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Keyhole Archaeology: St Mary Castlegate

Page history last edited by Tess Barrett 13 years ago

 

In view of the comparatively infrequent opportunities for the Trust to involve itself in the archaeology of churches, it is an intriguing coincidence that editorial discussion of this topic (INTERIM Issue 2-3 ) should have been followed directly by the investigation of the Saxon crypt at Ripon Cathedral INTERIM Issue 2-4) and since then by a further watching brief, at St Mary's in Castlegate, York. The latter excavation has brought to light finds of exceptional interest, and has highlighted once again the desirability of undertaking archaeological work in churches which are being converted to secular use, as well as in those being altered whilst still in ecclesiastical ownership.

 

The architecture of St Mary's bears witness to a complex building history whose full subtleties are not yet unraveled. Its most striking feature is the Perpendicular style west tower, crowned by a majestic spire. The windows testify to alteration at several earlier periods, and include work in the decorated and Early English styles. Inside, the capitals in the arcades attest enlargements in the mid-twelfth - early-thirteenth centuries: whilst the chancel arch is Perpendicular.

 

The stonework at the east ends of the nave arcades is coarser than the rest of the masonry and may perhaps have formed part of the wall of a still earlier church. It is certain that there was a church here at about the time of the Norman conquest, since there is the unusual survival of a dedication stone, bearing the names of the founders in a style of lettering which has been assigned to the mid-eleventh century.

 

A fragment of a wheel-headed cross was found in the last century, further evidence of a pre-conquest church on the site; this may or may not have been the one to which the dedication stone refers. The earlier history of the site is not known, but a single tessera, a stone cube from a Roman mosaic pavement, supposedly found during the restoration work done in 1870, hints at a substantial Roman building in the vicinity.

 

The church has been disused for over a decade and has been closed to the public; meanwhile the fabric has slowly decayed. Recently, however, a plan to turn the building into an Architectural Heritage Centre was mooted, and won acceptance and substantial financial support to the tune of £131,000 from York Corporation. 1975 is of course Architectural Heritage Year, and in order to fit in with the schedule for opening the new centre during the year, the Trust was suddenly faced with the prospect of having to undertake an excavation here.

 

To fully understand the evolution of a building as complex as St Mary's would have required expensive, large-scale investigation, and the Trust, stretched to its financial limits and already committed to other major projects, viewed this prospect with some trepidation. Thankfully, the threat to the archaeological deposits appeared to be largely averted when the architects changed their original plan, which had involved a sunken display area, to one which incorporated a raised viewing platform. Consequently, the Trust decided lot to excavate but to confine itself to a watching brief, the expenses of which York Corporation kindly offered to underwrite.

 

The restoration began with work on the roofs, on the external stonework, and also inside, with the stripping of modern plaster from the walls to reveal the masonry below. Even at this stage a fund of information about the churches development became available, with the uncovering of an earlier roof-line to the chancel and a blocked Romanesque window in the chancel's south wall.

 

As work continued, the time came to remove the nineteenth century floor, and when the workmen dug directly below the chancel arch they come upon a row of large stone blocks, apparently column drums. Trust staff spent an evening cleaning these for photography at first light, in case the renovation demanded their speedy removal, but a slight alteration to the order of work endowed two days for a rapid investigation of their immediate surroundings.

 

At the east end of the south aisle a stone setting was uncovered below intensively disturbed soils and has been provisionary interpreted as the footings for an arch into a southeast chapel. The footings of the walls through which the north and south chancel arcades had been pierced were also excavated below the westernmost bays of the chancel.

 

Excavation immediately northeast of the northern pier of the chancel arch revealed another column drum, and in contrast to those exposed earlier, it was in this case possible to record its stratigraphical relationships. The drum seems to have been incorporated in the chancel footings referred to above, and was covered by a spread of mortar which may have been deposited when the Norman church was built. The drums between the chancel piers could also belong to this phase of the churches evolution. However, there was also clear evidence that another drum, resting at a higher level, had been inserted at a later period, probably when the Perpendicular chancel arch was erected. Thus the drums seem to have been utilised at two distinct periods.

 

Some of the drums were clearly re-used Roman stones, as they had Lewis holes for the insertion of lifting tackle in their bases. The form of some of the others, though, may indicate either a re-cutting of Roman stones or an origin in the Anglian or Anglo-Scandinavian period. The large recesses cut into some of the stones have been tentatively interpreted by some as sockets for pre-conquest crosses, although others contend that these too demonstrate a Roman origin, and were used to secure the individual drums together in a column.

 

Theory apart, there certainly were stone crosses in or around the pre-conquest church of St Mary’s. One fragment found in the last century has already been mentioned, but during the removal of rubble from below the modern floor and below the drums between the chancel piers, several additional fragments came to light, as well as almost half of a coped tomb slab.

 

The cross fragments are quite small, and are mostly decorated with simple abstract motifs such as cable or pellet borders. Two pieces belong to the wheel-headed cross mentioned above. A wheel-head is a cross whose arms are joined by arcs near their extremities: in the present case only the stubs of the arcs survive, but there seem to be traces of pellet decoration on them. The upper arm fragment found last century still gives the best indication of the cross-head's decorative scheme. One side has the remains of a dog-like animal modeled in high relief and viewed from directly above. The animals head is missing, but both front and hind legs are shown, with what is presumably a tall arched over the beast's hind quarters. The animal is confined within a double border of cable and pellets. The two new fragments, representing the crosses lateral arms, confirm that a symmetrical disposition of motifs was employed, as W. G. Collingwood hypothesised nearly fifty years ago (Northumberian Crosses, 1927, fig. 148).

 

The other face of this cross-head had a boss in the panels at the end of each arm, and a central roundel delimited by a cable border, encircling a simple interlaced-knot motif. The new fragments make it clear that whilst the end panels were similar in layout, they were not identical, for although the bosses incorporate ring, chevron and pellet devices, each displays slight deviations from the others.

 

The cross-head has an additional interest in that it is the only one in the group upon which traces of pigment survive - in this case, red. Such colouring was probably commonly applied as an embellishment to sculpture of the period, but very few instances have survived to the present day, and at is hoped that careful conservation and analysis of the St Mary's example wall provide an additional insight into the techniques employed by pre-conquest craftsmen.

 

The human figure occurs on only one cross-head, an incomplete sandstone piece now split into two, found below the high under the chancel arch. The better preserved side bears a portrayal of the crucifixion within a plain border. No cross is depicted, but the stone cross-head itself serves as a background against which Christ’s body is portrayed. On the surviving fragments, only Christ’s torso and one arm can be seen, and virtually all the detailing of the body has been lost due to mutilation of the fragment. Nevertheless, there is a suggestion of drapery surviving between waist and knee level.

 

 

 


 

The carving survives best on the cross-arm, where Christ’s arm is shown slightly bent at the elbow, His hand is clearly visible, palm out and thumb uppermost, but there is no indication of any nail or thong holding Christ to the cross. Above the forearm there are three pellets, possibly serving merely to fill up unused space as, for example, on a cross at Kirkdale. Below the arm writhes a serpentine animal whose body, divided by a shallow medial groove, knots into a figure-of-eight near its centre and just above its lower extremity, which enlarges into a fish-like tail. The head, though mutilated, appears to have gaping jaws and two sharp teeth. The head of another, different, animal, can be seen on the other side of Christ’s body.

 

Figure sculpture as also found on the reverse face, although here again mutilation is severe. A standing figure is portrayed in a central position, with the head and one foot missing. Vestigial traces of drapery may be recognised in a diagonal swathe crossing the body. It may be surmised that the figure represents Christ in Majesty, such an antithesis of crucifixion and glorious resurrection frequently occurring on approximately contemporary Irish crosses, although the device as not commonly found in England. Beyond the figure is a knot motif with a pellet in the open angle at the end, and another knot, this time a figure-of-eight with a roundel at the point of intersection, occurs on the end face of the arm.

 

A gritstone fragment, part of a cross-shaft, has on one side a birdlike beast portrayed in a sweeping profile with its neck curved and the head turned downwards. It has a pronounced forehead, a prominent circular eye, and a curved bill. The body is slightly swollen, and the whole figure is wound around by both two- and three-strand interlacing tendrils. The border to this panel is composed of a cable motif all a simple moulding within.

 

 

The opposite face is fragmentary, and the scene portrayed has not been identified. The side faces bear running figure-of-eight knots within borders identical to those on the bird face.

 

In addition to the fragments of the various crosses, approximately half of a coped grave cover was also recovered. As its name implies, a slight ridge runs along the centre of the stone; the decoration is contained within a double cable border which gives a chevron effect. However, the basic subdivision of the field was achieved by a simple, narrow-armed cross, of which three arms and small central boss survive. The arms are decorated with interlace patterns, that on the upper arm differing from that on both lateral arms. The panels are covered with a dense but orderly series of interlaced knots, the two roundels and their accompanying knots combining to produce a design which is virtually bilaterally symmetrical.

 

The group of sculptural fragments is profoundly important in the context of the development of St Mary's church. Furthermore, with the contemporary groups from St Mary Bishophill Senior, recovered during demolition in 1963 (and now, sadly, built into the fabric of the Church of the Holy Redeemer, Boroughbridge Road) and from below York Minster, now displayed in the Minster Undercroft, it will allow scholars the opportunity to reassess sculptural tradition, influences and standards of achievement.

 

The sculptural fragments were not the only objects found - of later medieval date is a pewter chalice, originally no doubt interred in a priestly grave (Christian grave-goods!), but found in tiny fragments, disturbed from its true context, amongst a pile of rubble near the west end of the nave. Its shape is reminiscent of that carved on the ampulla mould recently discovered in Shambles (INTERIM Issue 2-3).

 

At the time of writing, work on the Architectural Heritage Centre is nearing completion, and it is unlikely that a further opportunity for archaeological investigation will arise for many years. The results of the Trust's recent work in St Mary's surely indicate the necessity of taking now the chances being offered by similar works in churches throughout Britain, since the newly recovered information has illuminated the early, shadowy phases of this fine church’s development. The opportunity must not be lost elsewhere.

 


For permission to undertake this watching brief, and for help during its execution, the York Archaeological Trust is much indebted to the owners of the building, York Corporation; to the architects, G. G. Pace and Co.; and to the initial contractors, the Ebor Stone Company.

 

Richard Hall

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