The Whittington relic said to be the Marian Chalice disappeared until the mid nineteenth century when one of Fulk’s descendents, a Shropshire writer named Thomas Wright, claimed that the cup had been handed down to him by his ancestors.  It was described as a small stone cup made from green alabaster, also known as onyx.  Only one depiction of it still survives, in an illustration made by Wright’s friend and contemporary artist Arthur Mede.  In a biblical scene showing Mary Magdalene washing the feet of Jesus, beside her on the floor is the scent jar which she is said to have used to collect the blood of Christ.  It seems to be about three inches tall, shaped like an eggcup with a lid.   Rightly or wrongly, Thomas Wright was in no doubt that this cup was the original Holy Grail.

In 1855, with no children to hand it on to, Thomas Wright decided to hide the cup for posterity.  Presumably seeing himself as some kind of latter-day Merlin, Wright claimed to have left an elaborate trail of clues which he said led to its hiding place.  These were alluded to in a poem he published in 1855.  Called Sir Gawain and the Red Knight, it tells the story of Arthur’s knight Gawain’s quest to discover the Holy Grail, which he identifies with the Marian Chalice.  The story is set in Wright’s native Shropshire, beginning at the White Castle at Whittington and ending with Gawain finding the Grail at the Red Knight’s castle called the Red Castle.  This was another historical building, some ten miles east of Whittington in the grounds of the country estate of Hawkstone Park.

Right: The remains of the medieval Red Castle built into the cliffs of Hawkstone Park.

The first page from Thomas Wright’s book.

At the end of the poem, once he has drunk from the Grail, Gawain decides to hide it again in a new location.  It is not revealed where he hides the cup, and the story ends cryptically with Gawain standing on the battlements of the Red Castle, looking out over the landscape and contemplating its hiding place.

Was the Marian Chalice really hidden somewhere in Shropshire countryside in 1855?  Was it still there to be found?  Did Thomas Wright’s poem really hold a secret message to reveal where it was?  As no one seemed to have solved the riddle, in the 1990s - almost a century and a half after the poem was published - Graham Phillips decided to investigate.

On the opening page of the book in which the poem was originally published, there is an illustration showing the White Castle at Whittington and a cryptic quote by an anonymous British essayist:

If my readers should at any time remark that I am particularly dull, they may be assured there is a design under it.

The design “under” the quote was two lines of Roman numerals at the bottom of the page which in modern numbers were:

As they appeared to have no purpose or obvious relevance to the poem, Graham decided that these numbers may have formed some kind of code.  But if it was a code, how could it be deciphered? 

After much research, Graham concluded that the final verse of the poem held the vital key to the code.  On the last page of the book there was an illustration of the Red Castle and under it the last enigmatic verse which read:

The Shepherd’s Songs to guide the way,

The horn was blown,

The treasure lay.

Could this mean that the “Shepherd’s Songs” would guide the way to the treasure – the Marian Chalice?  If so, what were the mysterious Shepherd’s Songs?

Right: The last page from Thomas Wright’s book.

After following many dead-end avenues of research Graham eventually hit upon the idea that the Shepherd’s Songs could refer to the Psalms of the Bible.  The Old Testament Psalms are ancient religious songs that were said to have been written by the Israelite king David who was, according to the Bible, a simple shepherd before becoming the Israelite hero by slaying the Philistine giant Goliath.  The Psalms were indeed “shepherd’s songs” and they were preserved in a book that was the most widely available book in the world.  Had Thomas Wright decided to use verses from the Psalms to somehow lead to where he had hidden the Marian Chalice?  Perhaps this was the key to the mysterious numerals.  If so, then the first line might indicate the number of the Psalm (each of the 150 Psalms are ascribed a number in the Bible) and the second line could refer to the verse in the relevant Psalm.

The first number in the top line was 132, and the first number in the lower line was 17.   Did this, Graham wondered, mean that the 17^th verse of Psalm 132 was the first clue in the search for the treasure.  The second number on the top line was 31, and the first number of the second line was 3.  This might mean that the second clue was the 3^rd verse of Psalm 31 – and so on.

When Graham consulted the Bible and read the first possible clue, he was sure he was on to something.

Psalm 132, verse 17 reads:  There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed.

It seemed beyond coincidence that the verse should refer to the shepherd David and a horn ‑ the last verse of Wright’s poem included the line “the horn was blown”.  Was Wright assuring his reader that he or she was on the right track?  The reference to the lamp in the Psalm verse may even have been used to indicate a guiding light, the following verses perhaps?

The second numbers in the sequences are 31 and 3: Psalm 31, verse 3 reads:  For thou art my rock and my fortress: therefore for my name's sake lead me, and guide me.

Again the reference seemed to correlate with a search – “lead me, and guide me” ‑ but where? The verse included mention of a rock and a fortress and in Wright’s poem Gawain stood on the battlements of the Red Castle.  The Red Castle is a fortress built into the rocks.  Is this what the conundrum was referring to?  Graham decided to go to the Red Castle to see if the next Psalm verse might be a reference to some other landmark in the vicinity.