Medieval Section Programme – Page 4 – Medieval Section of the Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society

Medieval Section February 2016 Lecture: the Gilbertines in Yorkshire

The February 2016 lecture will cover the archaeology of the Order of the Gilbertines, focusing on the layout and function of both double and much overlooked single houses. The lecture will primarily focus on the Yorkshire houses of Watton, Ellerton, Malton and St. Andrews, York. Comparisons of layout will also be drawn with other monastic orders to place the Gilbertines within a wider national context and to help shed light on how they were regarded by their contemporaries. Previous excavation, survey and interpretation will be drawn together and re-evaluated. This will include, for the first time, evaluation of St. John Hope’s nineteenth century excavations at Watton Priory with new a resistivity survey carried out on the site by the speaker in 2014.

Our speaker Peter Townend will draw upon research carried out over the last three years for his PhD thesis on the Monastic Order of the Gilbertines. He intends to submit his thesis for examination by Easter of this year, so we are very grateful to him for speaking when he has weightier matters to think about. Peter has a background in landscape archaeology and completed his Masters in Landscape Archaeology at the University of Sheffield in 2009, following a undergraduate degree in History and Archaeology at the University of Hull. He worked for a number of years at Northamptonshire Archaeology. He is currently collaborating with his supervisor Dr Hugh Willmott on the Thornton Abbey Research Project having previously worked together at Monk Bretton Priory and Humberston Abbey. Publications for all three of these sites are planned for this coming year. Attendees at the monthly lectures and followers of this blog will be familiar with Monk Bretton because Dr Willmott kindly spoke to the Medieval Section in April 2014.

New Year 2016 lecture: David Cockman on the Luttrell Psalter

On Saturday 9th January David Cockman will speak at our New Year meeting on the subject of the Luttrell Psalter, one of the great surviving treasures of the Middle Ages. It was commissioned by Sir Geoffrey Luttrell of Irnham in Lincolnshire during the mid-14th century. What distinguishes the Psalter from many others of the same period is the vast number and richness of the images which decorate the Latin text. These provide a graphic insight into medieval peasant life, which can be found virtually nowhere else.

Our speaker will explore the Luttrell psalter as a non-medieval specialist. He is fascinated by unique light it sheds on everyday life on the 14th century. This exploration is much easier now because of the availability of a digital copy of the psalter. He has also spent some time at Irnham to see just how much of Sir Geoffrey Luttrell’s world as described in the psalter can still be identified and this will also form part of the talk.

David is a member of Holmfirth Local History Group and serves on the committee of Huddersfield Archaeology Society. His moment of fame came when he appeared on one of Michael Portillo’s railway programmes talking about the great Holmfirth flood of 1852. For this contribution he was rewarded with a free cup of BBC tea, which he says makes the Medieval Section’s offer of a book token in lieu of fee seem like a win on the Euro Lottery!

The lecture will be at 2-3pm in our new venue at Swarthmore Education Centre at the bottom of Clarendon Road in Leeds. It promises to be a visual treat and just the thing to revive the jaded senses after the over-indulgence of the festive season.

Visit to Wressle Castle

The Castle Studies Trust recently funded a project to survey the gardens of Wressle Castle. The findings of the report (available on the Trust’s website) has been turned into a 3 minute video on their You Tube channel. Some Medieval Section members visited the site last year and this is the link if you’d like to watch it:

The Trust, like Medieval Section, has a good presence on all social media platforms e.g. Facebook and Twitter, and the Chair of Trustees, Jeremy Cunnington, has kindly offered to publicise any castle related publications or events.

Lecture Summary: The Pickering Medieval Wall Paintings

Edited shortened version of lecture given to the Medieval Section of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society about the Medieval wall paintings in the parish church at Pickering, North Yorkshire, by Dr Kate Giles, Senior Lecturer at the University of York. Filmed at the Swarthmore Education Centre on 10th October 2015, and edited by Bryan Sitch, Honorary Secretary of the Medieval Section. Posted New Year’s Eve 2015.

Medieval Section goes Digital Media

It is now possible to keep track of all the latest news and events from the Medieval Section via Facebook and Twitter. If you are a Facebook user, just search for Medieval Section – Yorkshire Archaeology Society and please like our page. You can find us on Twitter under @MedievalSec. Please follow us and spread the word to your friends!

December Lecture: Chris Robson – The St Bees Man and Woman

St Bees Man Autopsy Team courtesy of Chris Robson

Our Christmas lecture at 2-3pm on Saturday December 12th will be given by Chris Robson of the St Bees Village History Group. Chris will be talking about the St Bees man and woman.

For anyone not familiar with this amazing archaeological discovery from the Middle Ages: in 1981 an archaeological investigation was carried out in a car park (where have we heard that one before? (!) – and even the students involved were from Leicester…), which was once the South Chancel of St Bees Priory Church in Cumbria.

The archaeologists discovered by chance a stone vault that would have at one time been in front of an altar. Inside the vault was a body-shaped lead coffin and the bones of a woman. The lead coffin was opened and to everybody’s surprise inside there was a body wrapped in protective layers of sticky linen.

The wrapped body after opening the lead coffin. Photo: Chris Robson

At a hastily arranged autopsy, the linen cloth was removed to expose a man so well-preserved that it was possible to discover how he died, to look at the state of his heart and liver, to see liquid blood in his lung and to guess what he had eaten for breakfast. The preservation of the body seemed to suggest that the man had been dead for only a few months, yet the building in which he had been buried fell down in 1500.

This lecture, which will be illustrated by some extraordinary pictures (sensitivity alert!), tells the story of the best-preserved medieval body found in modern times, and suggests who the man was and where he met his violent death. The identity of the lady is a key part of this historical puzzle.

This lecture will be held in our new venue at the Swarthmore. This being our December meeting, members will recall that we usually mark the occasion by bringing in mince pieces and savouries and mulled wine. This year I’ve been advised we can still bring in our own food and drink and we may even be able to use one of the hot water boilers to make cups of tea and coffee. If you are willing to bring some food or drink in for the meeting please would you let me know in advance so that we can co-ordinate and not end up with ten boxes of mince pies (!).

Writing a week or so after the event, I am pleased to report it passed off successfully and was enjoyed by all those who came, including the President. Members please be aware that Toby Jones can no longer give the advertised lecture about the Newport ship on 9th January. Instead David Cockman of the Huddersfield and District Archaeological Society has very kindly agreed to step in and speak to us about the Luttrell Psalter. This promises to be a visual treat. Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas and New Year.

Bryan Sitch
Hon.Secretary
Medieval Section
Yorskhire Archaeological Society

Richard II and the north

This Saturday, 14th Nov 2015, Alison McHardy is talking about Richard II and the north. Dr McHardy’s interest in Richard II arose from her teaching of this reign at three universities: London, Aberdeen and Nottingham.She has published a source book, The Reign of Richard II: From Minority to Tyranny 1377-97 (Manchester UP, 2012), which is intended to be the students’ friend. Also some articles:

‘Haxey’s case, 1397: the petition and its presenter reconsidered’, in ‘The Age of Richard II’ (1997).

‘Richard II: a personal portrait’, in ‘The Reign of Richard II’ (2000)

‘John Scarle: Ambition and Politics in the Late Medieval Church’ in ‘Image, Text and Church ‘(2009)

Her main research interest is in the relations and interaction between crown and church, and she has been publishing on this since 1972. In 2010 she published, with Gwilym Dodd, her successor at Nottingham, a volume called ‘Petitions to the Crown from English Religious Houses’ for the Canterbury and York Society, and this is the best-selling volume in the Society’s history.

With Phil Bradford, Dr McHardy is editing the material relating to proctors for the clergy in parliament. The first of the two volumes will go into production in the new year. This is also for the Canterbury and York Society.

With Gwilym Dodd Dr McHardy is working on a volume of ‘Petitions from Lincolnshire’ for the Lincoln Record Society – which she describes as great fun.

The lecture will be held at the Swarthmore Centre in Leeds and starts at 2.00pm. Contact the Hon.Secretary, Bryan Sitch, for more details.

Medieval Section Lecture series for 2015-2016: Sat.10th October Pickering parish church.

ChristopherRender1 (1) — St Christopher drawing by Janet Lenton

This year Medieval Section lectures will be held at Swarthmore, just down the road from Claremont, at 2pm. The full programme for the year can be found at http://medieval.yas.org.uk/content/programme.html

This Saturday, 10th October, Kate Giles will be talking about Antiquarians, Archbishops and Medieval wall paintings: the case of Pickering parish church.

In 1852, the traces of a remarkable scheme of 15th century wall paintings were uncovered during restoration works in Pickering parish church (North Yorkshire). Their discovery prompted a remarkable exchange between the then incumbent, the Rev. Ponsonby, local Antiquarians and the Archbishop of York which resulted in the attempted destruction of the paintings, which were only re-uncovered in the 1870s and extensively restored. Since then the paintings have attracted the scholarly attention of some of the country’s leading 20th century wall paintings experts including E.W.Tristram and E.C.Rouse. This lecture will tell the story of these remarkable paintings and in doing, seek to explain how and why an understanding of the study of the ‘English primitives’ is central to our understanding of the development of medieval archaeology today.

Wressle Castle – a day school on Saturday 26 September 2015 with Barbara English, Margaret Pinder & Ed Dennison

An event likely to be of interest to members of the Medieval Section:- Wressle Castle was built around 1380 and owned for centuries by the Percy family, earls and later dukes of Northumberland. The castle still has substantial walls, although the majority of it was destroyed in the Civil War. It is in private ownership and few people will have visited it, although many will have seen it when travelling by train on the Hull/Selby line. However, following a recent programme of restoration by Natural England, English Heritage and other bodies, it is now possible for the first time in many years to visit the interior and the rest of the site. It has a great history, and there are descriptions of it from the 1500s as well as detailed drawings from the 1600s before it was ruined.

Programme

9.30 Depart Durham Ox, Norwood, Beverley

10.15 Coffee and welcome Wressle village hall

10.30-12.15 The history of the Percies (Barbara English) and the history & archaeology of Wressle castle (Ed Dennison*)

12.15-1.00 Lunch

1.00-1.45 Wressle furnishings, gardens and household from 16^th century sources, the Northumberland Household Book and John Leland (Margaret Pinder)

1.45 -3.30 Site visit to Wressle castle

3.30 Return to Wressle village hall, refreshments and close

4.15 Depart Wressle

5.30 Arrive Durham Ox, Norwood, Beverley

*Ed Dennison of Ed Dennison Archaeological Services has been closely involved with the recent works to Wressle Castle and is one of the leading authorities on the castle buildings and the site.

Tickets:

£45.00 including coach travel to and from Wressle, lunch, other refreshments, site visit and donation to charity (by request of the landowner).

£35.00 if travelling to/from Wressle by own transport.

To book this tour and for information on our other courses, please contact:

Barbara English

barbara@chapters-and-verse.com

01482 881333

Margaret Pinder

margaret@chapters-and-verse.com

01482 871788

History and conservation of the monumental medieval sculpture of St Christopher from Norton Priory

Our speaker at this Saturday’s lecture meeting at Claremont is Samantha Sportun. Sam has 18 years’ experience in Museums and currently manages the collection care team (Conservation/Workshop technicians) at Manchester Museum. Before taking up this post she ran the Sculpture Conservation workshop at National Museums Liverpool looking after their wide and varied sculpture collection as well as taking on the conservation of some of the iconic monuments in the North–West.

She is currently a part-time PhD student researching digital touch in Museum, exploring ways of using 3D technology to share objects stories through handling and touch. The interest in this area of research started at the time that St Christopher was conserved by the team in the Conservation Centre.

St Christopher is the largest stone sculpture that survives from the medieval period. Art historians have generally dated it to a period of around 1380 – 1400 on stylistic grounds. Come along to what promises to be a fascinating lecture to close our annual programme.

Bryan Sitch
Hon. Secretary
Medieval Section