Church Archaeology 03

In Wales stone sculpture is frequently used to identify early medieval ecclesiastical sites. This study examines the 10th and 11th-century crosses, including three additions recorded by Edward Lhuyd, associated with Penmon (Isle of Anglesey) and Dyserth (Flints). It discusses their local context, both in the immediate vicinity of the church and as boundary and sanctuary markers, before considering their form, ornament and iconography — both Christian and Viking — which indicate that they belong to a Viking cultural milieu with contacts around and across the Irish Sea. There is increasing evidence that Penmon and Dyserth were located in areas of Viking settlement.

The work described in the following report formed part of an archaeological research programme begun on the island of Unst in the summer of 1997 as part of an overall collaborative study between the Shetland Amenity Trust, and the universities of Copenhagen and Glasgow - the Viking Unst Project. The survey was limited to an audit of known chapel-sites: assessing their state of preservation and potential for future work, and updating the previous survey undertaken in 1982 by Dr Christopher Lowe (Morris & Brady 1998). This work marks the inception of a new stage in research conducted by the Viking and Early Settlement Archaeological Research Project - VESARP (based in the Department of Archaeology, University of Glasgow) on early chapel-sites in areas associated with the Scandinavian settlement in northern and western Britain in its North Atlantic context. The continuation of the work in 1998 on Unst (Brady & Johnson 1998) and its extension to the neighbouring island of Fetlar (Brady 1998) is also reported here.