Medieval seal matrix from Alderley Edge in Cheshire.
A conference about Seals and sealing practices will be held at the British Museum from the 4th – 6th December 2015.
This conference is co-organised by John Cherry and Jessica Berenbeim in collaboration with Sigillvm, a network for the study of medieval European seals and sealing practices.
The aim of this conference is to foster discussions about seals and status, concentrating on three principal themes:
I. Seals and social status
II. Seals and institutional status
III. The status of seals as objects
there isn’t a website to visit to obtain more information but on the mailing I recieved it says that proposals are welcomed from a wide range of perspectives, such as: archaeology, history, art history, archival studies, literature and that submissions (in English, French, and German and no more than 300 words in length) should be sent to Lloyd de Beer (ldebeer@thebritishmuseum.ac.uk) by 30th January 2015.
After the December lecture by guest speaker Dr Robert Richards the Medieval Section held its traditional high tea. A number of members kindly brought festive food and drink and this made a suitable end to the section’s calendar year. Of all the events in the year there’s no celebration that recommends itself quite as much to the Medievalists it seems to me as Christmas. It is sobering to think this may have been the last such event for us to be held at Claremont. The Society is likely to be in new premises by next Christmas.
Enjoying the good cheer
Wherever we end up, the section’s programme of lectures will continue. The next lecture in the series on at 2pm at Claremont 10th January will be by Prof. Ian Wood, University of Leeds whose talk has the engaging title: ”’It’s the economy, stupid”. The context for Anglian sculpture’. It looks at the way in which sculpture seems to flourish immediately after the transfer of a large part of Northumbria to the Church.
The speaker kindly sent a photo of the Bewcastle Cross which figures in his presentation.
Anglian Cross at Bewcastle. Photo: Prof Ian Wood.
This is only the first of five lectures to be held during the winter and spring months. In addition there will be the first issue of a new series of Medieval Yorkshire to distribute to members. As a section we are endebted to David Asquith, who kindly took on the role of Acting Honorary Editor, and to Sue Alexander, who solved the digital formatting challenges. It will be great to see the section journal out again as it has always been much appreciated as a tangible benefit of membership of the Medieval Section. With Medieval Yorkshire and the programme of Medieval lectures re-established I think we have something that is attractive to new members, which will help to secure the future of the section.
The speaker at the Medieval Section December lecture, Dr Robert Richards, talked about about recent archaeological work at All Saints Church on North Street in York. The church was altered in the Victorian period when the chancel was knocked down in order to widen it, although it was rebuilt on or close to the Medieval footings. A watercolour from about the turn of the 18th century shows Victorian bricks encasing the original medieval buttresses and plaster coming off the gable tops. Claims that the screen was the work of York based antiquary, artist and architect Edwin Ridsdale Tate (1862–1922) are incorrect.
A pillar in the nave has a statue of what is often said to be St William of York. However, it is not clear it is St William. If the statue does represent an archbishop, he is not wearing an archbishop’s mitre but that would have been made separately. The statue is thought to be an example of 15th century English carving. It stands on a corbel cut from a single block of stone on one of a pair of Romanesque round columns in the nave that experts have described as ‘looking squiffy’. They have nail head decoration but this is thought to be a later decorative addition to the pillar.Though now dwarfed by the huge industrial conurbations of the West Riding, York was the centre of northern England in the Roman and Medieval periods and so some degree of elevated architectural style is to be expected.
Resurrection alabaster in All Saints Church, York (photo: Dr Robert Richards)
Slightly more controversially, the church also has a resurrection alabaster. This is probably from the first half of the 15th century. However, it is badly in need of conservation, having (Victorian?) iron screws holding it in its frame, and much of the remaining colour obscured by what appears to be the grease from hundreds of human fingers touching it, but may only be centuries of dirt!
Church cottages, All Saints Church, York
Adjacent to All Saints are some attractive church cottages.Thought to be of late 15th century date, they are now known on the evidence of tree ring analysis to have been built after 1396. About half of the timbers in the church have been dated to the late 12th century. An exact match was was made with timbers from Lincoln and Ely cathedrals. The wood came from Sherwood Forest. It must have been part of a job lot sold cheaply and sent around the country. It’s puzzling why the timbers are so massive. One of the timbers came from a tree that was 250 years old so it must have started growing about 900. This raises some interesting chronological questions. For instance it is sometimes said that the Green Man had gone out of fashion by the 15th century but there are two in the chancel ceiling where the timbers have been tree-ring dated to 1477. The Green Man designs are resurrection symbols. Representations of Medieval musical instruments in the church have also attracted a lot of interest from specialists.
All Saints is best known for having some of the most photogenic Medieval glass in the country. The right central panel depicting St Anne teaching her daughter the Virgin Mary to read is particularly famous. Sadly the names of the original sponsors were knocked out at a later date. The End of the World and the Prick of Conscience depicting the last 15 days of the world are some of the most prolific of secular manuscripts. They gave the penitent a preview of the approaching end of the world and prompted them to seek the intercession of the Virgin Mary.
This tradition is particularly influential and it is still possible to see Emma Raughton’s cell where anchorites lived. Emma was an anchoress attached to All Saints church in the first half of the fifteenth century. Although little is known about her, she was definitely there in 1421 and she was still there in 1436 because she is mentioned in a will. The reconstructed cell is in roughly the same position as its Medieval counterpart, but Emma’s cell was probably a larger two storey building. Built about 1910, this is one of the first examples of the use of shuttered concrete in a domestic building. One of the anchoresses Adeline Cashmore gave spiritual guidance to Mary Breckinridge (1881-1965) who created the Frontier Nursing Service in America, which did so much to bring down rates of infant mortality in that part of the world.
Given the historical significance of All Saints it is understandable that when there was an opportunity to investigate the archaeology of the church the churchwardens did not hesitate. A tombstone was removed, exposing floor voids and an altar top weighing 2.5 tons. Three oyster shells containing blue, red and yellow pigments, were found, which was the original colour scheme of the chapel. The altar top stone was rebated so that coffins could be slid from the side into the vault space beneath. The brick wall inside the vault was rendered with lime mortar to make it look like stone. Three male burials lay on top of one another. The first coffin had decayed and had been shoved to one end. The legs of the top skeleton were found higher up in the fill of the tomb. The fill of the vault contained lots of clay tobacco pipes.
Clay pipes from the vault at All Saints Church, York
The remains of 76 people were found and initially it was thought University of York Department of Chemistry might be interested to analyse soil samples from the soil to study the trace elements. The skeleton of a woman was found with the skeleton of a foetus, which had been in her abdomen, and was still in situ. Early 13th century grave markers set in the wall had compass inscribed apotropaic symbols to ward off evil. A bronze buckle was found in one of the graves, suggesting this might have been the burial of a wealthy merchant or a cleric.
Bronze buckle from All Saints Church
The archaeologists were limited in the scope of their excavations and much of the work was ‘keyhole archaeology’, providing tantalizing glimpses of earlier periods in York’s history. Some burnt mutton bones may represent an Anglo-Saxon or an Anglo-Scandinavian picnic. A piece of a Hambledon Ware lobed jug, two die, a glass ring, a rim-sherd from a Roman greyware ‘doggy dish’ marked with a cross, a sherd from a Bellarmine jar and a piece of a Medieval chafing dish, which may have been used for burning incense in front of the statue in the chapel.
Piece from a Medieval chafing dish
A tiny fragment of what appears to be plain mosaic tile came from the chapel. Discoveries like this enabled the churchwardens to recreate the original tile floor design. Our speaker commented that this must be the first Medieval style pavement to be laid in an English church in one hundred years.
Mosaic pavement at All Saints Church, North Street, York.
Our speaker ended his talk by saying that they had permission for ‘a single season of excavation lasting no longer than two years’, so it is to be hoped that further work will prove to be just as exciting as the first year’s discoveries. Hopefully this is something we can return to in the future.
N.B. This lecture summary has been released without comment by the speaker. Any faults or omissions are entirely the responsibility of the Hon.Secretary of the Medieval Section.
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).
Hot from the YAS Press……is the latest volume – the 17th – in the Wakefield Court Rolls series. This is an edition of the manorial court roll for 1436-7. It follows from the edition of the court rolls for 1433-6 published as volume 15. The Wakefield series is by far the longest- running edition of manorial records series ever published. It was established by the YAS fifty years ago, to make as much as possible of this remarkable archive easily available to readers.
The manor was one of the largest in the country: over 100 square miles, compared to an typical size of only 6, and its records span eight centuries, from 1274 to 1925. Their national importance was acknowledged in 2011 when the archive was inscribed on the UK register of UNESCO’s Memory of the World. The story of how the YAS came to own this remarkable archive, and how the society has promoted it from 1898 to the present, is the subject of an anniversary essay in the new volume.
The series has published court rolls from all periods, from the thirteenth to the nineteenth century. There are four more medieval volumes in progress, by editors at work in West Yorkshire, Scotland and Canada.
Volumes are published every other year. You can subscribe to the series for £9 in the UK and, because of the alarming cost of postage, £13 if you live abroad.
My thanks to Brian Barber for writing this for the Medieval Section blog.
I attended the Society for Museum Archaeology‘s two-day annual conference at Colchester (5th-6th November 2014) called ‘With Fresh Eyes’. The theme of the conference was using digital techniques of interpretation and using collections in new ways. I saw some brilliant innovations in the use of digital technology on sites and in museums and I’d like to share the Medieval examples in particular with section members. They may have applications on some of Yorkshire’s rich Medieval sites. Philip Wise, Collections and Curatorial Manager, Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service (CIMS) opened the conference with a presentation about the work to redevelop Colchester Castle and its displays. A son-et-lumiere tells the story of the site’s long and eventful history from the time of the Roman colonia and its destruction by Boudicca to the construction of a castle by the Normans. CIMS’ strategy was to open up more of the original fabric of the castle interior.
Medieval section of son-et-lumiere at Colchester Castle
This was followed by a presentation about the use of new technology at Falaise Castle in Normandy by Charlotte Lapiche, Head of the Heritage Service of the Commune de Falaise. Though it may not be politic to say so in the present climate, the work on this and other Anglo-Norman castles was funded by the European Union. The French used digital reconstructions and augmented reality (AR) to give visitors a sense of what the castle looked like, especially during the pre-12th century period, about which less was known.
Medieval augmented reality interpretation Room interior augmented reality: what’s on the tablet screen is what the room looked like in the Middle Ages and it’s responsive.Castle Interior with furnishings
Stereoscopic binoculars were used outside to allow visitors to compare the present condition of the ruins with how it is thought the castle would have looked during the Middle Ages. Tablets show interiors complete with drapery and other soft furnishings, creating a much warmer impression of what it was like to live there in the aula of the Keep. If the archaeologists aren’t completely sure of the detail because of earlier ill-judged conservation work that sadly destroyed the evidence, it is still worthwhile because it makes the castle more accessible. At Caen Castle visitors use touch tablets and the speaker readily conceded that although this provided better visualisation there was a danger that the technology overshadowed the monument. visitor survey showed very high rates of visitor satisfaction (97%).
Dr John Davies, Norfolk Museums Service talked about the use of new technology in the redisplay of Norwich Castle Museum. though described as ‘one of the most elaborate of Norman donjons in Europe’, ‘… more sophisticated than any other great tower’ and ‘unrivalled in its ostentation’, the castle was the least well-known of Norman donjons. The first earth-and-timber castle erected by the Normans in 1067 was rebuilt in stone between 1090 and 1120. It had a very colourful history: there were no less than five occasions when the castle was besieged, attacked or involved in revolts, and it was twice stormed. Its importance waned after the 13th century and the castle was used as a prison until it was made into a museum during the later 19th century. The Victorian architect, Boardman, who renovated the structure, inserted a floor at the wrong level making it difficult for visitors to understand the building.
Artist’s impression of the Bigod entrance
However, between 2008 and 2014 the museums service had worked on re-interpreting the castle as part of the Norman Connections project. They have made fairly modest interventions such as projecting onto the Bigod arch to give an idea of how colourful the original appearance would have been.A replacement glazed window on the site of the chapel was brought alive by inserting a light box behind it. Medieval doors will be replaced complete with Norman style wrought iron decoration. They are also displaying material from the period borrowed from the British Museum.
AR interpretation showing Henry I’s visit to Norwich Castle in 1121.
Before further work is undertaken there needs to be large-scale recording of the fabric, which is complex and important. The various initiatives will enable the visitor to reconnect with the site as a Norman castle. It would be interesting to find out what Medieval Section members think of these initiatives. At the conference these presentations prompted a great deal of discussion about the accuracy and authenticity of the interpretations. Words like ‘reconstruction’ were used but as the French speaker pointed out they did not claim to have reconstructed the rooms shown in the AR interpretation and they used the word ‘evocation’ as in ‘giving a sense of’. This point was taken up in the final session by Hedley Swain from Arts Council England, who argued that the greater the ‘authenticity’ the greater the inauthenticity of the history or archaeology interpreted. He said it was the authenticity of the emotional experience in response to the site – this might be facilitated by artists – that was important.
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.
Medieval Section member, David Harpin, initiated the year’s programme of lectures in October with a talk about Richard of Cornwall, King of the Romans (1209-1272). This was a follow-up to his talk at the Leeds Medieval Congress last summer which commemorated the 750th anniversary of the battle of Lewes, in which Simon de Montfort defeated King Henry III and his supporters, and took control of the government. Richard of Cornwall was the younger brother of the king and was imprisoned after his capture at Lewes. David drew upon objects that had been reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme and objects in his personal collection to tell the story of Richard.
Richard of Cornwall’s coat-of-arms on a heraldic pendant
As the younger brother of Henry III, Richard was very well-connected. He visited Louis IX in Paris, went on Crusade to the Holy Land and negotiated with the Pope and his brother in law Frederick II to try to resolve their differences over Sicily and the Holy Roman Empire. He was sufficiently wealthy to found Hailes Abbey, apparently having made a vow whilst in peril at sea. Richard was elected King of the Romans, a position that was rather more than titular. He held this position between 1257 and 1272. The belt of Las Huelgas shows the coats of arms of Richard as Earl of Cornwall, and many of the people he knew, including the Earls of Gloucester and Derby, and the Kings of England and France. Such belts were given as presents in Henry III’s reign to mark important occasions. An image from the “Trinity Apocalypse”, a book which may have belonged to Richard’s wife Sanchia, shows heraldic pendants suspended from the peytral (harness) of the horse. An heraldic harness fitting of Richard’s is a similar style to the coat-of-arms on the Huelgas belt. Another two have been found near Cambridge and may date from Richard’s prolonged visit there in 1266. Richard’s coats-of arms appear on steelyard weights that were introduced into England by the Hansa merchants after 1260. They had been given a base in England through Richard’s influence. Richard’s coats-of arms include a lion rampant for his Earldom; and a double-headed eagle for him as King of the Romans (and prospective Holy Roman Emperor). This indicates that Richard had authority over weights and measures in England, as he had had for the re-coinage. He ensured that the weights were used all over England.
Steelyard weights
A southern French theme is discernible in another pendant with a cross pattee heraldic device representing the de Montfort family, which had acquired lands in the south of France during the Albigensian Crusade in the early 13th century. The device appears on Simon de Montfort’s tomb. He was killed during the siege of Toulouse in 1218. It was this Simon de Montfort’s younger son, also called Simon, who became Earl of Leicester and played such a prominent role during the reign of Henry III.
De Montfort cross Toulouse (or pattee) on a horse pendant.
Another piece may indicate Richard’s relationship with Alphonse of Poitiers, who was brother of the French king and Count of Poitou and Toulouse. A 13th century bag with Alphonse’s coat-of-arms survives in a museum in Germany. Could the bronze fitting David showed us, also found near Cambridge, once have been attached to a diplomatic communication between them?
Bronze attachment of Alphonse of Poitiers
Richard was crowned King of the Romans in 1257 at Aachen and the regalia were gifted by Richard to the church. The sceptre was made in the English tradition and has a dove as its terminal. Charlemagne founded the Holy Roman Empire some 450 years earlier. Richard spent little time in Germany.
At a lower level in Medieval society heraldry can be seen on wine tavern tokens. David showed us four with the single-headed eagle as King of the Romans. As already seen Richard could also lay claim to use the double-headed eagle as he was expecting his promotion to be Holy Roman Emperor would be a formality. But the Pope and the Electors of the Holy Roman Empire, wanted to keep more power from him.
In 1247-50 Richard was involved in the re-coinage of the English currency. He recovered his expenses from exchanges and fines in return over a 12 year period. One hundred and forty million Voided Long Cross pennies were struck. The English silver coins the new issue replaced had borne the name of Henry even though they had been produced through the reigns of Henry II, Richard I, John and during the early years of Henry III. By this time the English coinage was in poor condition due to wear and clipping. The mint and moneyer’s name were on the coins so people could be held responsible for the quality of the coins. There were occasions when punishments were severe. David showed coins struck on the Continent that may have passed for English pennies, showing the commercial influence of England. From 1251 Richard was also responsible for the re-coinage in Ireland. Over 1000 wine tavern tokens cast in moulds that were previously used in London have been found during excavations in Dublin, leading to speculation that Richard may have had them brought over. David stressed that Richard was unlikely to have been involved in the minting of Henry’s gold penny, an initiative that never really caught on.
The lecture closed with an opportunity to see some of the pieces that David described in his lecture. This was very much appreciated by the members.
The Society has received an enquiry about Barthwayt (sic) Hall.
George Frobisher of Capernwray and Overkellet who died in 1917 (?) worked on the Frobisher family tree and stated that the two brothers, Frances and James Frobisher, were involved in a raid on Barthwayt Hall in 1534. John Frobisher has struggled over the years to find where this was and the nearest he has got is Barthwaite Hall which, he writes, is still standing and was a 17th century farmhouse and is now an hotel.
Mr Frobisher now lives in Torquay Devon. He would be grateful if anyone can throw any light on this subject. If anyone knows anything please would they contact me or David Buck <yas.secretary@gmail.com> to pass on details. Thanking you.
The Vesper Gate at Kirkstall Abbey, Leeds, West Yorkshire
The Vesper gate is the name given to a stone structure that stands on the north-western perimeter of Kirkstall Abbey monastic precinct to the north west of Leeds city centre. In contrast to the rest of the abbey, relatively little is known about the Vesper Gate. It seems to have served as a convenient gateway that gave access to the Cistercian abbey’s western properties. In the mid-1990s when the writer was first appointed as Curator of Archaeology at Leeds Museums and Galleries, the condition of the Vesper Gate was generating some concern in local newspapers and community
Plan of Kirkstall Abbey precinct. The Vesper Gate is at the top on the northern boiundary of the abbey precinct. From Hope and Bilson’s 1907 Architectural Description of Kirkstall Abbey.
newsletters (Kirkstall Matters 62, p.19; 64, p.15 and Yorkshire Evening Post 17.6.1996).
At the time it was claimed that no less than 1.5 meters of stonework had been stolen from the Vesper Gate over a five year period. This seemed to be excessive even for local vandals and so I made a search of local archives for historic photographs of the Vesper Gate. Some were housed at Abbey House Museum where the writer was based but other sources included Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Thoresby Society and Leeds Libraries.
The Vesper Gate in 1882 (courtesy of the Thoresby Society, the Leeds Historical Society).
In 1873 only the portals were recorded as still standing by Leeds historian and antiquary James Wardell (1813-1873). A 3” x 3” glass slide in the Thoresby Society collection shows the ruins from the south-east in 1888. A similar photograph appears in a guide to the public parks of Leeds. In both photographs two stone piers can be seen, one on either side of Vesper Lane, the narrow road that runs across the top of what was the mill pond dam for the abbey (see photo below).
During the first half of the 20th century major changes took place. At some point during the 1920s or early 1930s Vesper Lane was widened. The 1921 and 1934 Ordnance Survey maps show this clearly. In Leeds Museums and Galleries collections there is another 3” x 3” glass slide showing Vesper Gate before the road widening. Unfortunately it is undated but Alan Garlick (former Assistant Curator of Social History, Abbey House Museum) dated it tentatively to the 1920s based on the clothing of a woman standing in front of the southern pier. The width of the Vesper Lane at this time must have been about 10-12 feet. In 1934 the Ordnance Survey map shows the Vesper Lane had been widened. A 1947 photograph in Leeds Local History Library shows only one of the portals still standing. So the widening of Vesper Lane in the 1920s or early 1930s had been achieved at the expense of the southern pier of the Vesper Gate. It may be that the loss is perhaps less tragic than it seems because St John Hope and Bilson, in their authoritative Architectural Description of Kirkstall Abbey (1907), refer to earlier road widening, so perhaps only a rebuilt stone pier was destroyed rather than intact and in situ Medieval stonework.
The Vesper Gate in 1996 with Kirkstall Abbey church tower in the distance. The road (Vepser Lane) runs over what was originally the Mill Pond dam.
These photographs enabled me to make a comparison between photos showing the Vesper Gate as it survived in 1996 and its condition some 60 years earlier. It rapidly became clear that whilst some stone had certainly been removed from the Vesper Gate, only one course of stonework had been taken off the top. One of the missing stones still remained at the foot of the portal, and, after consultation with English Heritage, it was replaced (it can be seen in the 1996 photo above, slightly to the right of the foot of the portal on the edge of Vesper Lane).
The Vesper Gate (14th September 2014). Note the replaced top stone.
To state, therefore, as was reported at the time that the Vesper Gate had been reduced to a stump of stone was misleading. That is not to say that no stone had been removed, simply that the degree of damage had been exaggerated. During the previous one hundred years the Vesper Gate had suffered its greatest damage during the 1920s and 1930s when Vesper Lane had been widened.
At the time, when I wrote a note for Kirkstall Matters, the local community newsletter, I couldn’t resist teasing the contributors to the Leeds newspaper article that had started this particular hare running. They claimed to remember when the Vesper Gate had an arch over its two portals but the archive photographs showed clearly it hadn’t had an arch since before 1873 at the very latest. I wrote that either the Vesper Gate had had some sort of temporary arch for a commemorative event of some sort (which seemed very unlikely), or else the contributors were a bit older than they were letting on… What laughs we had! However, maybe the last laugh is on me because there was another peripheral building at the abbey – the park keeper’s lodge – built in neo-Gothic style, which certainly did have an arch and it disappeared during the 1950s. Could that have been the building arch the local residents remembered?
More about this blast from the past in a future blog. This will be discussed in the rejuvenated section journal Medieval Yorkshire, the second volume of which, I’m delighted to say, is taking shape under David Asquith’s editorial hand.
Medieval Section of the Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society 