Proceedings at Meetings of the Royal Archæological Institute February 5, 1885

Excavation of the Franciscan friary church at Hartlepool revealed an apparent two phase stone construction, preceded by an aisled timber building. An initial long narrow church of c.1240 was extended by the addition of a nave and north aisle. An extensive series of burials from beneath the church floor and from the friary burial ground provides useful pathological information, whilst a range of worked stone and other building materials, together with evidence for window manufacture, provides information on the fabric of the building. After the Dissolution the friary site was occupied by a mansion.     

On a Newly Recovered Runic Monument at Kirk Braddan,in the Isle of Man

The medieval wall-paintings formerly in the south aisle of St Andrew's Church, Headington, Oxford, have not hitherto been either comprehensively or accurately recorded. This paper seeks to remedy this, especially as one of the subjects, the legend of the Miraculous Cornfield on the Flight into Egypt, is otherwise unknown among surviving English medieval wall-paintings. Another of the subjects has never been satisfactorily identified, and it will be suggested that it represents one of the miracles of St Clement of Rome, another unique subject.     

Traces of History and Ethnology in the Local Names of Gloucestershire

Aspects of burial custom in Roman Britain which seem to be influenced by Roman ideas include burials found accompanied by coins, eggs, charcoal, phials, which once contained perfume, and ritual objects, such as jugs and pateras. The implications of these customs are considered together with the significance of symbolism displayed on tombstones. Discussion of funerary ritual, as it might have been practised in Roman Britain, includes the portrayal of the funerary banquets on tombstones. It is concluded, on the evidence available, that burial custom, like religious thought, was a matter of personal choice, partly because the Romans did not attempt to prescribe funerary practice, except in the law relating to the positioning of cemeteries, and partly because of the strong influence of Celtic religious belief surviving in Roman Britain.     

The Royal Councils of Worcester

The possible existence of a Roman signal station at Whitby has a significant impact upon the study of the Roman defensive system of the North Yorkshire coast and our understanding of the Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical topography of the area. Whitby lies at the mouth of the River Esk and its associated harbour on the North Yorkshire coast, amidst an intervisible chain of five known signal stations, but is perhaps best known for its Anglo-Saxon monastery founded by the Northumbrian king Oswy in A.D. 657. No absolute archaeological evidence of a signal station at Whitby exists, but the toponym suggests that the site had an association with a signal station or watchtower. It is clear that the existing stations were designed to function as a cohesive system, given their similar form and contemporary dates: communication and intervisibility were therefore essential aspects of this defensive network. Despite this, the stations to the north and south of Whitby—those at Goldsborough and Ravenscar respectively—are not intervisible. A station positioned at Whitby would effectively close this gap in the system.

Attempting to reconcile the near complete absence of archaeological remains with the place-name and geographical evidence, this paper uses geologically determined erosion rates to examine the possibility that such a station existed on the more than three hundred metres of coastal land that has eroded since the Roman period. In doing so it addresses the extent to which archaeologists can reconstruct and work with an ancient coastline on a local scale. Having established the probability of a ‘lost’ station, the paper discusses the results of a GIS viewshed application which address the feasibility of such a station's intervisibility from its neighbouring station to the south. The concluding sections investigate the stations' possible form.     

Report on the Progress of the Excavations at Wroxeter,the Roman Urioconium

An evaluation exercise, involving geophysical survey and limited excavation, was undertaken on a site where aerial photography indicated the presence of a number of substantial timber buildings. The work demonstrated that the site was of the early medieval period and that the buildings possessed structural characteristics comparable to those found on other excavated high status sites of the sixth to seventh centuries. Following the evaluation exercise the site was designated as a monument of national importance (Wilts 917).     

Traces of History and Ethnology in the Local Names in Gloucestershire

In the summer of 1996, excavations outside the Chapter House at Worcester Cathedral revealed a chamber filled with animal bones and a considerable quantity of artefacts. Analysis of this material suggests that this deposit constituted the remains of one or more high status meals, probably a feast, which were disposed of in the seventeenth century. These archaeological findings are supported and amplified by the extensive documentary evidence, which not only includes historical anecdotes but also primary source material. In combination, the historical and zooarchaeological evidence sheds light not only upon the feasting practice of the ecclesiastics at Worcester, but also on the condition of the Cathedral at the end of the seventeenth century in the aftermath of the Civil War.