Below the ruined arch, high on the cliff
at Hawkstone Park is the grotto in
which the cup was found.

Walter Langham, the man who found
the Marian Chalice in 1920.

The Marian Chalice.
Is this the real Holy Grail?

In this fascinating book, Graham Phillips goes in search of the artifact that may have inspired the legend of the Holy Grail.

The popular Arthurian stories of the Middle Ages depict the Holy Grail as the cup of the Last Supper which was used by the disciples to contain drops of Christ’s blood.  It is sought by King Arthur and his knights who believe that it has miraculous healing powers and would give eternal life to whoever drank from it.  However, in a much earlier tradition it was said to have been the vessel used by Jesus' follower Mary Magdalene to collect Christ’s blood after the Crucifixion.  Originally called the Marian Chalice, it was believed to have been sealed up in Jesus’ empty tomb where it remained for almost three hundred years.

After the Roman emperor Constantine the Great converted to Christianity in the early fourth century, his mother the empress Helena ordered the excavation of the Holy Sepulchre, the purported site of Christ’s tomb in Jerusalem.  During the excavation, a cup was found which many believed to be the Marian Chalice - the true Holy Grail.  According to legend, it was smuggled out of Rome in AD 410 when the city was sacked by barbarians.  What really happened to the relic is unknown, but well into the Middle Ages the legend persisted that it was taken safely to Britain, the last outpost of Roman civilization in western Europe.

In the Middle Ages a number of vessels were claimed to have been the true Grail, but only one was thought to be the Marian Chalice.  It was passed down through many generations of the Peverel family of Whittington Castle in the English Midlands. Ultimately, in the mid-nineteenth century it was hidden by a surviving member of the family who left clues to its whereabouts in a stained-glass window he bequeathed to the parish church of Hodnet in Shropshire.  It depicted the Grail being held by one of Jesus’ disciples with an image of an eagle above his head.  After many months Graham Phillips realized that the coded window referred to the stone statue of an eagle that stood in a grotto carved from solid rock, high in a cliff at nearby Hawkstone Park.

Unfortunately, the grotto was vandalized a few decades after the cup was hidden and Graham initially feared that it was lost forever.  However, after searching through the historical records of the area, he eventually learned that it had already been found. A local businessman named Walter Langham discovered the relic during repairs to the grotto in the early 1900s.  Remarkably, it was still in the hands of his descendants who had no idea of its significance.  In fact, they had it stored away with junk in the attic of their home in the Warwickshire town of Rugby.

The artifact is a small stone vessel made from pure onyx, about the size and shape of an eggcup.  It has been analyzed by the British Museum who identified it as a Roman spice jar dating from the first century AD.  Although it does not match the traditional representations of the Holy Grail, it does date from the actual time of Jesus.  Furthermore, it is a spice jar, and the Bible tells us that Mary Magdalene had gone to Christ’s tomb to anoint his body with spices.

In The Search for the Grail, Graham Phillips takes the reader on this exciting real-life quest to discover the historical Holy Grail.

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"Author Graham Phillips has carved out a niche for himself as an historical detective... now he has turned his investigative talents to another legend - the search for the Holy Grail... it’s an interesting read for anyone fascinated by the intertwining of history and myth" - Today

"If he is right, then Graham Phillips has found the cup of Christ" - Newsweek

"The Search for the Grail is ended" - Daily Mail

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English editions: HB Century 1995, PB Arrow 1996.

Foreign translations: Heyne (German), Sperling & Kupfer (Italian), Edhasa (Spanish), Tirion (Dutch), Bertelsmann (Polish).

New

The US edition of The Search for the Grail is now published under the title The Chalice of Magdalene.  To follow the trail of the Marian Chalice in detail please click on the image>