Introduction

imbashe cummings talks to charles whottell about why britain has locked these objects away and refuses, even now, to give them back. It's two thousand and four the reverend gabriel george stimse is in a british museum storeroom in blackfriars, not far from saint paul's cathedral, and he's praying. Most items stored here are kept to be displayed or studied. But not these ones brought to him at the desk. They've never been seen by the public, and they never will be. These items are sacred, and the british Museum accepts this. They're integral to the worship of an