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Salon: Issue 409
19 June 2018
Next issue: 3 July
The Society of Antiquaries of London Online Newsletter (Salon) is a fortnightly digest of heritage news. It focuses on the activities of the Society and the contributions that the Society's Fellows make to public life. A copy of Salon’s editorial policy can be found on the Society’s website.
Please send news, comment and feedback for publication to the Editor, Mike Pitts, at Salon Editor. Salon doesn't review books, but the Editor is pleased to receive details and cover images of new titles written by Fellows. Scholarly publications are reviewed in The Antiquaries Journal.
Fellows may occasionally find they do not receive email notification of a new Salon. There are suggestions for solving this, and an online archive where new editions are posted. You can also unsubscribe at any point, by following this link.
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Inside this issue
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From the Desk of the General Secretary
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Irreplaceable: A History of England in 100 Places
We are delighted to announce that Kelmscott Manor has been chosen by BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz (from hundreds of public nominations) as one of Historic England's top ten sites that tell the history of England's art, architecture and sculpture.
Discussing Kelmscott Manor, Will Gompertz said: "William Morris in particular, and the Pre-Raphaelites in general, developed an aesthetic that married the past with the present in an art movement that prized people and craft above industry and profit. Kelmscott embodies Morris's vision, his love of England, of tradition, of nature, and its sympathetic representation by sensitive and skilful artisans. If you want to join medieval guilds with today's hipsters you need to look no further than Kelmscott."
Kelmscott's beautiful gardens, with barns, dovecote, a meadow and stream, provided a constant source of inspiration for Morris's designs and writings until his death in 1896. Images drawn from Kelmscott appear frequently in his poetry, prose and designs for textiles and wallpapers, making the house an important part of the Arts & Crafts movement, driven by Morris. The building and its surroundings also influenced Morris' ideas on conservation for both the built and natural environments, which led to his founding of the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings.
Read more >
'Only there is Life'
The artists Edward and Stephani Scott-Snell at Kelmscott Manor 1940-48
Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries are warmly invited to join us for a private view of Kelmscott Manor's summer exhibition, taking place Friday 22 June (18.30-20.30). Speeches will begin at 19.00, and guests will have an opportunity to visit the exhibition inside the Manor house.
‘Only there is Life’ centres on the Society of Antiquaries’ recent acquisition of paintings and drawings by the artists Edward and Stephani Scott-Snell, created during the period they were living at the Manor as self-described ‘guardians of the most beautiful house in the world’. If you would like to attend please email membership-groups@kelmscottmanor.org.uk.
More information on the exhibition is available on the Kelmscott Manor website.
New SAL Research Awards from the Beatrice de Cardi Fund
Image Credit: Council for British Archaeology.
The Society is delighted to announce a new stream of research funding endowed through a bequest from the late Beatrice de Cardi FSA.
Beatrice de Cardi undertook pioneering fieldwork and research in the Arabian Gulf and Pakistan. Over the course of a long and distinguished career she was President of the British Foundation for the Study of Arabia, the first Secretary of the Council for British Archaeology, and a recipient of the Society’s Gold Medal.
The awards are to support archaeological research by field survey, excavation and the publication of fieldwork in the United Arab Emirates, the Sultanate of Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the Pakistan province of Balochistan.
Grants of £5,000 - £15,000 will be made on an annual basis with the possibility of renewal for up to two further years. The deadline for applications is 15 January each year.
Full details are available on the Society's website.
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Fellows Reveal Second Inscribed Tintagel Stone
 Archaeologists working for English Heritage have found a stone at Tintagel Castle, Cornwall, inscribed with Latin writing, Greek letters and Christian symbols. Thought to date from around AD 650–700, it is the second inscribed stone to have been excavated in modern times at the site popularly associated with King Arthur.
The 61 by 48 cm slate, probably local, was found by the Cornwall Archaeological Unit last year in a project directed by Jacky Nowakowski FSA, on the south terrace of Tintagel Island. According to a report by Michelle Brown FSA and Oliver Padel FSA (‘The inscription found in excavations at Tintagel, summer 2017: provisional account’), it had been placed horizontally low down, perhaps as a sill, in an opening – too narrow to be a doorway, too low for a window – in a substantial wall. ‘It is uncertain whether the inscription was carved onto the stone before it was put in place or after,’ they say. ‘The balance of probability seems to favour before,’ though its positioning left the whole inscription visible. The opening had been filled in.
Reading of the inscription was facilitated by reflectance transformation imaging conducted by Tom Goskar FSA (images above right, edited). In a blog he writes that ‘Some of the writing is very faint, and so rather than the usual technique of using 3D capture (close range laser scanning or photogrammetry), I opted to use [RTI] to obtain our best chance of reading all of the letters. The results were fantastic, and I was lucky enough to be perhaps the first to read some personal names from 1,300 years ago, as I processed the data from my home office.’
Michelle Brown, who is Professor Emerita of Medieval Manuscript Studies at the School of Advanced Study and a Visiting Professor at University College, University of London, has kindly written some commentary for Salon. ‘If the different components are meant to be read together rather than just a series of random words,’ she says, ‘as a surrounding cartouche line suggests,’ the inscription, based on her and Padel’s work, may read:
[From] TITO (line 1), presumed to be the Latin name Titus, a common name in the Roman world.
[To] UIRI DUO (line 2), two men, or the Latin dative form of a possible personal name Viridius. ‘There is a Romano-British deity, Viridios/Viridius,’ says Brown, ‘attested in inscriptions (one perhaps post-Roman) at Ancaster, Lincolnshire. The use of the term “viri duo” is intriguing and, as far as I know, unparalleled in these islands. Why this vocabulary? The term is used in classical epigraphy for the “two men” (duo viri) who fulfilled the function of the aediles. It was also used of local officers in the provinces and cities of the Roman Empire whose responsibilities included being in charge of weights and measures, but as yet we have no evidence for either of these earlier uses being alluded to here.’
A[lpha?] (line 3), in the form of a monogram incorporating several letters, set slightly to the side. ‘The closest parallels for such a complex monogram lie in the Roman and Byzantine worlds, in funerary and architectural inscriptions and on coins and weights. Monograms also occur in Insular and Carolingian manuscript culture and coinage during the eight–ninth centuries.’
FILI (line 3) and BU|DIC or BU...|DIC (lines 4–5), the son/s of Budic, a known vernacular Brittonic name.
TU or TUD (lines 6/7), part of a Brittonic name featuring a Greek delta followed at a slight distance by an A which might stand alone (perhaps as an Alpha).
The first stone was found in 1998, with a more complete inscription reading PATERNI, COLIAVI FICIT and ARTOGNOV. The late Geoffrey Wainwright FSA, then Chief Archaeologist at English Heritage, said at the time with an eye to public interest that it was temping to link Artognou with Arthur. But, he added, ‘it must be stressed that there is no evidence to make this connection.’
‘The immediate significance of both inscriptions,’ says Brown, ‘is that they provide an insight into the nature of post-Roman Cornwall and its wide-reaching economic and cultural relations, which looked back to the legacy of the prehistoric and Roman past and forward to the Early Middle Ages. An area which is now perilously marginalised politically and economically was then part of an Atlantic seaboard route linking the far West to the Near East.’
 The text of the new stone (left) ‘suggests a high level of literacy,’ adds Brown, ‘and an awareness of contemporary writing styles. Other examples of writing from this period in Cornwall and western Britain are predominantly formal inscriptions on monumental stones, but this (like the Artognou stone, which repeats some of its words twice, as if practicing) is quite different with a more casual writing style, suggesting that this was a practice piece for a diligent scribe rather than a finished article.'
‘Like the Artognou stone it is scratched with single or repeated marks using a pointed instrument. However, the cartouche suggests some coherence in intent. There are dots used as layout marks at the stroke ends on the final A (line 7), and dots resembling the medial punctus in UIRI (line 2) which divide the word into syllables. These may relate to the sort of syllabic punctuation sometimes found in early Christian epigraphy in Rome and may be related to learning to read Latin out loud.’
‘The exciting discovery suggests that a culture of casual or draft writing may have existed on Tintagel Island, allied to contemporary manuscript culture and monumental inscriptions. This points to the presence of a literate Christian culture at Tintagel during the period. Along with the earlier excavation of the nearby Tintagel Churchyard site (which faces the south terrace on the mainland) by the late (and much missed) Charles Thomas FSA, Jacky Nowakowski and colleagues, Tintagel Island may now be seen to have been the residence of a wealthy, literate Christian elite with at least one or two scribes from an ecclesiastical background, probably attached to the household. Cornwall would likely have had its documents and books prior to the tenth-century Bodmin Gospels and was tied into a literate multi-cultural network and was anything but provincial.’
‘Our ongoing research,’ said Win Scutt, English Heritage Curator, in a press release, ‘has already revealed the extent of Tintagel’s buildings and the richness of the lifestyle enjoyed here. The discovery of this stone supports the idea that Tintagel was an important, thriving trade port, and a high-status settlement which could have been the seat of Cornish kings.’
‘The writing revealed itself when the stone was cleaned,’ said Nowakowski. ‘It's the kind of find archaeologists dream of discovering.’
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A Time to Visit Burlington House and Gardens
I noted the opening in May of the Royal Academy of Arts’ redevelopment in an earlier Salon. Fellows visiting the Society’s premises this summer will note a celebratory feel to Burlington House, which begins out in the street. In my photo of Piccadilly above, in the distance beyond the red flag listing the RA and the Societies around the square inside (known as the Annenberg Courtyard since 2002), can be seen a few more decorative flags. There are many similar all along Piccadilly (designed by Grayson Perry), but they don't stop there: more hang over Regent Street St James’s, Bond Street and Regent Street, designed respectively by Cornelia Parker, Rose Wylie and Joe Tilson (the latter inspired by his paintings of the historical architecture and churches of Venice, hanging in the RA’s current Summer Exhibition). The flags, over 200 of them, contribute to the RA’s 250th anniversary celebrations.
The courtyard inside is bright and busy, dominated by Anish Kapoor’s Symphony for a Beloved Daughter (above right), the latest of a succession of public works. From earlier years my photos show the plinth under construction for a new cast of G F Watts’s Physical Energy (1904) (centre, 2017) and Ron Arad’s Spyre (left, 2106), and (below, right to left) Ai Wei Wei’s Tree (2015), Conrad Shawcross’s The Dappled Light of the Sun (2015) and Anselm Kiefer's Velimir Khlebnikov: Fates of Nations: The New Theory of War (2014). The statue of Joshua Reynolds by Alfred Drury (1931, below right) stands between the doors into the Royal Society of Chemistry and (below centre) the Society of Antiquaries.
In the old days, when the British Museum occupied Burlington Gardens with the Museum of Mankind, if you wanted to get between the museum and the Annenberg Courtyard, the quickest walk was through the Burlington Arcade, a covered shopping street opened by the then owner of Burlington House in 1819. Now that the RA occupies Burlington Gardens to the north as well, the alterations have opened up a new route straight through the centre. Well, perhaps not straight, but the circuitous passage along corridors lined with old casts of Classical statues, exhibition rooms displaying student works, up and down stairs (at one point when I met a lost couple, for a moment I thought they might be part of an installation) is full of interest. Emerging into the street at the end you can look up at the restored and cleaned façade of 6 Burlington Gardens with its 22 statues (1868), whose identities – Isaac Newton, William Harvey, Georges Cuvier, Adam Smith and so on – reflect its origins as a University of London building.
 In the days of the Museum of Mankind, the ground floor entrance hall of Burlington Gardens accommodated Hoa Hakananai’a, an Easter Island statue acquired by the British Museum in 1869 (right, photo BM). It’s now back in Bloomsbury, and the doorway behind where it stood has been opened up for a Pace Gallery (below). The main work now in the hall – suitably monumental and figurative, in Egyptian alabaster – is Cycladic Gemini by Stephen Cox (£300,000).
The RA has a handy timeline of the buildings' history online. With its new free galleries (Mary Beard FSA talks about some Classical works in an online tour), a public lecture theatre, cafes and spaces, it is more open and welcoming, and more of a destination. For Fellows that goal of course includes the Society’s rooms, not least the Meeting Room, the Library and the Fellows’ Room (with a small museum display) and collections available for research on application. If you are able to go to London, now is the time to visit, before the summer Library closure (30 July–3 September).
• David Cannadine FSA will be among speakers at the Inaugural RA Festival Of Ideas (7–16 September), in the Royal Academy’s new Benjamin West Lecture Theatre. Talks will be part of ‘a meeting of great minds in art, architecture, literature, design, film and music’ in ‘a 10 day celebration of creativity, culture and critical thinking’ across the RA’s transformed campus.
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Major EU Grant for Silk Road Study in Iraq and Iran
Roger Matthews FSA and Wendy Matthews (in the trench above), both in the Department of Archaeology, University of Reading, are leading a project to look at how communities developed along the major ancient routeway that later became the Silk Road. Their multi-disciplinary study, said by a university press release to be one of the largest of its kind ever undertaken, will work with colleagues in universities and state antiquities departments in Iran and Iraq. Called MENTICA (Middle East Neolithic Transition – Integrated Community Approaches), it has won a European Research Council Advanced Grant of €2.5 million (£2.2 million).
The five-year grant will support archaeological excavations and scientific analysis of early agricultural communities in one of the core regions where hunter-gatherers first started to farm, in the Zagros mountains east of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (17,000-7000 BC), at Zarzi and Bestansur in Iraq, and Sheikh-e Abad in Iran.
 Roger Matthews said, ‘Our project is also seeking to establish a sense of community ownership of heritage sites, through engagement with local and national communities, which is vital for their protection in conflict-affected regions.’
The Matthews are the only archaeologists, says the university, currently directing archaeological research in both eastern Iraq and western Iran in collaboration with Iraqi and Iranian colleagues. As President of RASHID International, Roger Matthews works closely with local communities and authorities to preserve and promote awareness of Iraq’s cultural heritage. The organisation collects information on damage to sites and lobbies for international laws and agreements to protect them.
The photos show the Matthews briefing the excavation team in Bestansur Iraq (top) and a neolithic building at the site (University of Reading).
• On the same day that news was released of Roger and Wendy Matthews’ grant (8 June), it was claimed that as a result of Brexit, the UK may be excluded from decisions on how future funds are distributed. In the Sunday Times, Oliver Moody quoted Norman Lamb MP, Chairman of the Science Select Committee, who said, ‘It appears that the government hasn’t yet been able to convince the EU that the UK deserves voting rights in the Horizon Europe programme, despite the substantial payments we would be making to the programme as a third country.’ This means, wrote Moody, ‘that the UK could end up putting in more money than its researchers receive.’
European Union culture funding for the UK has been guaranteed until at least 2020, and in May it proposed a 27% increase to its culture budget for the next six-year funding round, bringing money for creative and cultural projects up to €1.9bn. ‘But make no mistake,’ wrote Taitmail on 12 June, ‘when Brexit happens, the EU funds will disappear and so, eventually will the co-operation with artists from Europe.’
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Honours for Fellows
The Queen’s Birthday Honours List, published on 8 June, recognised several people who have made public contributions to our heritage and culture, among them those listed here with their citations and notes (Above: Charles Saumarez Smith from his blog, and Mary Beard appearing in Civilisations, photo BBC).
Charles Saumarez Smith FSA received a knighthood (KBE) for services to art, architecture and culture in the UK. Secretary and Chief Executive at the Royal Academy of Arts, Saumarez Smith is a historian, cultural commentator, writer and academic who has demonstrated unwavering dedication to the advancement of the creative industries in the UK. In his ten year tenure at the RA, he has placed particular emphasis on cultural diplomacy, fostering a culture of sharing exhibitions with international institutions, showcasing the skill of British artists such as David Hockney, Thomas Heatherwick and Anish Kapoor. He has overseen the multi-million pound Burlington Gardens project, which has doubled the footprint of the RA and which has allowed the RA to have a free exhibition offer for the first time in its history. Reflecting his personal commitment to opening up the arts to everyone, and marking the RA’s 250th anniversary, the RA’s collection (which includes works by Constable, Gainsborough and Michelangelo) will go on permanent public display for the first time in centuries, and with no entry cost.
Mary Beard FSA was made a Dame (DBE) for services to the study of Classical civilisation. Professor of Classics, University of Cambridge, Beard is one of the world’s most prominent and influential scholars of classical civilisation. She has, through her range of publications, extensive journalism, television documentaries and highly successful blog, done more than anyone else to bring classics to a wide and diverse audience, whilst losing none of the depth and breadth of her academic rigour. Her 2015 book SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, has received widespread critical acclaim, and particularly for its clarity of language and accessibility. She continues to undertake fundamental new research, being awarded in 2014 a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship for work on the Twelve Caesars. She has made a range of highly successful programmes for the BBC, including Pompeii: New Secrets Revealed, and Ultimate Rome: Empire Without Limit, and most recently the major remake of Civilisations. In 2016 she received the Bodley Medal, awarded to those who have made outstanding contributions to the worlds of communications and literature. She is the Royal Academy of Arts Professor of Ancient Literature.
 Lucy Worsley FSA, Historian and Chief Curator, Historic Royal Palaces, received an OBE for services to history and heritage.
Vincent Gaffney FSA, Professor, Landscape Archaeology, University of Bradford, received an MBE for services to scientific research.
Right: Lucy Worsley (appearing in Suffragettes with Lucy Worsley, photo BBC) and Vince Gaffney.
Other recipients included:
Simon Schama, historian and broadcaster, received a knighthood (KBE) for services to history. Schama is a prolific and internationally acclaimed Professor of History and Art History. A natural storyteller, his books have been translated into 15 languages and cover an extraordinary breadth, from slavery and the American Revolution, the history of Britain, and the French Revolution. His award winning documentary series have been lauded for their quality and accessibility. He has made 10 major documentary series including a 15 part History of Britain, and The Story of the Jews, a five-part look at 3000 years of Jewish History. He is the writer and presenter of more than 40 documentaries on art, history and literature. He writes on cooking and food, and is a contributing editor for the Financial Times. He is currently working on Civilisations, a television history of world art. He is a patron of the Art History in Schools charity, which is dedicated to promoting art history education in state schools across the UK.
Janet Vitmayer was made a Dame (DBE) for services to museums and diversity. Lately Chief Executive and Director of the Horniman Museum and Gardens, Vitmayer has made an exceptional contribution to diversity in the Museums sector. She has delivered a multi million pound, RIBA award winning, transformation of the Horniman, trebling overall visitor numbers and widening its education programme to annually reach over 43,000 school children and their teachers and 70,000 participants through the Community Learning and Engagement Programme. She has placed particular emphasis on improving attendance amongst BME communities, more than doubling the percentage of BME visits to the museum. She has developed strong partnerships with major institutions such as the British Museum, V&A and the British Council, and secured vital repeat funding streams from the Wolfson, Garfield Weston and Fidelity Foundations. She is strongly committed to increasing the number of women in senior positions in the sector, has Chaired the Women Leaders in Museums Network and continues to mentor young and aspiring women leaders.
OBE
Gus Casely-Hayford, curator, cultural historian and broadcaster, for services to arts and culture.
Amandeep Madra, for services to Punjabi and Sikh heritage and culture (Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire).
Richard Oldfield, for services to the Canterbury Cathedral appeal and charity.
Diana Owen, lately Director, The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, for services to culture and tourism.
Richard Smith, Director, The Tank Museum, for services to military heritage.
MBE
Stephen Bird, Head of Heritage, Bath and North East Somerset Council, for services to museums, heritage and tourism.
Susan Cooper, for services to conservation and the environment in Shropshire and Herefordshire.
Betty Holbrook, for services to heritage and the community in Harwich, Essex.
Rosemary Irwin, Chair, Gilbert White Museum and Oates Galleries, for services to education and the community in Selborne, Hampshire.
Vivienne Littlechild, lately Chairman, Culture, Heritage and Libraries Committee, City of London Corporation, for services to culture and heritage in the City of London.
Pippa Pearce, conservator, British Museum, for services to metal conservation.
Philip Saunderson, for services to heritage, charity and the community in Northamptonshire.
Stephanie Shields, for services to conservation heritage (Grantham, Lincolnshire).
Roger Turp, for services to the Lancashire Infantry Museum and young people in Garstang and Preston.
Ann Marr Wells, World War One Commemorations Officer, Scottish Government, for services to the history of World War One in Scotland.
Michael Worthington Williams, for services to Automotive History (Newcastle Emlyn, Carmarthenshire).
BEM
Frank Akerman, Trustee and lately Honorary Secretary, Romsey and District Society Buildings Preservation Trust, for services to conservation in Romsey, Hampshire.
Archie Baird, Curator, Heritage of Golf Museum, Gullane, for services to the History of Golf.
Brian Budge, world wars historian, for services to military history in Orkney.
Ken Pullin, for services to archaeology and heritage in Northern Ireland
Nick Walker, Director, Puffer Preservation Trust and Skipper, the VIC 32, for services to tourism, marine heritage and charity (Lochgilphead, Argyll and Bute).
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No Free Man Shall be Unlawfully Deprived of his Standing
On 16 June the National Trust launched Writ in Water, a permanent architectural artwork by Mark Wallinger at Runnymede celebrating Magna Carta. The work, says the Trust, ‘reflects upon the founding principles of democracy, and through a meeting of water, sky and light, provides visitors with a space for reflection and contemplation’. A plain, textured circular building rests at the base of a hillside in a meadow flanked on either side by the River Thames and an oxbow lake.
An outer doorway on the north leads to a simple circular labyrinth, in which the visitor can choose to turn left or right to reach an inner doorway that opens into a central chamber. Here an open roof lights a round pool of water, whose side is inscribed with Magna Carta’s Clause 39 (upholding individual freedom). The reversed and inverted lettering can be read reflected in the water.
Writing about it the Guardian (15 June), Charlotte Higgins FSA says the interior is like ‘a sanctuary. It is hushed – the rumble of the A road is dulled by the walls. It invites contemplation. The sky was grey and flat the day we were there, but I could imagine shafts of sunlight falling into the chamber, clouds rushing across the aperture, or even the moon hovering in the water’s surface. As it was, I could see oak branches from a nearby tree and the occasional crow flapping lazily over.’
 
On this day in 1215, tweeted @SocAntiquaries on 15 June, ‘King John put his seal to the #MagnaCarta. In 2015, we celebrated the 800th anniversary of the #GreatCharter. You can explore our THREE copies of the charter online.’
The three manuscripts are a copy of a 1215 draft (inside a volume commonly known as the Black Book of Peterborough), a copy of the 1225 reissue and the Charter of the Forests (commonly known as the Halesowen Abbey Scroll), and a copy of the 1225 reissue and the Charter of the Forests (inside a volume commonly known as the Hart Book of Statutes). The pictures above are from the latter, which Stephen Church FSA describes in a video as a work which professional lawyers and people coming into contact with the law would have wanted, perhaps made by a London bookmaker servicing lawyers around the Inns of Court.
Photo at top by Andrew Butler/National Trust.
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Elgar Archive on the Move
Pat Hughes FSA was among many signatories to a letter to the Times (15 June), published under the heading, ‘Elgar belongs to us’. The Elgar Foundation, they write, responsible for the archive at Sir Edward Elgar’s birthplace at The Firs, Lower Broadheath, Worcestershire, has decided to relocate the collection to the British Library in London. ‘We are concerned at this loss to the county where Elgar was born, lived for many years, married, died and is buried … The Foundation’s decision seems to disregard this connection, contrary to modern practice in heritage circles.’
They consider the Hive in Worcester to be the best place for the material, with the county archives. The Hive is ‘a new building with environmentally controlled strongrooms, conservation and digitisation studios and a light and accessible reading room. Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service, based at The Hive, is recognised nationally as an example of good practice and was voted UK record keeper of the year in 2017.’
Adrian Gregson, Manager of Worcestershire County Council's archives, told Worcester News (7 June) that he ‘wrote a report for the Foundation about a month ago explaining why we wanted to house the collection at the Hive.’ He was told it was going to London. ‘We are very dismayed at this decision,’ he said. ‘Elgar is Worcestershire. The idea that the papers, which have been here since 1966 would be better placed in London, taken away from the beauty here that so inspired Elgar's works, is frightening really.’
In December 2016 the National Trust took on a five-year lease with the Elgar Foundation of Elgar’s birthplace cottage and the visitor centre at Lower Broadheath. Conservation is underway. ‘Should we succeed in finding new ways to bring Elgar’s music to visitors and educational groups,’ says the Trust, ‘then we very much hope to take on a longer-term responsibility for the site and continue to share the cottage that inspired Elgar throughout the whole of his lifetime.’
Responding in a letter to the Times on 18 June, John Whenham, Trustee of the Elgar Foundation, explains that the Foundation handed over the management of The Firs to the National Trust ‘to ensure that Elgar’s wish that his birthplace be maintained as his memorial should be carried through in perpetuity.’ Neither Foundation nor Trust, however, ‘can afford the estimated £60,000 a year necessary to maintain a research archive at The Firs for the dozen or so researchers who visit it each year.’
Without doubting the archival merits of The Hive at Worcester, he says, ‘the will of Carice Elgar-Blake, Elgar’s daughter, indicates quite clearly her wish that, should we relinquish the materials of the research archive that she bequeathed to us, these materials should go to the British Library, where they will join the bulk of Elgar’s music manuscripts and letters, and be available to researchers in the library’s reading rooms at St Pancras. Since it is also the aspiration of the British Library to make its Elgar collections available online to anyone with a laptop, tablet or smartphone, this seems to us to fulfil the stated aim of the Foundation that it should promote Elgar’s work “in every part of the world”.’
Photo National Trust.
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Clifford's Tower Lessons
Mike Farley FSA writes from York:
‘Many Fellows will be pleased to note the Guardian’s report (8 June), recording that English Heritage’s extraordinary proposal to construct a visitor centre with gift shop, ticket office etc at the base of the Clifford’s Tower motte, has been abandoned. The new Director for the north of England is reported to have said that she had become "increasingly conscious that many people have a deep emotional attachment towards the mound". Good news as this may be, it still seems remarkable that gathering opposition to the proposal together is almost entirely due to the efforts of one local man, Johnny Hayes, a York City Councillor. It also seems remarkable that Historic England, the ultimate guardian of scheduled ancient monuments, must have given its consent to the proposal in the first place. Apart from any possible direct archaeological damage that would have resulted from construction of the building, it would, to put it politely, be pushing the pushing the limits of Historic England’s remit to agree that a building here would enhance the setting of the motte.
‘Despite this welcome decision, as Johnny Hayes points out on his website, the case will still go to the Appeal Court. Its decision may have significant effects on other planning decisions affecting scheduled monuments.’
The dispute about English Heritage’s proposals for Clifford's Tower (technically affecting the grassy motte on which the rebuilt and restored Grade I 13th-century stone castle keep stands) has potentially already had an impact on heritage planning. Hayes protested about the Council’s decision in October 2016 to approve English Heritage’s plans for a visitor centre, which included a concrete and glass building embedded in the base of the mound. The High Court granted Hayes, who felt ‘the planning process which gave this permission was seriously flawed,’ a judicial review. The hearing was held before Mr Justice Kerr on 3 May 2017, and the judgment published on 9 June the same year.
The Judge addressed a point of archaeology and planning in ‘the first case raising directly the meaning and effect of paragraph 141 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).’ This paragraph states that ‘where heritage assets are lost or partly lost, local planning authorities and developers should make archaeological records publicly available, but “the ability to record evidence of our past should not be a factor in deciding whether such loss should be permitted”.’
To interpret this, he goes back to its origins in Planning Policy Guidance 16: Archaeology and Planning (PPS 16, 1990), and quotes: “Where it is not feasible to preserve remains, an acceptable alternative may be to arrange prior excavation, during which the archaeological evidence is recorded… Such excavation and recording should be carried out before development commences, working to a project brief prepared by the planning authority and taking advice from archaeological consultants.”
Proceeding through this and other versions, the Judge concludes that, ‘The sense of paragraph 141 is that you cannot destroy a heritage asset just to mine information from it. The information is no substitute for the asset itself.’
Nonetheless, paragraph 137 of the NPPF requires local planning authorities to ‘look for opportunities for new development within Conservation Areas and World Heritage Sites and within the setting of heritage assets to enhance or better reveal their significance.’ Such enhancement can form part of a justification for loss or partial loss of a heritage asset, and gathering evidence and making it publicly available is a requirement.
However, the Judge found that ‘a non sequitur [had] crept in when PPS 5 replaced PPS 16, and then found its way into the language of NPPF paragraph 141.’ ‘The last sentence of that paragraph,’ says the Judgment, ‘only makes good sense if interpreted so that the words “should not be a factor” are taken to bear the meaning “should not be a decisive factor”, in deciding whether the harm to the asset should be permitted… unless the paragraph is interpreted in that way, it would be very difficult to apply in a coherent manner.’
Mr Justice Kerr dismissed the claim. Hayes is concerned about ‘a worrying precedent … The Judgement gives developers the ability to risk harming archaeology simply by recording the evidence of our [past].’
That is not how it works: the NPPF starts with the principle that preservation is better than loss, sets in train a process of assessment to which a developer must respond, and gives decisions to planners.
The non sequitur which Mr Justice Kerr found made it ‘very difficult to apply [paragraph 141] in a coherent manner’, remains unchanged in the Draft revised NPPF published on 5 March 2018. Archaeologists have expressed concerns that ‘Planning authorities and applicants are likely to read changed wording as implying that archaeology should be afforded less weight.’ They might perhaps find comfort in the Clifford's Tower Judgment. Praising NPPF’s ‘commendable brevity [delivered] at the price (well worth paying) of replacing detailed exposition with general policy statements that can be Delphic, as in this instance,’ the Judge said that ‘Paragraph 141 must be read in its proper context.’
Image at top English Heritage.
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Fellows (and Friends)
 There will be a Memorial Mass for John Ashdown-Hill FSA, who died in May, at St. James the Less Catholic Church, Colchester at 12 noon on Friday 6 July. Please email JAHRequim@gmail.com If you plan to attend. On the Saturday after at 4.30 pm, as part of the 2018 Middleham Celebrates Richard III weekend, a service in honour of the King, at the Church of St Mary & St Alkelda, Middleham, will include a tribute to Ashdown-Hill. A friend and supporter of the Middleham Festival, he gave talks at the 2016 and 2017 festivals, the latter, says the John Ashdown-Hill blog, being his last public appearance.
John Julius Norwich, a writer and broadcaster with a passion for Venice, died on 1 June aged 88. He was Chairman of the Venice in Peril fund and Company Chairman of the World Monuments Fund. His many books included A History of Venice (1982), Byzantium: The Early Centuries (1988), and Shakespeare's Kings: the Great Plays and the History of England in the Middle Ages: 1337–1485 (2000).
Harold Dibble, an American archaeologist and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, died on 10 June aged 66. He directed excavations at many Palaeolithic sites in Europe, Morocco and Egypt.
Since my note in the last Salon, it has been confirmed that the archaeologist killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan was involved with excavations at Mes Aynak. Abdul Wahab Ferozi, says the Gulf Times, oversaw the restoration of more than 3,000 antiquities now at the National Museum in Kabul. He was on his way to work at the site, which has been in the hands of Afghan staff since European and American archaeologists have kept away because of the growing security risks. Four employees of the Culture Ministry were injured in the attack.
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 The Royal Navy Submarine Museum at Gosport, Hampshire, has opened a new permanent exhibition, Silent & Secret. It explores the history of the British nuclear at-sea deterrent, and reveals the challenge of working in the submarines. ‘As well as acknowledging the role of the deterrent within the Royal Navy,’ said Dominic Tweddle FSA, Director General of The National Museum of the Royal Navy in a press statement, ‘it is important that the exhibition reflects the current debate on the renewal of Trident missiles. We envisage that this will be told through several viewpoints, including concerns on the moral and ethical issues. The museum will not tell the visitor what to think, but will leave them to form their own opinion.’ The exhibit opened on 15 June, 50 years to the day since the launch of HMS Resolution, the RN’s first nuclear ballistic missile submarine. When a Resolution Class Polaris sub went to sea, she was effectively at war. She would remain entirely submerged for her three month patrol, undetected, able to receive continuous message traffic from base (but not from the crew's families) and ready to fire missiles at 15 minutes’ notice.
 Graham Speake FSA has written A History of the Athonite Commonwealth: The Spiritual and Cultural Diaspora of Mount Athos, examining the part played by monks of Mount Athos in the diffusion of Orthodox monasticism. It focuses, says the blurb, on the lives of outstanding holy men in the history of Orthodoxy who have been drawn to the Mountain, have absorbed the spirit of its wisdom and its prayer, and have returned to the outside world, inspired to spread the results of their labours and learning. In a remarkable demonstration of 'soft power' in action, these men carried the image of Athos to all corners of the Balkan peninsula, to Ukraine, to the very far north of Russia, across Siberia and the Bering Strait into North America, and most recently (when traditional routes were closed to them by the Iron Curtain) to the West. Their dynamic witness is the greatest gift of Athos to a world thirsting for spiritual guidance.
Regular Salon readers will know that I have highlighted issues around the destruction of UK Windrush records of potential historic interest. Government papers that should be archived are also being destroyed in the US – and reassembled, or at least they were until recently. Under the Presidential Records Act, reported Politico (10 June), the White House must preserve in the National Archives as historical records every memo, letter, email and paper touched by the President. The story came to light after President Trump fired Solomon Lartey and Reginald Young Jr with no explanation. The two men, each on a salary of more than $60,000, apparently spent months with rolls of Sellotape sorting through piles of shredded paper hoping to recreate documents ripped up by Trump. Unable to stop him, aides resorted to collecting his bins.
 Ahead of a World Heritage Committee meeting in Bahrain (24 June–4 July) UNESCO has recommended that Liverpool should retain its World Heritage Status – though it will say the city should remain on an ‘in danger’ list. Following severe criticicism of city plans, a draft Desired State of Conservation Report was submitted by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Secretary of State Matt Hancock) with Liverpool City Council and Historic England. Among the report’s proposals are a height policy for new buildings and an independent Mayoral taskforce. ‘Liverpool we hope is back from the brink,’ said Marcus Binney FSA, Executive President of SAVE Britain’s Heritage, in a press statement. ‘Liverpool's endangered landmarks have featured repeatedly in SAVE publications over the last 40 years as have numerous successful rescues and reuses. A reprieve from UNESCO can be the vital catalyst in returning the architecture of this great city to glory.’
‘Parish churches hold the bulk of pre-1750 British sculpture,’ writes Jean Wilson FSA to the Times (11 June), ‘most surviving Medieval painting, monumental brasses in greater numbers than in any other European country as well as precious fabrics. All of these suffer from bat excreta: bat urine erodes brasses, irreparably. Bat faeces leach into and stain alabaster and marble. We are privileged to experience much surviving British art in the context for which it was designed, but uncontrolled bats are destroying this heritage.’ The Bat Habitats Regulation Bill, under consideration by Parliament, would allow churches to deploy anti-bat measures. This ‘is a minimal but progressive measure,’ says Wilson, who is President of the Church Monuments Society. ‘If we do not act, future generations will blame us for needless loss.’ Similar correspondence followed a comment piece by Wilson on the same subject in the Times in June 2014.
The Anglo-Saxons, a classic text by the late James Campbell FSA first published in 1982, is being reissued by the Folio Society with characteristic embossed binding and a separate volume of full-page colour illustrations. The book remains the authoritative title on its theme, says the blurb, ‘a remarkable history created for a general readership. Campbell’s ground-breaking pictorial volume includes maps and diagrams, as well as over 60 black and white photographs of archaeological sites and surviving defences and churches. Campbell placed art and craftsmanship at the forefront of his work and these images illustrate their importance in understanding Anglo-Saxon culture.’ ‘The Anglo-Saxons is one of the most important and influential general overviews of Anglo-Saxon history written to date,’ says Gareth Williams in a new introduction.
 Beatriz Marin-Aguilera will be the third Renfrew Fellow in Archaeology, named in honour of Lord Colin Renfrew FSA, founding Director of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge. Marin-Aguilera completed her BA, MA and PhD at Universidad Complutense, Madrid, focusing on the material culture of colonialism, and has worked in Ghent, Providence, Rome and Glasgow, as well as on fieldwork in Antigua and Barbuda, Chile, Cyprus, Italy and Spain. Her project in Cambridge is titled, Bodies Matter: a Comparative Approach to Colonial Borderlands.
 Peter Bogucki FSA was among award recipients announced by the Society for American Archaeology in April. His book The Barbarians: Lost Civilizations won the Popular Book Award. ‘The focus on less acknowledged European groups and their numerous complex lifeways,’ says the citation, ‘serves as a counterpoint to the well-known ancient Greeks and Romans. The introduction in the book is particularly valuable for educating popular readers on the techniques of archaeology, and it offers a brief account of its history in Europe. This engaging book comes highly recommended for those who want to learn more about the ancestors of present-day Europeans.’ Previous book award winners include Kristian Kristiansen FSA and Thomas B Larsson ( Transformations, 2007) Brian Fagan FSA ( Before California: An Archaeologist Looks at Our Earliest Inhabitants) and the late Tony Wilkinson FSA ( Archaeological Landscapes of the Near East, 2004), and Clive Gamble FSA ( The Paleolithic Societies of Europe, 2000).
 The Cranfield Forensic Institute has examined an old jacket and confirmed that it was worn by Sir Thomas Noel Harris at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Harris’ family, who own the jacket and a diary kept by the Brigade-Major, wanted to know its true story. The CFI sought to compare DNA from the jacket with that of a living ancestor of Harris, compared soil samples from the jacket with soil from the battlefield, and analysed ballistic damage to the jacket and Harris's reported injuries. No DNA could be found, but other evidence supported the jacket’s provenance. A sleeve was cut in a way consistent with the amputation Harris reived after being shot, and bullet holes suggested that his belief he had been shot twice may have been derived from a single musket ball penetrating his arm and the side of his body. ‘We were able to safely confirm the authenticity of the jacket,’ said Andrew Shortland FSA, Director of CFI, in a press release, ‘and place it on the Waterloo battlefield. In so doing, we also gained further insight into the grievous wounds suffered by Harris during the battle, which themselves reflect the experience of those who fought, and died, on that day.’
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Memorials to Fellows
‘Dear Sir,
‘Monuments to Fellows
‘This pre-need monument, by the letter-cutter Charles Smith, was set up above my brick grave on Oxford Avenue at London's Kensal Green Cemetery in 2006. It's been waiting to receive the remains of the undersigned for the past twelve years but, as far as I am concerned, it can wait a little longer before it ensnares its prey.
‘ Julian Litten FSA
‘07.06.18’
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Just to show this is a flexible section, Thijs Porck at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society tweeted these images on 17 June. They feature, he wrote, the ‘Earliest-known instance of Old English feolaga “fellow” (a Scandinavian loan word) on a late 10th-/early 11th-century grave marker, now in Winchester City Museum: HER LIÐ GUNNI EORLES FEOLAGA [Here lies Gunni, the earl's companion].’ The Society of Antiquaries admitted Fellows (then called Members) immediately after its formal foundation around 1717.
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‘A monument at one remove,’ says Norman Hammond FSA of this contemporary tribute in the style of his time to Samuel Pepys, where he is buried in St Olave Hart St in the City of London. It is on the south wall of the south aisle, near where Pepys sat, and bears an inscription of the man behind it, Henry Wheatley FSA, writer, editor, founding member and President of the Samuel Pepys Club (1903–10) and author of Samuel Pepys and the World he Lived In (1880).
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The Wisdom of Fellows
 Jo Story FSA writes to notify Fellows of an Anglo-Saxon exhibition which will be at the British Library between 19 October 2018 and 19 February 2019. Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Art, Word, War is being curated by Claire Breay (Head of Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern MSS at the BL), and Breay and Story are editing the catalogue. Story, Simon Keynes FSA and Michael Wood FSA are on the academic committee, with Sue Brunning, Julia Crick and Andy Orchard. Registration is open for an accompanying conference on Manuscripts in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms (13–14 December). Picture shows St Mary, King Edgar and St Peter in the New Minster Charter (BL MS Cotton Vespasian A viii, f. 2v detail).
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In November last year Salon reported the disquiet of Grace Ioppolo FSA with the common practice of referring to a 16th-century theatre in London as ‘Shakespeare’s Rose’. On this occasion a pop-up theatre was due to open in a car park beside Clifford’s Tower in York (see Clifford’s Tower Lessons, above), named Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre. It was not Shakespeare, said Ioppolo, who financed the construction of the actual Rose, ran and maintained it for several years and called it ‘my playe howsse’: it was Philip Henslowe.
 On 11 June the York Press offered a ‘First look inside Shakespeare's Rose Theatre’ (‘If you brought Shakespeare and his audiences back here today,’ says James Cundall, chief executive of Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, ‘he would instantly recognise the space’). Steve Bird, a Senior Reporter at the Telegraph, noted Ioppolo’s repeated objections and wrote about it in the paper (9 June). ‘Academics are outraged,’ writes Bird, ‘that Lunchbox has chosen to name it Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre, with no mention of Henslowe.’ ‘Henslowe is probably spinning in his grave,’ says Ioppolo, ‘considering how obsessed he was in making clear his ownership of anything and everything in which he was involved.’
Jan Piggott FSA, former Keeper of the Archives at Dulwich College, joins the protest, saying it was a ‘marketing fib’ to associate the Rose with Shakespeare. ‘It is based on a fatuous vulgar error,’ he adds, ‘the result of some of the more soppy elements and the fictitious licence introduced in the film Shakespeare in Love. York’s claim is tantamount to saying: J K Rowling’s Hobbit or Jane Austen’s Downton Abbey.’
In defence, Kate Giles FSA, an archaeologist at the University of York, is said to have ‘insisted the name conjured up images of the heraldic White Rose of York, and the four Shakespearean plays – Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet and Richard III – to be performed there this summer.’
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Forthcoming Events for Fellows
You can catch up on meetings you've missed by visiting our YouTube Channel.
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Ordinary Meetings of Fellows
Interested in proposing a lecture? Please download the Lecture Proposal Form, and email it to Amelia Carruthers, Communications Manager (acarruthers@sal.org.uk).
The next Ordinary Meeting of Fellows will take place after the summer break, on Thursday 4 October 2018.
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Introductory Tours for Fellows
If you've never visited Burlington House or had an introduction to the Library and Collections, please join an introductory tour. You'll meet the Society's staff, learn about your Fellowship benefits, and discover more from the collections at Burlington House.
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Forthcoming Public Events
Conferences and Seminars
Public Lectures
Public Lectures are held from 13.00 to 14.00 on Tuesdays, with advance booking advised to be sure of a place.
Click here for more information on our public lectures. We also run public tours of the building (£10) preceding the lectures above.
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Regional Fellows Groups
South West Fellows
Further information on talks at Exeter can be found here.
Want to join the South West Regional Fellows Group? If you would like to receive email updates about forthcoming meetings, you can subscribe online at: http://eepurl.com/MvHUr
Welsh Fellows
- 23 June 2018: 'Neath Abbey and the Ironworks' - a one day visit, led by Bill Zajac FSA with David Robinson FSA also in attendance at the Abbey. Lunch will be in-between visits at the Miners Arms.
- July (TBC): An opportunity to visit the new excavations at Cosmeston by John Hinds FSA
- 19 October 2018: Weekend visit to the Hereford area, staying in the Three Counties Hotel in Hereford and visiting places of historical and archaeological interest in the area.
- 18 January 2019: The Davies Family of Llandinam with its Burry Dock connection, by David Jenkins FSA
- 11-13 October 2019: Weekend visit to the Pembrokeshire area. Programme to be arranged.
Want to join the Welsh Regional Fellows Group? If you would like to attend any events or receive email updates about forthcoming meetings, email Bob Child at bob.child@ntlworld.com.
York Fellows
- 26 June 2018: 'Writing Yorkshire' by Richard Morris FSA - discussing his recent highly acclaimed book Yorkshire. Please email ailsa.mainman@york.ac.uk if you'd like to attend.
- 29 November 2018: 'Surveying Shakespeare's Guildhall: a public building in pre-modern England' (Out of London Ordinary Meeting of Fellows, held in York). Find out more online.
Want to join the York Regional Fellows Group? If you would like to receive email updates about forthcoming meetings in York, you can subscribe online at: http://eepurl.com/8nvxL
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Other Forthcoming Heritage Events
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20 June: The Works of Decimus Burton (London)
Philip Whitbourn FSA will give a lecture on the works of Decimus Burton (1800–81) at the Dissenter's Chapel at Kensal Green Cemetery, where Burton is buried in a tapering sarcophagus of grey Cornish granite. One of the foremost 19th-century architects and a leading exponent of the Greek Revival, Regency and Classical styles of his time, Burton designed the Athenaeum Club in Pall Mall, the Arch and Screen at Hyde Park Corner, the Hothouse (Palm) in Kew Gardens and buildings in St Leonards-on-Sea. Details online.
23 June: Prehistoric and Early Historic Tracks on the Downland and Weald (Lewes)
A talk by Martin Bell FSA based on a case study from a forthcoming book, Making ones Way in the World. He will take a critical look at the evidence for early patterns of movement on the Downs and in the Weald. He will consider to what extent the ridgeways such as the South Downs Way served as prehistoric routes, and argue that there is better evidence for the early origins of routes at right angles to the escarpments, marked in places by hollow ways, connecting contrasting environments and topographies. Details online.
25 June: 'Sèvres-mania'? (London)
In the bicentenary of Richard Wallace’s birth, the Wallace Collection is focusing on collecting in London and Paris in the later 19th century. In a series of Monday History of Collecting Seminars organised by Suzanne Higgott FSA, Caroline McCaffrey-Howarth FSA (PhD Candidate and History of Art Tutor, University of Leeds) will speak about 'Sèvres-mania'? The History of Collecting Sèvres Porcelain in Britain in the Later 19th century. Details online.
27 June: Godsbody: The Roman Crucifix from its Beginnings to the Cinquecento (Rome)
Anthony Cutler FSA, Penn State University, will talk at the Università degli Studi “La Sapienza” di Roma. The long history of the crucifix in Italian art rests on the story that the mosaic of the suffering Christ at S Croce in Gerusalemme was made by Gregory the Great from the bones of martyrs. From this early medieval beginning the image came to dominate patterns of both commission and display. Over the last 20 years the evolution of the great crucifixes painted on wood has been amply explored, but comparable works in ivory have been neglected. This lecture considers the fragment by Giovanni Pisano in the V&A and the same sculptor's versions in wood. Details online.
27 June: Re-opening the Workshop: Medieval to Early Modern (London)
Therese Martin FSA (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Madrid) talks about Re-opening the Treasury: Meaning in Materials at San Isidoro de León, in a lecture series at the Warburg Institute organised by Joanne Anderson and Eckart Marchand. The overall aim is to speak to an interdisciplinary audience interested in issues such as agency and the commission, production and the use of art works and objects, as well as those attuned to the theoretical implications these issues have for visual and material culture of all ages. Details online.
28 June: Annual Ecclesiastical History Colloquium (Oxford)
The 2018 Ecclesiastical History Colloquium will be held at the Oxford Centre for Methodism and Church History in association with BYU London Centre & BYU Wheatley Institution, at Oxford Brookes University with speakers from Brigham Young University, University of California, Berkeley, Ohio University and Oxford Brookes. There is no charge, but confirm attendance by 1 June to the Administrator of the OCMCH, at admin.ocmch@brookes.ac.uk or 01865 488455. See online for location.
29 June: HistBEKE Project Seminar Day (London)
An opportunity to hear more about the HistBEKE project and how the framework will work, including recommendations for the knowledge exchange and research agenda, at the University of Liverpool in London. The future of the project will also be discussed, as well as how it can be used and further developed by everyone in the sector. Details online, or contact Stella Jackson at stella.jackson@liverpool.ac.uk.
6 July: Churches: History, Significance and Use (Oxford)
One of a series of short courses for the historic environment put on by Oxford University Department for Continuing Education at Rewley House. This provides a firm foundation of the history of church architecture and furnishings, and provides skills to draft statements of significance, aimed particularly at those actively involved in management of church buildings. Details online.
14 July: Archaeology in Hertfordshire: Recent Research (Bishops Stortford)
The third Archaeology in Hertfordshire conference will be held at the Museum, Rhodes Art Complex. Speakers include Kris Lockyear FSA. Topics include excavations at various sites, the Early Iron Age territorial origins of the Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire dykes, and Late Iron Age coin production. Details online.
17–20 July: Performance, Ceremony and Display in Late Medieval Britain (Harlaxton)
The 2018 Harlaxton Medieval Symposium in Grantham, Lincolnshire, aims to explore many dimensions of performance. As well as talks on musical and dramatic performance, it will include papers on aspects of display and associated ceremonies and rituals, on oral performance in a variety of ecclesiastical and social contexts, and on the performative potential of spaces, and of manuscripts and other physical objects. Speakers include Jerome Bertram FSA, Clive Burgess FSA, Pamela King FSA, Nicholas Orme FSA, Matthew Payne FSA, Ellie Pridgeon FSA, Nigel Ramsay FSA and Anne F Sutton FSA. There will be an excursion to St Mary’s church, Higham Ferrers and to St Peter’s church at Raunds. Details online.
30 July: J C Robinson's Collection at Auction (London)
In the bicentenary of Richard Wallace’s birth, the Wallace Collection is focusing on collecting in London and Paris in the later 19th century. In a series of Monday History of Collecting Seminars organised by Suzanne Higgott FSA, Elizabeth Pergam (Lecturer, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, New York, NY) will speak about Paris over London: Victorian Curator J C Robinson's Collection at Auction. Details online.
31 August–2 September: Archaeology in Wales (Lampeter)
The Council for British Archaeology Wales will be holding its first annual conference on the archaeology of Wales, at the University of Wales Trinity St David. The programme showcases current innovative projects and fieldwork and provides opportunities for hands-on workshops, CPD, networking, and guided visits to some of the most iconic and interesting sites in Wales. Speakers include David Austin FSA, Toby Driver FSA, Carenza Lewis FSA and Mike Parker-Pearson FSA. Details online.
6–9 September: Recent Archaeological Research in the Channel Islands and nearby France (St Helier, Jersey)
Building on the successful Channel Islands History Conference of 2016, this event hosted by the Société Jersiaise Archaeology Section showcases the best and up-to-date archaeological research. Speakers include Chantel Conneller FSA, Barry Cunliffe FSA, Heather Sebire FSA and Robert Waterhouse FSA. On the fourth day, if there is sufficient interest, it is proposed to run two minibus trips to significant archaeological sites in Jersey. Details online.
11–15 September: Understanding Historic Buildings (Oxford)
Historic England is running a four-day course at St Anne’s College, which will teach key skills in building investigation, interpretation and recording. Tutors Adam Menuge FSA and Allan Adams FSA will demonstrate how to observe, analyse, hand-measure, draw and photograph historic buildings. Details online.
14-16 September: The Monuments of Hereford and Herefordshire (Hereford)
The Church Monuments Society Bi-Annual Symposium 2018 will be held at the Green Dragon Hotel opposite the cathedral. The focus will be on monuments in the cathedral and surrounding Herefordshire countryside, with an optional visit to the Cathedral’s Mappa Mundi, chained library and after evening dinner lecture on the Mappa Mundi. Speakers include Tobias Capwell FSA, Jerome Bertram FSA, Sally Badham FSA, Brian Gittos FSA and Moira Gittos FSA, David Lepine FSA, Jon Bayliss FSA, Holly Trusted FSA and Roger Bowdler FSA. Details online.
15 September: Deerhurst, Pershore and Westminster Abbey (Deerhurst)
The 2018 Annual Deerhurst Lecture will take place at 7.30 pm in St Mary's Church, Deerhurst and will be given by Richard Mortimer FSA (former archivist to Westminster Abbey). Details online.
19–20 September: Photographing Historic Buildings (Oxford)
One of a series of short courses for the historic environment put on by Oxford University Department for Continuing Education at Rewley House. This is aimed at those who are not professional photographers but wish to photograph historic buildings for the record using a digital camera. By the end students will be expected to know how to choose viewpoint and lighting conditions, correctly set up cameras to capture suitable images and how to post-produce images in software ready for the archive. Details online.
24 September: Dr Christopher Dresser, the South Kensington Museum and their 1877 Gift to Tokyo National Museum (London)
In the bicentenary of Richard Wallace’s birth, the Wallace Collection is focusing on collecting in London and Paris in the later 19th century. Chris Morley will speak in one of a series of Monday History of Collecting Seminars organised by Suzanne Higgott FSA. Please note that this is a change of the previously advertised programme. Details online.
26–28 September: Heritage Values and the Assessment of Significance (Oxford)
In the bicentenary of Richard Wallace’s birth, the Wallace Collection is focusing on collecting in London and Paris in the later 19th century. Chris Morley ill speak in one of a series of Monday History of Collecting Seminars organised by Suzanne Higgott FSA. Please note that this is a change of the previously advertised programme. Details online.
29 September: Georgian Group Symposium: The Architecture of James Gibbs (London)
James Gibbs (1682–1754), born in Scotland and trained in Rome, was one of the most important British architects of the 18th century, responsible for the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields in London and the Radcliffe Camera in Oxford, and many other commissions throughout Britain. He published one of the most influential of 18th-century architectural pattern books, which spread his influence throughout the worldwide British diaspora. This symposium at the Society of Antiquaries and led by Geoffrey Tyack FSA, editor of the Georgian Group Journal, will reassess Gibbs’ achievement and its significance for the understanding of Georgian architecture. Speakers include Charles Hind FSA and Pete Smith FSA. Details online.
4 October: Post-Excavation Assessment in Practice (Oxford)
One of a series of short courses for the historic environment put on by Oxford University Department for Continuing Education at Rewley House. This will introduce recent guidance, and review the essential components of assessment and updated project design. In the afternoon we will review examples from current practice and consider how far they meet their purpose and justify funding decisions. Details online.
13 October: Castle Studies: Current Research and the Future (London)
A conference organised by the Castle Studies Group to be held at the Society of Antiquaries will honour Derek Renn FSA, author of Norman Castles in Britain (1969/1973), and launch a Festschrift, Castles: History, Archaeology, Landscape and Architecture, edited by Neil Guy FSA. Speakers include Oliver Creighton FSA, Bob Higham FSA, Brian Kerr FSA, Neil Ludlow FSA and Pamela Marshall FSA. For details contact John R Kenyon FSA, 140 Fairwater Grove East, Llandaff, Cardiff CF5 2JW, before 31 July.
15 October: Finds for the Dead in Roman London and Beyond (London)
A conference jointly organised by the Museum of London, Museum of London Archaeology and the Roman Finds Group will be held at the Museum of the London Docklands, currently featuring The Roman Dead exhibition. Twelve speakers will describe finds from the city and cemeteries of Roman London, as well as important objects from funerary contexts elsewhere in Britain. Details online, or contact Stephen Greep FSA at sjgreep@romanfinds.org.uk.
20 October: Design and Destiny: Arts and Crafts of the Iron Age (Lewes)
A conference organised by the Sussex Archaeological Society to explore the Iron Age through its artefacts. Speakers will bring varied perspectives on artefact research to enlarge our understanding of social influences and the economics of trade and exchange in this period. Speakers will include Jody Joy FSA, Julia Farley FSA, Melanie Giles FSA, Jaime Kaminski FSA and John Creighton FSA. Details online, or contact the organiser, Lorna Gartside, members@sussexpast.co.uk.
24 October: Artefacts and Ecofacts in and out of the Field (Oxford)
One of a series of short courses for the historic environment put on by Oxford University Department for Continuing Education at Rewley House. This will provide expert guidance on how key artefacts and ecofacts can contribute to interpretation of archaeological sites, and good practice in sampling and collection. The course is designed for supervisors, project officers and junior managers with responsibility for running excavations, and those new to specialist artefact and ecofact roles. Details online.
29 October: The Last Great Demidoff Sale of Paintings (London)
In the bicentenary of Richard Wallace’s birth, the Wallace Collection is focusing on collecting in London and Paris in the later 19th century. In a series of Monday History of Collecting Seminars organised by Suzanne Higgott FSA, Alexandre Tissot Demidoff (Independent scholar) will speak about the last great Demidoff sale. Details online.
30 October: Archaeological Desk-Based Assessments (Oxford)
One of a series of short courses for the historic environment put on by Oxford University Department for Continuing Education at Rewley House. This informs participants about the role of desk-based assessments in managing the cultural heritage resource and provides a practical guide to their production. It will also include guidance on the use of desk-based assessments to fulfil the requirements of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). Details online.
3 November: Dawn: From our Earliest Ancestors to the Hunter-Gatherers of the Mesolithic (Southampton)
The Council for British Archaeology Wessex's 60th Anniversary Conference is to be co-hosted with the University of Southampton’s Department of Archaeology in collaboration with the Prehistoric Society, and will be held at the Highfield Campus. Speakers include Nick Ashton FSA, Vince Gaffney FSA, Steve Mithen FSA, Matt Pope FSA, Julian Richards FSA, Roland Smith FSA and Chris Stringer FSA. Phil Harding FSA will chair a session, and Alice Roberts will give the keynote lecture. Details online.
10 November: Structured Deposits: Definitions, Developments and Debates (Chertsey)
A conference organised jointly by CBA South-East and the Surrey Archaeological Society will examine how our understanding and uses of the concept of ‘structured deposition’ have developed during the last 30 years, resulting in a perceived tendency for over-use and ‘ritual’ interpretations in analysis. Research from prehistoric to Medieval times will be considered, revealing new discoveries from southern England. Speakers will include Jon Cotton FSA, Mike Fulford FSA and Sam Moorhead FSA. Details online, or contact the organiser, Anne Sassin, asassinallen@gmail.com.
15 November: Archaeological Writing for Publication (Oxford)
One of a series of short courses for the historic environment put on by Oxford University Department for Continuing Education at Rewley House. This will introduce standard published reports produced by archaeologists, and how a report is planned. It will then focus on stratigraphic narrative and discussion, with a critical review of examples, to identify common mistakes and how to avoid them. We will also look at the special requirements of writing in a professional and academic context. Details online.
24 November: Heritage and Resources in Southeast England (Lewes)
An interdisciplinary conference involving aspects of geology, archaeology and local history. Speakers will include Danielle Schreve FSA and David Rudling FSA. For details contact the organiser Anthony Brook, anthony.brook27@btinternet.com.
26 November: Sir William Holburne's Display Mounts (London)
In the bicentenary of Richard Wallace’s birth, the Wallace Collection is focusing on collecting in London and Paris in the later 19th century. In a series of Monday History of Collecting Seminars organised by Suzanne Higgott FSA, Catrin Jones (Curator of Decorative Arts, Holburne Museum, Bath) will speak on Piecing Together a Collection: Sir William Holburne's Display Mounts. Details online.
28–30 November: Public Inquiry Workshop (Oxford)
One of a series of short courses for the historic environment put on by Oxford University Department for Continuing Education at Rewley House. This is a practical workshop designed to improve the performance of anyone who might be called to participate in a Public Inquiry concerned with the historic environment. A mock Public Inquiry will be mounted using a genuine case study, with training for potential witnesses. Details online.
6 December: Commissioning Archaeology (Oxford)
One of a series of short courses for the historic environment put on by Oxford University Department for Continuing Education at Rewley House. This is designed for non-archaeologists who need to work with archaeology within the design and construction process, including architects, surveyors, engineers and other design professionals, planners, and project managers and developers. Details online.
10 December: The Picture Collection of Stephen Alers Hankey (London)
In the bicentenary of Richard Wallace’s birth, the Wallace Collection is focusing on collecting in London and Paris in the later 19th century. In a series of Monday History of Collecting Seminars organised by Suzanne Higgott FSA, Robert Wenley (Deputy Director, Head of Collections, Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham) will speak on ‘Rare and Most Magnificent’: The Picture Collection of Stephen Alers Hankey (1809-1878). Details online.
13–14 December: Manuscripts in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms (London)
The British Library is hosting an international conference with 22 leading experts in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts to coincide with its Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms exhibition (19 October–19 February 2019). Keynote lectures will be given by Lawrence Nees FSA, University of Delaware, and Julia Crick, King’s College London. Confirmed speakers include Catherine Karkov FSA, Simon Keynes FSA, Rosamond McKitterick FSA, Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, Susan Rankin FSA, Joanna Story FSA, Elaine Treharne FSA and Tessa Webber FSA. Details online.
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Call for Papers
14 July: Archaeology in Hertfordshire: Recent Research (Welwyn)
The Welwyn Archaeological Society and the Rhodes Museum, Bishops Stortford are pleased to announce the third recent research conference, to be held at the Museum. We are seeking 25-minute papers on all aspects of archaeology in Hertfordshire – very broadly defined – from prehistoric to post-Medieval, including updated work on older projects. If you would like to present at the conference, please send a short abstract to Kris Lockyear at noviodunum@hotmail.com. Indicate if you would be willing to present a poster should your paper not be one of ten chosen. Details online.
15 September: Journal of the Decorative Arts Society 43 (2019)
The DAS journal for 2019 will celebrate cross-cultural influences between British and Continental European designers and makers of decorative art, as well as exchange with designers further afield. The Society’s remit is 1850 to the present, and typical journal articles take an object-focussed approach. The journal audience is knowledgeable and well-informed, but not necessarily academic. Authors are invited to submit proposals of around 750–1,000 words by 15 September 2018, for articles between around 2,500–6,000 words, plus notes, illustrations and captions. Send proposals to the Editor, Megan Aldrich FSA, at meganbrewsteraldrich@gmail.com.
22–23 March 2019: What is Unique about Cornish Buildings? (Cornwall)
The Cornish Buildings Group in association with Historic England will host a two-day conference to celebrate 50 years of the Group, at a venue to be announced. New and challenging paper submissions are invited to explore and discuss the conference question: What is unique about Cornish buildings? The theme will unite aspects of Cornish architectural design with distinctiveness and exclusivity. The Group welcome contributions from any area or discipline relative to the past, present and future of buildings in Cornwall and how they impact and affect the natural environment. The conference will embrace research looking at Cornish distinctiveness in the widest possible sense. Submissions of 250 words to Paul Holden FSA at cornishbuildingsgroup@gmail.com by 31 August 2018. Details online.
March 2019: A Matter of Access – Collections and their Availability to a Public (Toronto)
Adriana Turpin FSA and Susan Bracken FSA have been organising monthly research seminars since 2004 on the subject of collecting and display. They are proposing the topic of A Matter of Access – Collections and their Availability to a Public, for the Renaissance Society of America Conference in Toronto in March 2019. If you would like to give a paper, please contact CandDToronto19@gmail.com for full details.
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Awards
The Council of the Church Monuments Society offers a biennial prize of £250 called the Church Monuments Essay Prize, to be awarded with a certificate for the best essay submitted in the relevant year. The aim of the competition is to stimulate people, particularly those who may be writing on church monuments for the first time, to submit material for the peer-reviewed international CMS journal Church Monuments. Therefore, the competition is open only to those who have not previously published an article in Church Monuments. Closing date for applications 31 December 2018. Details online.
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Vacancies
 Communications Manager with the Society of Antiquaries
Closing date for applications: 24 June.
The Society of Antiquaries is seeking to appoint a new Communications Manager to continue and strengthen its public-facing and membership communications and event programming. The post-holder will be responsible for managing public relations, marketing, website, and membership communication and event programmes at its headquarters at Burlington House (London) as well as supporting communications for its historic property, Kelmscott Manor (Oxon). For further information, please see our website >
 The Council for British Archaeology (CBA) is looking for a Youth Engagement Manager. Closing date for applications: 12 noon 3 July.
The CBA is changing. In 2019 we celebrate our 75th birthday, and this exciting new role will have responsibility for driving forward our key commitment to working with young people across a wide range of our archaeological heritage projects, including our flagship programme, the UK-wide Young Archaeologists’ Club. You will lead the transformation of the CBA’s approaches to working with young people, including our YAC members and volunteers and help to develop a new CBA membership offer for younger people. Contact Gill Bull, Deputy Director, at gillbull@archaeologyuk.org. Details online.
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Propose a Lecture or Seminar
Please download and complete the Lecture Proposal Form, and email it to Amelia Carruthers (acarruthers@sal.org.uk), the Society's Communications Manager, if you are interested in giving a lecture at one of the Society's Ordinary Meetings (Thursday evenings at 17.00) or as part of our Public Lecture series (occasional Tuesday afternoons at 13.00). We welcome papers based on new research or themes related to the Society's field of interest: the study of the material past. You can view our current lecture programme in the Events section of our website.
Fellows are also encouraged to propose topics or themes for conferences or seminars that bring scholars and professionals from a variety of disciplines together to explain, discuss and debate our material culture. Please download and complete the Conference Proposal Form, and email it to Amelia Carruthers (acarruthers@sal.org.uk), if you are interested in helping us organise such an event.
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