Journal of the British Archaeological Association 162

Discusses three fragments of stone sculpture '” from Dewsbury and Otley in West Yorkshire, and Halton in Lancashire '” which preserve images of an angel and attendant figure, perhaps a monk or mass-priest. It is proposed that the sculptors were adapting contemporary models depicting an angel and attendant figure in order to draw attention to the connections between Old and New Testament narratives of angel veneration. It is argued that these images reflect and promote the angelology of Gregory the Great, who considered angels ideal exemplars for the contemplative preacher. It is further argued that the monuments may therefore have been produced in response to two broader historical trends. First, the instability of kingship in Northumbria, which prompted Alcuin to promote the Roman and Christian authority of the Church and to propose ecclesiastical reform. Second, a gradual shift from mixed communities including monks, towards communities composed exclusively of priests, which may have required a defence of the role of contemplatives in society. Finally, it is suggested that these images therefore have an important implication for debates about the pastoral organisation of the early Anglo-Saxon Church.

Analyses the monument in terms of patronage, style and dating, and recounts its afterlife

Aims to highlight the significance of the glazing scheme as a whole by focusing on one of its seven windows: that in the north-west corner, which features a life of St Katherine of Alexandria. Using unpublished antiquarian sources alongside textual versions of Katherine's vita, outlines a possible sequence for the window's disordered panels. Then goes on to analyse the window and its iconography within the context of the chapter-house, considering how it constructs its own particular version of this highly popular narrative.

The house and its paintings (both dating to the late sixteenth century) are described in detail, and the characteristics of the paintings discussed in their wider context.