Antiq J 81

Relates some of the activities which have been undertaken by Society of Antiquaries of London both historically and recently.

Reviews the evidence for the carnyx, the Iron Age animal-headed horn, in its European setting. Initially discusses an example found on a farm in Leitchestown in the parish of Deskford, Moray. Excavations at the findspot strongly indicate it was a votive deposit. The nature of the wider European evidence and its biases are reviewed to provide a firmer basis of commenting on the date and distribution of the instrument. Finally, attempts to reconstruct the carnyx are described. Includes an:

Recent excavation has established that what was previously believed to have been an external chalk floor proved to be the floor of a timber roundhouse and what was once believed to have been a stone cottage proved to be a porticus linking with the baths. Several phases of timber structures were found but the most remarkable discovery of all the evidence for a possible bathing pool predating the example discovered earlier.

Reports a study of the orientation of 143 early-second millennium churches in England which disproved the hypothesis that they were aligned using a magnetic compass. Considers the suggestion that church orientation was governed by the sun's position on the horizon on the feast day of the saint to whom the church was dedicated, and states that this might hold true for as many as 43% of the studied churches. Additionally, sun-based Easter Day and equinoctial day orientations could explain a significant majority of the remaining sites.

Discusses the medieval Chapel of St Stephens's at the Palace of Westminster, which was destroyed by fire in 1834. Focuses on a programme of wall-painting which flanked its high altar and seeks to clarify the royal chapel's historical and stylistic importance. Explores the ways in which the chapel space was used and the audiences for which its dynastically forward-looking images were intended. Examines the way Edward III and his family were represented. Includes an:

Examines the history and architecture of the fifteenth-century chantry. Also studies the life and achievements of its founder, and the structure's heraldic ornamentation.

A corroded, circular lock with a piece of chain attached was found in an early-fourth-century rubbish pit during excavations at the villa in the 1950s. The construction of a replica of the lock is noted.