MUMMIFIED remains of one of Jesus’s apostles took centre stage amid high security as hundreds flocked to see Marlow’s historical secrets laid bare on Saturday.

The Marlow Society coordinated the annual Marlow Heritage Open Day - an English Heritage initiative for the public to explore their area’s historical buildings and artefacts.

Some of the town’s oldest and most impressive buildings, centred around St Peter Street, were opened for residents to snoop around.

And the world-famous remains of the hand of St James the Apostle were on show in St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, after a two thousand year journey saw it end up in Marlow.

The BFP’s Michael Eagleton, curating a photo exhibition in the Pugin Rooms as part of the open day, said: "A steady stream of visitors entered the pretty little church, most being moved by the sight of the hand enclosed in a small glass casket.

"It is now tiny, shrivelled and blackened, but seems likely to have been the first hand to accept the chalice from Jesus at the Last Supper."

Other attractions included an exhibition in Marlow’s Masonic Centre, charting the 80 years since the Freemasons assumed ownership of the 19th century gothic-style former public meeting hall.

And the gardens of The Deanery were opened up, with visitors able to see the property’s medieval window, the oldest in Marlow, which dates back nearly 700 years.

Marlow Society’s Harriet Wilson said: "Deanery Gardens were much appreciated by all the visitors particularly as the owner of the property was kind enough to host all day and fill guests in on the history of the house, back to 1340, and the beautiful garden with 500-year-old mulberry tree."

The day also featured an exhibition from the Marlow Remembers WWI group, which explained its ongoing work during the four-year centenary of the conflict, during which 800 Marlow men left to fight, with 200 not returning.

 

The BFP'S Michael Eagleton explains the background to the hand of St James, and charts the extraordinary travels of the important religious artefact.

Probably the biggest attraction lay inside St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church. It witnessed a very rare public appearance of a world famous relic. On display (with considerable security!) was the church’s most prized possession - the mummified hand of St. James the Apostle.

The travels and ownership of this much prized artefact can be traced and documented throughout the majority of its two millennium history.

Most recently in 1786, it was discovered in the ruins of Reading Abbey where it had been buried to avoid the destructions of the Reformation. After a few decades displayed in Reading Museum, it was purchased by Buckinghamshire M.P. Charles Scott-Murray, of Danesfield House, a devoted Catholic.

Nearing the end of his life he donated it to the Marlow Church that he had financed - St. Peter’s, designed by Augustus Pugin.

The then Rector of St. Peter’s, Father John Morris, anxious to settle the controversy that has always surrounded the hand, travelled to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostella in Italy, which houses the shrine of St.James.

Somehow he managed to get the tomb unsealed, and the body of the Saint was found to be missing its left hand, the metacarpal bones matching the St. Peter’s Church relic. Even that did not satisfy some sceptics, and in the 1970s, Marlow solicitor and church supporter Gerry Lake paid for an early form of carbon dating, with the support of Rector Father Gaffney.

This appeared to confirm the assumed date of close to two thousand years.