Normanising the North: The Evidence of Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Scandinavian Sculpture
Abstract This Study Probes the destruction of material culture to illuminate the introduction of Norman political authority into northern England. A brief overview of Norman destruction of churches provides the background to a review of the potential relationship of Anglo-Saxon monuments with memory and identity, in the context of recent discussions of monument reuse. Durham and York, the Anglo-Saxon monastic sites at Wearmouth/Jarrow, Lindisfarne and Jedburgh, and a selection of local churchyards provide case studies. It argues that some monuments seem to have been deliberately targeted, but a wider range of factors, all ultimately derived from changing political circumstances, can be identified that explain why sculpture was removed and reused. The paper serves as a platform for further debate about the significance of monuments in the Middle Ages, and as a contribution to the broader discourse within archaeology about their social meanings.
Excavation and Survey at St Patrick's Chapel and St Peter's Church, Heysham, Lancashire, 1977–8
Summary This paper reports excavations in 1977 and 1978 at the chapel and adjoining cemetery of St Patrick's, Heysham, and an architectural survey of the nearby church of St Peter's. The chapel initially comprised a single-celled, stone-built structure, plastered inside and out. Associated with it were pieces of painted plaster, two bearing letters, and, in all probability, a stone carved with a bird's head, perhaps of late seventh- to late eighth-century date. The chapel was subsequently enlarged. One burial included a bone comb of Anglo-Scandinavian type, and calibrated radiocarbon dates for three skeletons range between AD 960 and 1185. This report was submitted for publication in March 1992.
How Old is Gallarus Oratory? A Reappraisal of Its Role in Early Irish Architecture
T H E small stone oratory at Gallarus near the end of the Dingle peninsula in co. Kerry (PL. IV, A; FIG. 10) is the best known of the western Irish boatshaped oratories-so called because their walls, which slope inwards to an apex, resemble the shape of an upturned boat. As Gallarus is the only intact example of its type, it has attracted considerable attention from antiquarians, archaeologists and architects since the middle of the r Sth century and has been ascribed by them generally to the 8th century or earlier. The importance of the oratory in the study of Irish ecclesiastical architecture has lain in the role allotted to it as a connecting link in a supposed progression from the beehive hut to the fully developed church with upright walls. My purpose in examining the date of the building is to question the validity of these current theories, and to act as devil's advocate for the possibility of a later date for the building and for the acceptance of the consequences this would have on the study of Early Christian architecture in Ireland. The first account we have of the oratory is Smith's curiously inaccurate description of I 756: