On a Monumental Effigy in Coningtion Church,Huntingdonshire

The well-known Norman motte at Abinger is identified as the caput of a small estate created by subinfeudation in c. 1100.     

On Salisbury Cathedral

Abstract

In his last will and testament, dated January 1514, Sir Henry Vernon detailed his intent that a chapel should be founded at the collegiate church of St Bartholomew at Tong, as a final resting place for himself and his wife, and as a chantry for the souls of his family. Completed, it seems, by early 1519, the form of the chapel and its decoration indicates that Sir Henry was commemorated in the artistic language of the very finest contemporary chantry projects. Indeed, a number of the chapel's features are directly copied from the most illustrious of all late medieval chantries: Henry VII's chapel at Westminster Abbey. The chapel, physically and institutionally, also offers insight into the nature of late medieval piety. Unusually, the foundation makes no explicit charitable provision, long established as a central element of the contemporary doctrine of salvation. Yet the chantry-chapel was a physical and institutional appendage to a 'family' mausoleum, whose collegiate function had a strong charitable element. As such, the chapel suggests that, although chantries and tombs were themselves intensely personal, spiritual legacies were viewed in the same way as territorial interests: as inherited familial institutions, which could and should be augmented, rather than enterprises by, and limited to, individuals. In short, through its location, form and decorative scheme, the chapel demonstrates that, whilst numbering in their hundreds by the Reformation, such chapels were far from simply formulaic expressions of piety. Rather, they could serve as the vehicle for the creation of a very specific identity for the chapel's founder.     

On the Glazing of the North Rose Window of Lincoln Cathedral

Upton Court (Pl. VIIA) is a timber-framed open hall house, dated by dendrochronology to c. 1330. The building appears to have been the work of Merton Priory, the holders of the manor of Upton from the twelfth century until the Dissolution. As originally built the house comprised an ailsed hall range and a jettied upper end cross wing. The open hall truss is of particular interest in that it is a hammer beam variant of unusual construction. The building was recorded by the Threatened Buildings Section of the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England prior to, and in the course of, an extensive programme of alterations and restorations.     

Behind the Romanesque Frieze at Lincoln Cathedral

The purpose of this short article is to put on record the archaeological observations made between 1990 and 2002 during the decade of stonework conservation on the northern run of the frieze panels on the west front of Lincoln Cathedral. It is not concerned with the frieze sculpture itself but with its stones and the spaces behind the stones. Equally, this article is not an assessment of the sculpture and its dating but is an archaeological investigation which potentially has wider implications for the sequence of construction and carving of the Romanesque frieze now visible at Lincoln.     

The Choir of Auxerre Cathedral and the Question of a Burgundian Gothic Architecture

Despite criticisms, the classification of the choir of Auxerre Cathedral as Burgundian persists in recent literature. Yet the cathedral’s choir, begun c. 1215, demonstrates the problematic nature of the existing regional categories for French medieval architecture. Based on the 19th-century idea of progress, the conceptual model that conceives Gothic France as consisting of ‘centre and periphery’ and notions such as regional styles or period styles are deeply at odds with medieval concepts of innovation as inclusive of tradition, as evidenced in the biography of Bishop William of Auxerre (1207–20). Indeed, 20th-century studies in support of the classification are contradicted by recent archaeological findings, and neither the historical evidence nor the architectural evidence support a Burgundian label for the choir. The architecture’s distinctly trans-regional character with a mixture of both traditional and up-to-date architectural elements as well as the fact that patronal identities were strongly based on local affiliations and not attached to the duchy of Burgundy, invite a profound reconsideration not only of the position of the choir in the architectural landscape of the early 13th century but also of Gothic architecture of north-eastern France in more general terms.     

Integrated near-surface geophysical survey of the Cathedral of Mallorca

This paper describes an integrated near-surface geophysical study carried out in order to obtain high-resolution images of the shallow subsurface under and around the Cathedral of Mallorca. The study was a part of a global project focused on determining the state of the building structure and on evaluating the Cathedral's dynamical behaviour (natural frequencies and vibration modes). Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and the capacitively coupled resistivity method were used to obtain 2D images of the shallow subsurface. Refraction microtremor array measurements (ReMi) were also used to characterize the rock and soil properties and several invasive boreholes provided detailed and exact information on the stratigraphy. The information from the geophysical data was used to determine a final model of the ground, with indications of the most likely vulnerable zones.     

Postscript: on the Original Nave Of Ripon Cathedral

Abstract

The final two centuries of the Middle Ages are conventionally considered a period in which castles and castle-building were in decline. ‘The Decline of the Castle’ and ‘Decline’ are the titles of chapters dealing with this period in books written by Allen Brown. In each case the contrast with what went before is strongly emphasised: the previous chapters are named ‘The Perfected Castle’ and ‘Apogee’. In the same vein, these final centuries after c. 1300 have been described as ‘the period of decline in use but survival in fantasy’ in a recent authoritative account, significantly entitled The Decline of the Castle. Our view of this period is different. We consider that the castles of the later Middle Ages show a steady development, not a decline, and the main elements of that development can already be traced in buildings of the ‘Golden Age’.