Our speaker today, Ian Roberts, will talk about the new archaeological insights which have emerged from the work on Wakefield Cathedral and St Giles’ Church, Pontefract. He writes: ‘The major re-ordering which involves the excavation of historic church interiors is a relatively rare occurrence. However, in the last five years, two of West Yorkshire’s medieval churches have had extensive floor renewals, providing archaeological opportunities to investigate and reassess long-standing ideas about their development, based upon Victorian observations.’
The lecture will be in the Swarthmore Centre today at 2pm. Our AGM has been postponed until next month.
I regret to inform readers that we have just received the news that Professor Sarah Rees Jones, who had stepped in to give the Medieval Section lecture tomorrow afternoon at Swarthmore in place of Dr Peter Addyman has had to pull out due to ill health. In the circumstances we cannot find another replacement in the time avalable, so we regret that the lecture will have to be cancelled. Please pass this news on to anyone you know who you think may not receive it via this means, or through the Medieval section mailing list and blog.
I am delighted to be able to share the news that Booths the printers have informed David Asquith, our Acting Honorary Editor, that they are dispatching the new-look section journal Medieval Yorkshiretoday. The box is being sent to Claremont and ought to be available for collection in the next week. Better still, why not come along to the lecture by Tony Abramson of Yorkshire Numismatics Society on Northumbrian sceats at 2pm on Saturday 14th February and you can collect your copy (if you are paid up member) and enjoy the presentation.
You may be grumbling about seeing premature Xmas advertisements on the TV but we need to plan our December meeting. As many of you will know, it is a long-since well-established custom of the Medieval Section to hold a Xmas tea after the lecture in December. We had planned originally to invite someone from the Newport Ship project to talk on 13th December but, because of the speaker’s changed family circumstances (there has been a new addition to the family), that arrangement has, sadly but understandably, fallen through.
However, I am very pleased to tell you that Robert Richards has kindly agreed to talk to us about All Saints Church in York.
Medieval Section Xmas party (2013)
Last year’s meeting was very enjoyable as I’m sure those who attended will testify (see above).
I attended yesterday’s AGM at which a report was made about the proposed dramatic but probably inevitable changes: the transfer to University of Leeds Brotherton Library of the society’s archive and library and the closing of Claremont prior to sale.
The reason for these changes is the society’s difficult financial situation. Money raised from subscriptions has gone down and the society is no longer able to afford the upkeep of the Claremont building and other expenses. Indeed it is only thanks to the generosity of members and an exceptional level of donations and legacies that the society has been able keep itself in the black over the last few years. Brian Barber, the Treasurer, is confident that the society can support itself over the next year but the deficit is unsustainable.
The result for members of the society and section members is that in future we will have to go to the Brotherton Library to access the library. This is very sad because one of the great benefits of membership has been the privilege of browsing the bookshelves at Claremont. The transfer agreement allows YAS members to access the University of Leeds’ collection, so, as one wag described it on Saturday, it could be seen as an extension of the library… Society members will be treated as external readers.
The University will not accept duplicates of books it already has on its shelves and one consequence of this is that the Medieval Section will be asked to identify books which the section has bought in the past specially for the library. If you can think of books we have bought as a section please would you let me know so that Kirsty can mark them up on the shelves in the library as requiring special treatment. An appeal was made for volunteers to help Kirsty with preparing for the move. If you might be able to help please contact the library in advance so that this can be planned. There will be discussion with all the sections about what happens to section books. It was stressed that this work is at an early stage but we do need to identify books affected by the move on which we would have a claim as a section.
At yesterday’s AGM a proposal was made to transfer the Wakefield Court Rolls to West Yorkshire Records Office which now has support for a new premises. The Management Board was not in favour of such a transfer and after discussion a vote was taken and the proposal was turned down by a substantial majority.
Meetings will be held elsewhere at a venue still to be decided. For those Medieval Section members who attend the monthly lectures this will mean a change of venue but all I can do is keep you informed via the Section blog and by post if necessary. The Medieval Section Committee will continue to organise lectures but I cannot tell you yet where they’ll be held. Sylvia Thomas appealed at the following Council meeting in the afternoon for members to let her know what facilities they’d like to see at a new Society venue. There will have to be meeting room with AV facilities. I have requested that the new venue also has a kitchen a space for consumption of buffet type food because of the Section’s popular Xmas tea. The Society will keep runs of its publications for reference at the new site. It is not clear whether it will buy or rent new premises at the present time.
The library at Claremont will be open until the end of the year but after January there will be restricted opening: open as normal on a Saturday but open only by appointment Tuesday to Thursday.
New volume of the Wakefield Court Rolls
One last bit of news: the next volume of the Wakefield Court Rolls has been published. The price is £9 for members.
Since coming close to being wound up at its AGM in April 2013, the Medieval Section has, with the appointment of new officers and new committee members, been more active over the last year. The section has offered eight lectures and an excursion to see the ‘lost’ 1066 battlefield of Fulford with Chas Jones (September 2013).
Arms and armour of the time of Fulford
It is invidious to single out any of our speakers but one of the much-anticipated highlights of the lecture programme was the talk about the discovery of Richard III’s remains given by Bob Woosnam-Savage from the Royal Armouries in Leeds. This was followed by the traditional Medieval Section Christmas buffet.
Bob Woosnam-Savage’s lecture about Richard III’s remains
Attendance at the monthly lectures, which lapsed several years ago, has been slowly growing. In October Pam Judkins talked to the section about the commemoration of the funeral procession for Richard Duke of York organised by Wakefield Historical Society. November’s talk on ‘Aethelfrith of Northumbria’s lost battlefield?’ by Bryan Sitch presented the results of a recent study of human remains in the Manchester Museum collection that appear to be casualties of the Battle of Chester, described in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People. In January Simon Tomson of Pontefract Archaeological Society gave a talk about ‘Finding Pontefract ‘s Black Friars’; and in February Stuart Wrathmell discussed ‘New approaches to Anglo-Saxon settlement and place-names: the Vale of Pickering and the northern Wolds’. In March Rebecca Griffiths from the Portable Antiquities Scheme presented recent Medieval discoveries from Yorkshire. We have just had our first AGM under the new committee (April 2014) after which Dr Hugh Willmott (University of Sheffield spoke about Monk Bretton Priory). Lecture meetings are something of a social occasion too because we usually retire to the Claremont kitchen for tea and a chat with the speaker. Summaries of each of the lectures will be posted on the blog for the benefit of members who could not attend. The officers and committee are grateful to each of the speakers for kindly giving up their time to help the section at a challenging time.
Speaker Rbecca Griffiths and Section Member David Harpin at the recent lecture about the P.A.S.
With some new members joining but a few resignations and the sad loss of long-standing members who have passed away over the last year, including Anna Slowikowski, Prof Jennings, Mrs Pickles and Mr Rushton, membership has remained about the same at about 120. However, with funds firmly in the black, a new programme of lectures being planned and proposals for a visit to see places of medieval interest in Manchester and for a day-school on the ‘lost kingdom’ of Elmet, the section can look forward to consolidating and building on its year of recovery.
One officer post still to fill is the position of Honorary Editor because there ‘catch-up’ volumes of the section journal Medieval Yorkshire still to bring to publication. Publication of the section journal sadly lapsed several years ago. One of our existing Committee members has indicated that she would like to step down and this provides an opportunity for someone new to join the committee. As we usually meet before the Saturday afternoon lecture meeting it is not onerous. Do contact me if you’d like to discuss joining the committee – but before the AGM on Saturday 12th April if possible at.yas.medievalsec@gmail.com If you are not a member, the section subscription is £16 per year. If you are a member of Yorkshire Archaeological Society the subscription is just £6. There is a very competitive student subscription too.
One notable addition to the section’s offer to its members has been the creation of this Medieval Section blog. Taking the section into the area of social media has been very much a new undertaking for the section and this at a time when a significant proportion of the membership does not use email. If you have not already sent me you email address, do please let me have it because it saves the section a small fortune in postage. If you do not have computer access we will send you mailings by post. However, the number of visitors and visits to the Medieval Section website has gradually grown over the year. I am very grateful to Sue Alexander for looking after the website and for providing the graph below showing how the number of visitors to the website and blog has steadily grown over the last year. Though I say it myself I think it tells its own story. The blog offers a quick and convenient way of finding out what is happening in medieval history and archaeology in the county and further afield.
Visits to the Medieval Website (including the Blog) over the last year
Bryan Sitch
Hon Secretary
Medieval Section
17th March 2014
Saturday’s meeting at Claremont to discuss the relationship between the main society and the sections reminded me that we ought to do more to highlight and celebrate some of the softer, less tangible benefits of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society, namely that we are a community of like-minded individuals who share a passionate interest in the county and we come together every so often to celebrate shared interest in more relaxed ways and settings, such as our Medieval Section Xmas Party. With apologies to anyone I have caught inadvertently mid-munch in the photos attached but it was a great meeting. Firstly Bob Woosnam-Savage from Royal Armouries gave us a wonderfully entertaining talk about the identification of the remains of Richard III. The summary of the lecture should be available on the appropriate part of the section website in due course. Sincerest thanks to all those – too numerous to name individually – who brought in food and drink. I know a great time was had by all. So much so that the ladies working on the digital successor to the Society’s newsletter Update would like to feature some photos of Medieval Section members enjoying themselves. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Medieval Section of the Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society 