J Brit Archaeol Ass 152

The paper considers a number of problems in relation to the Roman silver vessels, often considered to be the earliest surviving liturgical church plate. These problems include the reason for their concealment, and their nature and purpose when above ground. Comparison with the contents of various temples and churches show that the treasure is a religious hoard, but the forms and decoration do not help to decide whether any of the vessels were used in liturgy. Analysis of the inscriptions shows that the Christian hoards contain some objects with inscriptions which are quotations from or allusions to the Bible or the liturgy. In some cases these references are particularly apt for points in the service at which the particular object would have been used. The conclusion is drawn that the Water Newton silver is a hoard of church plate of the second half of the fourth century AD, which was used in the liturgy, and are the earliest surviving liturgical plate from the Early Church from anywhere in the Roman Empire.

Whilst the exact plan of the original church can probably only be recovered by excavation, evidence suggests that it may have had an eastern ambulatory and was intended to have high stole vaults in the choir and transepts. Evidence for the roof framing of the north transept has been recognised. The original central tower was at least one storey higher than the present one. This review of the remaining evidence indicates that the nave had an alternating wide and narrow bay system. The nave wide west bay triforium was considerably modified during insertion of the thirteenth-century basement tower arch. Its original form of a tall round-headed opening flanked by lower lancet arches forms the key to the main fenestration of the twelfth-century nave. The chapter house is wholly late-twelfth-century in date and was later vaulted throughout on the upper floor. The projecting chamber at its south-east corner can clearly be shown to have been designed as a garderobe.

The importation into England of church furnishings of most kinds has been going on since the early Middle Ages. The focus of this study is on wooden furnishings and the early-nineteenth century, when a specific group of patrons scoured mainly France and the Low Countries for the furniture that had been prised from churches, as a direct and indirect result of the French Revolution. The taste for such material was fuelled by a Romantic enthusiasm, although ironically much of it was in the Baroque style. The historical setting for this nostalgic explosion of interest is briefly sketched, as well as an account of its development into the early-twentieth century. Includes

Thomas Stanley is credited with the creation of a new house at Lathom when he was made Earl of Derby in 1485. The house was reputed to be sumptuous and well-defended, surrounded by moats and with as many as eighteen towers, and may have influenced the design for Richmond Palace. After the house had fallen to the Parliamentarians it is usually accepted that it was razed to the ground, and there has for many years been debate regarding its location. Recent archaeological work at the site of a later house designed by Giacomo Leoni provides evidence that Leoni's building probably lay on the site of the earlier house, and that some of the medieval masonry was incorporated into the rubble fill of the eighteenth-century walls. This study examines the evidence for the first Earl of Derby's house and argues that Lathom should be considered amongst the most important late-fifteenth-century houses in England and Wales.