Medieval Section Programme – Page 7 – Medieval Section of the Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society

People and Politics in the conversion of the Kingdom of Northumbria

Advance notice of a lecture taking place on Saturday 6th September 2014 from 12.45pm at Dewsbury Minster by Professor Joyce Hill and Elizabeth Lee for the English Companions. The strapline of the society says that ‘The foundations of today’s Yorkshire were formed during “the Anglo-Saxon Age”. The English Companions is a society which promotes interest and research into that era – AD 410-1100.’ It seems churlish to quibble about the Scandinavian contribution to Yorkshire identity, and one should at least welcome the addition of a new lecture about the early Middle Ages to the autumn season.

Again from the text accompanying the lecture we are told that Professor Hill’s academic specialism is the language and literature of Anglo-Saxon England, with a particular focus on the transmission of Christian culture. Joyce began her career King’s College London, where she gained a First in English. From there she went to York for her D. Phil., where she began her research in the literature of the Anglo-Saxons, on which she now has more than a hundred publications. Joyce is now an Emeritus Professor of the University of Leeds. Within the new diocese to which Dewsbury Minster now belongs, she is a member of Ripon Cathedral Chapter as a Lay Capitular Canon.

Rev Elizabeth Lee trained as a teacher, specialising in Religious Education. She taught in Secondary Grammar and Modern Schools before becoming Head Teacher of a 9-13 Middle School in Leeds. Her final post was Head Teacher of the Cathedral C.E. Middle School in Wakefield. After retirement she was ordained priest in the Church of England and is now Honorary Curate in the Dewsbury Team Parish. Her interest in the Anglo-Saxon period was aroused when she moved to Dewsbury and discovered that the Parish Church was founded by Paulinus in AD 627. She continues to research the life and mission of Paulinus.

To reserve a place send a cheque made payable to the English Companions C/o George Roe 18 Heuthwaite Ave, Wetherby, West Yorkshire, LS22 6RR Tel: 01937 919173 email georgeroe@talktalk.net The cost is £2 for members £5 for non-members.

Medieval Section One Year On

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).

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 — 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

Medieval Finds from Yorkshire reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme

Rebecca Griffiths talking to the Medieval Section about the work of the Portable Antiquities Scheme

The lecture meeting on 8th March featured the work of the Portable Antiquities Scheme. Rebecca Griffiths came to Claremont to talk about Medieval finds from Yorkshire. After describing the P.A.S., how it came into being and explaining the criteria for what constitutes treasure Rebecca showed us a selection of fascinating Medieval discoveries from the region, many of them found by metal-detectorists.

Over 18,000 objects have been reported from both North Yorkshire and East Yorkshire and 2100 from West Yorkshire and 3000 from South Yorkshire. The difference in the figures reflects the fact that there is more open agricultural land in the north and east of the county on which to metal-detect, whereas the west and south are more built up and there are fewer opportunities. The number of Treasure cases has risen over the years: from 673 in 2006 to over 1000 last year and so far this year there have been 150 cases.

Rebecca showed us some of the 23,400 early Medieval objects from the P.S.A.’s database, including strap-ends, a Visigothic buckle from North Yorkshire, an ansate or ‘caterpillar’ brooch, an enamelled disc brooch, clothing accessories such as hook tags, strap mounts, and pins with biconical and polyhedral pins, to name but a few. These objects offer an insight into the everyday lives of people rich and poor because the objects archaeologists have had to work with in the past have tended to be those buried as grave goods.

Polyhedral headed pin. Courtesy of the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

Over 130,000 medieval objects have been reported from around the county. Strap ends were still used.Buckles become more common after being a status symbol in the early medieval period. Of special interest was the finger ring converted into a small buckle from the East Riding.

Stirrup ring brooch. Courtesy of the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

Livery badge for Richard III. Courtesy of the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

A livery badge of Richard III is now on display in the Yorkshire Museum. There are also religious brooches with inscriptions like JESUS NAZA and AVE MARIA. Rebecca showed us photos of medieval harness mounts, seal matrices, and pilgrim souvenirs such as ampullae that contained holy water from a shrine. One may have come from a shrine at Montpellier.

Pilgrim badge from shrine at Montpellier. Courtesy of the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

Rebecca also showed us some of the coins that have been found. There are over 45,000 early medieval coins on the P.S.A.’s national database. A rare tremissis from the Netherlands was found in North Yorkshire. Such discoveries are revolutionising the study of the coinage at this period.

Gold tremissis. Courtesy of the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

Whereas the coinage of the various independent kingdoms that comprised Britain at this early date is necessarily varied, in the medieval period proper, so to speak, the coins tend to be standardised, even to the point of having the name of the previous king, HENRICVS, when in fact the coins were issued in the reign of King Richard and King John and early in the reign of Henry III. It can be very difficult to tell which ruler the coin belongs to when the defining characteristic is the degree of curliness of the king’s hair! Rebecca drew attention to the P.A.S.’s LOST CHANGE project which has mapped find-spots of coins of different periods from prehistoric through to medieval.

Gold brooch with decorative terminals in the shape of two hands in the attitude of prayer. Courtesy of the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

Rebecca closed her talk by showing us some of the best finds: a gold brooch with hands clasped together in prayer; a finger ring inscribed with the name JESVS; a small hoard of silver pennies of Henry III and Edward I. But the Vale of York Hoard and the Bedale Hoard are some of the most spectacular discoveries. The Vale of York Hoard was found in 2007 and dates from the 10th century. It was found by two metal-detector users. The contents of the hoard reflect the wide geographical range of Viking trading contacts.

The Bedale hoard was found by metal-detectorists in 2012 and represents a Viking’s life savings. Not only does it contain unique styles of jewellery which have never been seen before, but the likes of the gold sword pommel, silver neck ring and neck collar in the hoard, have never previously been recorded. The full hoard consists of a gold sword pommel, the unique silver neck ring and neck collar, a silver armlet, 29 silver ingots, two other silver neck rings, gold rivets and half a silver brooch. The hoard also contained a piece of a ‘Permian’ ring, cut as hack-silver – a design of Russian origin. The finder back-filled the find-spot and called in the Portable Antiquities Officer at the Yorkshire Museum. Rebecca and a colleague from the museum went to the site and unearthed the rest of the hoard and recorded it in detail. The ingots had been placed at the bottom of the burial pit apparently in a box (though no remains were found) and tests of soil samples at the British Museum proved inconclusive. The sword and the jewellery were placed on top.

It is hoped that the Yorkshire Museum can buy the hoard to enable the staff based there to conduct research which will provide a better understanding of the people who lived in Yorkshire at the time the hoard was buried 1000 years ago, in the late 9th or early 10th century.

The Portable Antiquities Scheme has been the envy of archaeologists across Europe but it depends in part on the efforts of volunteers who record discoveries. In the current economic climate the budget can never be taken for granted and increasingly P.A.S. is looking to train the finders to record objects themselves.

The Medieval Section is very grateful to Rebecca and the Portable Antiquites Scheme for generously allowing the beautiful images of the objects to be reproduced on the blog.

Archaeology Festival Volunteer, Conisbrough Castle

Do you have a passion for the past and an interest in archaeology?

Conisbrough Castle is currently undergoing a £1m re-development project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Doncaster Council and English Heritage. As part of this programme we will be undertaking the first excavations at Conisbrough Castle in almost 40 years this June and we would like to involve as many members of the community as possible by having a community and a schools dig alongside the works. We need volunteers to help us do this!

Would you like to train in archaeological skills? Would you have the confidence to talk to groups of people and to perhaps supervise a small hands on activity? Do you enjoy working as part of a team? Are you friendly, flexible and reliable? Then we’d love to hear from you! This rare opportunity to get involved with a community wide archaeology project at the castle begins with a full training programme so no previous experience of archaeology is necessary, however to join the training, which starts in April, you will need to be available during the two week dig (1st – 14th June 2014).

For full details about the training and the role on offer please see the role description on our volunteering website. Please visit www.english-heritage.org.uk/volunteering and search for Conisbrough Castle to see more details and to find an application form. Or email volunteer.enquiries@english-heritage.org.uk if you have any queries.

Closing Date: 16th March 2014

A Kingdom of Elmet Bibliography

This being a first attempt to pull together something of a reading list for the topic of the Kingdom of Elmet. I make no claims that this to be complete but we have to start somewhere and if, at the very least, it provides an incentive to update the card index at Claremont, it will have served a useful purpose. I will gladly post any additions that section members may care to send me. Bryan

Edmund Bogg (1902) The old kingdom of Elmet: York and the Ainsty district: a descriptive sketch of the history, antiquities, legendary lore, picturesque features, and rare architecture London: J.Heywood

Andrew Breeze (2002) ‘The Kingdom and name of Elmet’, Northern History 39, 157-171.

C.Cessford (1997) ‘Northern England and the Gododdin poem’, Northern History 33.1, 218-222.

F.S.Colman (1908) ‘History of the Parish of Barwick in Elmet’ Thoresby Society Publication, 17,

M. Faull (1974) ‘Britons And Angels In Yorkshire’, Studium, 6 (Sydney), 1-23.

M. L. Faull, ‘Roman and Anglian Settlement Patterns in Yorkshire’, Northern History,
IX (1974), 1-25.

M.Faull (1977) ‘British Survival in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria’, in L.Laing (ed.) Studies in Celtic Survival British Archaeological Reports, 1-55.

M.L.Faull (1981) ‘West Yorkshire in the Post Roman Period’. In M.L.Faull and S.A.Moorhouse (eds.) West Yorkshire: an archaeological survey to A.D.1500 Wakefield, West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council, 171-224.

R.Geraint Gruffydd (1994) ‘In Search of Elmet’, Studia Celtica 28, 63-79.

Nick Higham (1993) The Kingdom of Northumbria AD 350-1100 Stroud, Allen Sutton

N.J.Higham (2001) ‘Britons in Northern England in the early Middle Ages:Through a Glass Darkly’, Northern History 38.1, 5-25.

G.R.J.Jones (1975) ‘Early territorial organization in Gwynedd and Elmet’ Northern History 10(1), 3-27. 16;

A. Longbottom (1936?) ‘The old kingdom of Elmet: a lecture given at the Faith Preceptory, No.13, held on Thursday, November 26th, 1936, in the Freemasons’ Hall, Manningham Lane, Bradford’ Bradford : Waddilove and Co. John Rylands Library Manchester Masonic Research Collection (R204039.2)

Mary-Ann Ochota (2013) Britain’s Secret Treasures London Headline pp.252-3.

A.L.F.Rivet and C.Smith (1979) The Place-Names of Roman Britain London Book Club Associates

Ian Roberts, Burgess, A. and Berg, D. eds. 2001. A New Link to the Past: The Archaeological Landscape of the M1-A1 Link Road, Yorkshire Archaeological Monograph 7, Leeds.

Ian Roberts, (2014) ‘Rethinking the Archaeology of Elmet’, in F.K.Haarer et al. (eds), AD 410: The History and Archaeology of Late and Post-Roman Britain (Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies), 182–194.

Ian Sanderson & Stuart Wrathmell (2005) Archaeology from the end of the Roman Conquest to the Norman Conquest West Yorkshire Research Agenda

A.H.Smith (1961-3) The Place-Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire Cambridge – 8 volumes; Kenneth Cameron (1968) ‘Eccles in English place-names’. In M.W.Barley and R.P.C.Hanson (eds.) Christianity in Britain 300-700 Leicester, 87-92.

C.M.Taylor (1992) ‘ELMET: boundaries and Celtic survival in the post-Roman period’, Medieval History 2.1, 111-129.

Charles Thomas (1981) Christianity in Roman Britain to AD 500. London, Batsford

T.D Whitaker (1816) Loidis and Elmete: or, an attempt to illustrate the districts described in those words by Bede; and supposed to embrace the lower portions of Aredale and Wharfdale, together with the entire dale of Calder, …. Leeds

P.N. Wood (1996) ‘On the little Kingdom of Craven’, Northern History 32.1, 1-20.

Alex Woolf (2004) ‘Caedualla Rex Brettonum and the passing of the old north’, Northern History, 41.1, 5-24.

Booty from Elmet?

Brooch fragment from the Leeds hoard (© Leeds Museums and Galleries). — Brooch fragment from the West Yorkshire Ring Hoard (© Leeds Museums and Galleries).

I am very grateful to Kat Baxter, Curator of Archaeology at Leeds Museums and Galleries, for allowing me to reproduce the beautiful photo of a brooch fragment from the Leeds or West Yorkshire Ring Hoard. The hoard was found by a metal-detectorist in 2008 and 2009, and Kat has worked very hard to fund-raise the money needed to acquire the hoard for Leeds. The brooch fragment is one of a number of pieces of jewellery, mostly rings that are later in date than this brooch fragment, and a piece of gold ingot.

A short account of the West Yorkshire Hoard was recently published in Mary-Ann Ochota’s Britain’s Secret Treasures (Headline Publishing, 2013: pp.252-3) from which I taken these details. The brooch fragment has been dated to the 600s AD, like the Staffordshire Hoard but the finger rings seem to date from between 800 and 1000 AD. Further investigation of the location where the hoard was discovered didn’t yield any conclusive results.

The brooch fragment, it is said, would have been an antique when it went into the ground. This is speculating wildly but is it conceivable that one possible explanation for the presence of the brooch fragment is that it was a piece of plunder associated with the Kingdom of Elmet? Could it be a piece of that high status material culture that either belonged to an important member of Elmetian society or had been brought back to Elmet as plunder? Of course the material could have been brought in from elsewhere and have no particular connection with the West Riding apart from being found here. We can’t possibly know but it is tempting to speculate in an idle moment and it is a very interesting set of objects.

Thanks are due to Kat Baxter for kindly allowing us to post this image on the Medieval Section blog. We look forward to hearing more when Kat comes to talk to the section about the hoard in of our future lecture meetings.

Looking for Elmet?

At the recent meeting between the main society and representatives of sections it was suggested that the different (archaeology-related) sections consider doing more fieldwork projects together. It was suggested that a joint project be initiated to study the Kingdom of Elmet. The intention is to bring together members of the Roman and the Medieval sections to look at the period of time between the end of Roman West Yorkshire and the annexation of the post-Roman kingdom of Elmet by Northumbria in 617 AD. This would cater for both the Romanists, with their interest in the end of things Roman in Yorkshire, and the Medievalists who want to know how (from their point of view) things started.

With the professionalisation of excavation from the 1960s, and given the fact that digging (not to mention post-excavation) nowadays is costly, time-consuming and requires experience, expertise and equipment to which the society does not have access in a sustained way, it was suggested that the sections consider the possibility of doing less intensive kinds of fieldwork such as field-walking, and working together in areas of shared interest. After all, one of the attendees commented, the divisions between different periods of history and archaeology are rarely sharp dividing lines but chronological grey areas with lots of room for overlap and crossover.

So I have recently started pulling together everything I can find on Elmet with a view to organising a day-school on the subject perhaps in spring 2015. However, my first steps were not encouraging because the Claremont didn’t have a single reference to Elmet on its card index. Thank heaven for the chapter by Margaret Faull ‘West Yorkshire in the Post Roman Period’. In M.L.Faull and S.A.Moorhouse (eds.) West Yorkshire: an archaeological survey to A.D.1500 Wakefield, West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council,1981:171-224. Margaret Faull and Stephen Moorhouse are both members of the Medieval Section. Since then the Rylands library at Manchester has been very helpful and I must have located more than half a dozen papers that deal with Elmet in some detail. More on this in a later blog but let me know if you’re interested in the dayschool.

Richard III in the News Again

Coin of Richard III (kindly sent by Medieval Section member David Harpin)

I am very grateful to Medieval Section member David Harpin who has kindly sent a photo of a silver coin of Richard III. Earlier this week the Daily Telegraph ran a story by Sarah Knapton about the DNA sequencing of the last Plantagenet king’s remains. The development of genetic research and the sequencing of the entire genomes of individuals who lived in the past is revealing new information. Richard III will be one of a relatively small number of people from the past who have been studied in this way. The researchers led by Dr Turi King (University of Leicester) hope to be able to report what colour Richard’s eyes and hair were and whether he would have been susceptible to diseases such as diabetes and Alzheimer’s. The research may reveal evidence of infectious bacteria. It is already known that Richard suffered from roundworm.

In the issue (Wednesday 12th February) Harry Mount, author of How England made the English, was looking forward to finding out the results of the research, which he hoped would shed light on the DNA segments passed down the royal bloodline. He reiterated just how shaky was Henry VII’s claim to the throne in terms of his share of ‘royal’ blood. This line of research will no doubt develop over time but already there are other Medieval characters this could be applied to, such as Alfred, whose remains have been identified. So, as previously mentioned, the next few years are full of exciting potential for Medieval history and archaeology.

Members will remember I’m sure Bob Woosnam Savage’s lecture about the recent research on Richard’s remains. Bob being a consummate professional would not reveal what he knew but intimated to us that further exciting work was taking place. So you could say that you (almost) heard about it at the Yorkshire Archaeological Society Medieval Section lecture first!

February lecture: new approaches to Anglo-Saxon settlement and place-names: the Vale of Pickering and the northern Wolds

Saturday's lecture about place names and the Yorkshire Wolds — Saturday’s lecture about place names and the Yorkshire Wolds (Janet telling members about coming excursions of Medieval interest)

February’s lecture meeting of the Medieval Section proved to be rather popular and brought out members in larger numbers than we have seen for some time. We are most grateful to Stuart Wrathmell, Director of West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory, Ecology and Archive Services, who spoke to us about new approaches to Anglo-Saxon settlement and place-names: the Vale of Pickering and the northern Wolds. Stuart is no stranger to members of the Medieval Section because of his work on the Wharram Percy project. Stuart directed the post-excavation programme for the Wharram Percy excavations, and oversaw the publication of the final six volumes of reports between 2000 and 2012. The talk he gave on Saturday was based on research he carried out as part of the preparation of the final Wharram volume.There will be a more detailed lecture summary in the fullness of time but (for those who weren’t there) Stuart looked at where the township boundaries were on OS maps of the mid-19th century and began to work out how they changed over time, sometimes being carved up to create new townships.

North Lincolnshire geology and place-names

Stuart started by looking at the distribution of place-names ending in ‘by’ in North Lincolnshire and argued that the supposed correlation between Scandinavian settlements and relatively poorer land was misleading. The pattern of settlements with access to mixed farming resources including arable at the interface between chalk and clay and grazing on the wolds and in the wetter valley bottoms was one that could also be seen on the Yorkshire Wolds. Stuart illustrated his talk with maps and topographical diagrams that showed how in some cases the township boundaries followed routeways that also attracted (at a much earlier date) prehistoric burials. Unfortunately there wasn’t time to explore Viking place-names on the Wolds. As a section we look forward to finding out more about Stuart’s work on West Yorkshire OS maps.

Refreshments in the Claremont kitchen after the lecture

Afterwards Janet senior talked about some events of potential interest to Medieval Section members that she is organising for the main society. I’ll post details in the Blog once I have the information from Janet. Watch this space!

Medieval Section Xmas Party 2013

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.