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Do
you want to know more about life in York in the past? Would
you like to know about the latest archaeological discoveries
in and around the city as they are taking place, and perhaps
even visit an excavation?
 By joining the Friends of
York Archaeological Trust you can do all this and also enjoy
the Trust's award-winning attractions, JORVIK, DIG and Barley
Hall, free of charge. You will also receive the
Trust's magazine Yorkshire Archaeology Today, giving
you up to the minute reports on all the latest discoveries
as they happen.
In addition, Friends can learn
about current archaeological research projects through themed
day schools, lectures and visits.
Day schools and visits in the past have included York Minster,
aspects of medieval York, Hadrian's Wall, Gilbertine Lincolnshire,
and weekends in Scotland, France and Ireland
(see below). Friends also receive 10% discount in the gift
shops at Trust Attractions, and 30% discount on all the Trust's
academic publications.
All these benefits are yours
for a single annual subscription. By joining the Friends you
will be making a valuable contribution to the work of York
Archaeological Trust, since the Friends donate every penny
of profit directly to the Trust to further its important work.
| Membership Rates per annum |
| Adult |
£19.00 |
Joint (2 Adults at same address) |
£27.00 |
| Family (2 Adults plus children) |
£31.00 |
Over 60s/Full-time Student |
£17.00 |
| Joint over 60s |
£23.00 |
| Overseas member (sterling) |
£30.00 |
Life Membership (single payment) |
£200.00 |
Joint Life Membership (UK only - single payment) |
£250.00 |
To join the Friends, send a cheque made payable
to FOYAT to: The Friends, York Archaeological Trust, 47 Aldwark,
York YO1 7BX
For further information contact Christine
Kyriacou: ckyriacou@yorkarchaeology.co.uk
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Forthcoming Events
Saturday 18 September
Day trip to Northumberland to visit Hexham Abbey, where we will compare its Wilfridian crypt with that at Ripon; Escomb church, one of England’s most complete Anglo-Saxon churches, and other sites. Further details to follow.
Saturday October 9th, at 2pm
AGM, followed by a visit to the Hungate excavations with Peter Connelly.
Lunchtime lectures will resume on the first Wednesday in October 2010.
Forthcoming Field trips
Orkney Mainland
5 – 10 May 2011 (6 days)
 Possible visits may include some or more of Ring of Brodgar, Stones of Stenness, Maes Howe (Neolithic passage grave with Viking Age runic inscriptions), Brough of Birsay (tidal islet with early medieval remains), Orphir church, Skara Brae (Neolithic settlement), Kirkwall (St Magnus Cathedral, Earl’s Palace, Museum), Stromness, Broch of Gurness (Iron Age complex). The possibility of trips to smaller islands such as Egilsay and Wyre is also under consideration. Provisional travel arrangements include train from York to Aberdeen, ferry from Aberdeen (5pm departure) to Kirkwall (arrive 11pm); the return ferry leaves at 11.45pm and arrives in Aberdeen at 7am, for a train journey back to York.
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Recent Events
Visit to Kent 10-14 May 2010
We travelled to our base in Canterbury via Lullingstone Roman Villa which lies south of London close on Watling Street.
The villa remains date from about 100 AD into the fourth century. The size of the villa and the quality of finds suggest a succession of wealthy owners - it may even have been the country retreat for a governor of Britannia around 200 AD. The mosaics preserved in the dining room area date from about 360 AD and are unusual in that their theme has both a pagan and a Christian interpretation. Elsewhere, fragments of painted wall plaster, once restored, revealed Christian figures used to decorate the walls of a house church. The church had been built over a cellar used as a pagan temple. The wall paintings are now in the British Museum.
We spent the whole of Tuesday in Dover - and what a treasure trove it proved! Dover’s location at a break in the long chalk cliffs has made it a favoured harbour from Neolithic times. In Dover Museum we saw the awesome, 11 x 2 metre long, preserved timber boat dating from around 1550 BC. It was found in 1992 under the Roman harbour and is the oldest known boat in Europe.
It was a coastal, sea-going boat that carried grain and needed 6 or so men to paddle it, plus a bailer to remove water. The supporting exhibition found us testing ways of binding planks with withies and marvelling as museum staff explained the intricacies of the boat’s construction.
A short walk away, we were privileged to have local archaeologist, Brian Philp give an introductory talk in the Painted House Museum. The house is the best preserved Roman building with wall paintings in the UK. It was built as a large mansio or official hotel about 200 AD just outside the fort of the British Fleet (Classis Britannica). It was in use until about 270 AD when a new fort was constructed and the house was buried as part of the defences, thus preserving the walls and paintings up to 1.5 metres high in places. This height makes it so much easier to picture the rooms in use. Brian explained how the wall painter had used perspective to make the guests feel as if they were in a temple with columns decorated with vines and other symbols.
Lunch was at Dover Castle which stands on the west cliff and includes a church with Saxon foundations and a Roman lighthouse, still over 20 metres high. We were fortunate to be visiting Henry II’s Great Tower and rooms following completion of their refurbishment in the style of the 12th century. The tower had been a palace used by the king to entertain powerful pilgrims visiting Thomas Becket’s shrine. No drab, internal grey walls here. There was colour everywhere – royal blue, red, green and gold – in wall drapes, curtains, bedding and painted wooden furniture. In addition, clever DVD projection of actors playing historic roles brought the whole experience alive.
Then we were off to the castle cliffs for our guided tour of the secret wartime tunnels used during World War II. We saw sleeping quarters, the canteen, hospital and work areas with much of the original equipment still in place. Claustrophobic, badly lit and airless, it was not the workplace of choice but it was secure from bombs.
Wednesday was another bright, sunny morning and found us travelling through Sussex and Romney Marsh past Rye to Winchelsea. Edward I refounded the current Winchelsea on the cliff top when old Winchelsea disappeared into Rye Bay after several storms. It was hard to believe that the quiet, attractive collection of houses, whose grid pattern streets we toured, had been a throbbing centre of trade as the head of the Cinque Ports Confederation.
Then on to Battle and the site of the Battle of Hastings. Here, another excellent heritage centre and café gave us all we needed. Those who toured the battlefield were rewarded with a carpet of bluebells lining the route. Although Battle Abbey stands on the top of Senlac Hill today, it’s still possible to see the long, steep hillside and appreciate what Duke William and his men had to overcome to beat our Harold.
On Thursday we visited all three religious, historical sites in Canterbury before lunch i.e. the cathedral, St Augustine’s Abbey ruins and St Martin’s church. The two former still preserve the floor outline of the curved east end of their original Saxon churches. At St Martin’s, which may be the oldest church in use in England, we saw the remains of the original Roman building converted for church use still surviving in the interior walls of the Chancel. 
In the afternoon, we headed to the north east coast of Kent to visit the Roman coastal fort sites of Reculver and Richborough. Each still has parts of its Roman walls standing and each was later used as the site for a Saxon church. The base of the great arch, the Gateway to Britain (85 AD), still dominates the Richborough site and marks the start of Watling Street on its way to London via Canterbury and Rochester.
On the theme of coastal forts, we finished the day with a visit to Henry VIII’s fort at Deal to see how it was built to maximise the use of cannon, the new weapon of the time.
Having located the Saxon religious centre of Canterbury in the morning, we discussed possible sites for the Saxon commercial centre. Fordwich was considered the strongest contender given its ‘wic’ name, its location on the River Stour downstream of the town and its former status as a major port in the Middle Ages.
 Returning to York on the Friday, we spent some time at Rochester in the cathedral and castle. When Paulinus left York after King Edwin’s death, he returned to Kent and was made Bishop of Rochester, the second oldest cathedral foundation in England. It is close to the crossing of the River Medway, a site used by the Romans and still in use today.
Richard had one more treasure to reveal to us at Longthorpe Tower near Peterborough. The tower is part of a fortified manor house. The walls of the middle chamber are covered with 14th century paintings depicting scenes from nature, religious subjects, the Wheel of Life, the nativity and Kind David.
It brought a fitting end to our wall painting theme which in turn was one of several themes coastal forts, Saxon churches, links between sites of religious, defensive and commercial activity that we’d followed in an incredibly interesting and busy five days.
Find out more from these websites.
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/lullingstone-roman-villa/
http://www.theromanpaintedhouse.co.uk/
http://www.dover.gov.uk/museum.aspx
http://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/
http://www.martinpaul.org/
Have you booked for Orkney?
Angela Wheatcroft
Excursion to Notts and Derbyshire July 2010
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| Newstead Priory |
S. Wingfield Manor |
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| Wirksworth |
Wirksworth |
Visit to German Baltic Hansa Cities, 2009
Trip to the Isle of Man, September 2008
Trip to Markenfield Hall, June 2008
Trip to Worcester September 2007
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| The Lunt reconstructed
Roman fort near Coventry: the gatehouse and gyrus |
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Flood marks near Worcester
Cathedral
Photo: Peter Wheatcroft |
Flood damage
at Ludlow - the archaeology of the future
Photo: Peter Wheatcroft |
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Stokesay Castle gatehouse
Photo: Peter Wheatcroft |
Tewkesbury Abbey |
Trip to Ireland
Sept 2006
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| Round tower at Clonmacnoise, Co. Offaly |
Friends picnic at Clonmacnoise Castle,
Co. Offaly |
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Romanesque doorway at St Brendan's
Cathedral, Clonfert,
Co. Galway |
Nuns' chapel at Clonmacnoise,
Co. Offaly |
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