Annual Meeting, 1851

The choir-stalls from St Katherine's-by-the-Tower, c. 1365, are the only ones to survive, in part, from the important group of English metropolitan royal ecclesiastical furniture commissions of the mid-fourteenth century. It will be argued that the surviving seating with many of its misericords provides important clues as to the much-debated stylistic origins of the later fully-canopied choir-stalls at Lincoln, c. 1370 and Chester, c. 1390, cathedrals. It will be suggested that the loss of the most important royal commissions at St Stephen's Chapel, Westminster and St George's Chapel, Windsor, is mitigated to some extent by the remarkable but incomplete survival of the choir-stalls at St Katherine's Hospital.     

Twenty-First Annual Meeting,Ipswich

Abstract

Lodge Farm is a stone first-floor hall house of the early fifteenth century built for Henry V or VI. Documentary sources suggest that it was the residence of the head park keeper, warrener and forester of Kingston Lacy manor.

Refurbishment of the building in 1986–9 was accompanied by a full archaeological and photographic survey. Archaeological excavation, in advance of underpinning, revealed archaeological features below the foundations. Ditches and post-holes contained pottery dating to the Early Iron Age. Two lengths of ditch, separated by a causeway, are interpreted as part of a deer park boundary. The fillings of the deer-park ditches contained building debris of thirteenth- to fifteenth-century-date, probably from an earlier lodge. A dump of fallow deer antlers within the north ditch filling was dated by radiocarbon analysis to A.D. 1325–1415 A.D. at I sigma.

A study of documentary sources shows Lodge Farm to be an important building within the hunting land of the medieval manor of Kingston Lacy which, in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, was associated with rabbit farming.     

Annual Meeting at Colchester, 1876

The evidence for the reconstruction of building C12 at Cowdery's Down is reconsidered and an alternative structure proposed. In this, the massive inset slots by the doorways are identified as holding door jambs. A common-rafter roof is proposed, and it is suggested that any floor boarding would have been set directly on the ground and not suspended.     

Thirty-Fourth Annual Meeting,Llangollen, 1877

Abstract

The mutilated remains of the choir furniture in this remote parish church disclose the evidence of a 14th-century double-credal decorative scheme. It is a unique British survival of this iconography in the medium. This paper analyses the monument in terms of patronage, style and dating, and recounts its remarkable afterlife. In attempting to place it within an English medieval credal context, it is apparent that, in any medium, such schemes are a rarity. As a result, possibly with one important exception, relating to the chapel glass at Hampton Court, Herefordshire, the subject has neither lent itself to the publication of a wide-ranging archaeological monograph, nor to an adequate discussion of the central importance of the creed and its visual expression in catholic Christian theology. As well as bringing to light the history and archaeology of the Astley programme, it was necessary to make amends by conducting a survey of medieval credal schemes in all media surviving in Europe, including the late-medieval Savoyard group of choir-stalls, with their carved-wood figures of prophets and apostles on the seat backs.     

Thirty-First Annual Meeting,Bristol, 1874

Abstract

A new survey of Grey Abbey has identified hitherto unsuspected areas of restoration, especially around the sedilia and west front. Measurement of the surviving walls and study of the collection of architectural fragments has enabled outline reconstruction drawings of the church and monastic buildings to be made. Survey of the loose stonework identified substantial elements of the chapter-house, day room and cloister arcades. Comparison with material at Christ Church Cathedral Dublin shows that the chapter-house vault ribs at Grey were identical in profile to some thought to have originated in the aisles of the cathedral, a building strongly influenced stylistically by sources in the West Country of England.     

Thirty-Second Annual Meeting,Evesham, 1875

Abstract

This paper considers the sculpted capitals in Wells cathedral. Although integral to the early Gothic fabric, they have hitherto eluded close examination as either a component of the building or as an important cycle of ecclesiastical imagery in their own right. Consideration of the archaeological evidence suggests that the capitals were introduced mid-way through the building campaigns and were likely the products of the cathedral's masons rather than part of an original scheme for the cathedral as a whole. Possible sources for the images are considered. The distribution of the capitals in lay and clerical spaces of the cathedral leads to discussion of how the imagery might have been meaningful to different audiences on either side of the choir screen.