Church Archaeology 19

While it most commonly appears in the form of decorated brass artillery shell cases, trench art embraces a wide array of material and its creation takes inspiration from a range of human impulses. This article examines the trench art memorial crosses of the Durham Light Infantry commemorating one of the closing actions of the Somme campaign of the Great War. Originally marking the site of heavy regimental losses, the surviving memorials have been translated to Durham Cathedral and local county parish churches. The dynamics and motivations of the crosses’ creators are explored along with the impact such pieces may have had on the landscape they once dominated. The crosses exemplify the ephemeral nature of such memorials, as well their evolving narratives, as successive generations seek a locus for remembrance.

A survey of the north nave wall of St Mary’s church in the Hythe area of Maldon suggests that the lower part of the wall is not only of Anglo-Saxon date, but earlier within that period. The construction technique of the primary wall is somewhat comparable to nearby St Peter’s, Bradwell on Sea, while the implied dimensions of the primary church are very close to those of Reculver in Kent. The latter two churches are of late 7th century date. The early church at Maldon is associated with an adjacent 8th-9th century settlement site. The presence of loomweights at the settlement indicates a female component, and by extension, it is suggested that the site was that of an undocumented double minster of monks and nuns headed by an abbess. The church was first documented in 1068, when a large land endowment is evidence of its minster status. At about this time or shortly afterwards, the church was rebuilt as a substantial cruciform structure. The transepts and chancel of the latter have been lost, but their form could be retrieved by resistivity survey.

Situated at the heart of an early 12th-century rural Northamptonshire church – St Kyneburgha’s church in Castor – a beautiful set of Romanesque capitals depicts an array of creatures, encompassing both the natural and supernatural worlds. This paper attempts to identify the inspiration behind elements of the scheme, to assess the myriad ways in which it might be interpreted, and to place it firmly within its landscape context. Traditional readings of the images, largely inspired by scripture, are assessed alongside supplementary interpretations found within didactic texts, in particular Isidore of Seville’s Etymologia, one of the key texts on animal lore in this period. These readings are then set against the expectations and experiences of local people in the surrounding landscape, both during and preceding the time the capitals were constructed, as elucidated in contemporary written texts. Minor landscape names created by local peasants provide further evidence that the iconography was to some extent chosen to reflect its landscape setting. Taken together, the evidence allows us an insight into how one early 12th-century rural community perceived its environment. It is suggested that elements of the scheme operate on a number of levels. It was – in part, at least – designed to remind locals that the demonic and ungodly could be found within commonplace spaces, and that those commonplace spaces were recognisable as the environment immediately outside the church door, in the fields, meadows, and woodlands of medieval Castor.