take back to Brewers’ Hall from its creator and the Archdeacon of the Cathedral. 

The Company is extremely grateful to the Master for his generosity in presenting this gift which future visitors to Brewers’ Hall will be able to enjoy for years to come.