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Late medieval lodgings within secular, vicarial and collegiate complexes provide an example through which the construction and maintenance of collective and individual identities can be perceived. The remains indicate a middle-status group with a well-defined identity emerging in the Late Medieval period who were provided with accommodation reflecting their new stratum in society. The architectural display, or vocabulary, demonstrated a complicated even conflicting narrative to the medieval audience, which we can identify through analysis of their remains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the contribution of medieval geometric drawings found on the fabric of buildings to our knowledge of the working methods of medieval masons. An attempt is made to categorize drawings found in ecclesiastical buildings, many of which are previously unrecorded or unpublished, and to explore the different functions and purposes that these drawings served and the variety of ways in which they were used. The drawings are found to address questions of design, of marking out, reference and problem solving, of training and practice and the mechanics of the stonemasonry craft. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excavations in the south range of the cloister of Bordesley Abbey have produced an unusual sequence. The construction scheme of the buildings to the south of the cloister arcade — centring on the refectory and kitchen — was piecemeal and took over two hundred years, from the later twelfth to early sixteenth centuries. At an early stage the range included timber (which may have been part of the original temporary structures) and stone buildings. In the fifteenth century there was a major change of use: the refectory became a workshop and dumping area while the kitchen was used for non-ferrous metalworking: these activities probably continued to the Dissolution. The implications of the excavations are considered in the context of the development of the cloister and then the precinct. The important evidence for adaptation and innovation is discussed in the light of work elsewhere in order to argue that the results have a relevance for other Cistercian houses and monasteries in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article traces the chronology of St. Davids Cathedral in Pembrokeshire, Wales. The site features few remains of the 6th-century church and monastery constructed by St. David and acted as a pilgrimage site in the 12th century. The extant parts of the cathedral were largely carried out by Bishop Peter de Leia in 1182 and chapels were later added. The church features a nave roof with 16th-century king-post trusses. Restorations were carried out in the late 18th and 19th centuries.

The article traces the history of the architecture of St. Davids Cathedral in Wales. St. David (Dewi Sant) founded a monastery at the site in the 6th century and Norman bishops ruled over the church beginning in the 12th century. The extant building was begun in 1182 by Bishop Peter de Leia. Specific topics include the cult of St. David, debate about the vaults of the cathedral, 14th-century rebuilding of the cathedral by Bishop Henry de Gower, and 18th-19th-century restoration of the cathedral.

The article discusses the St. Davis Bishop Palace built by 14th-century Bishop Henry de Gower of St. Davids Cathedral in Wales. The author describes pre-14th-century building on the site by Bishop Thomas Bek and traces Gower's transformation of the site, including the rebuilding of the kitchen, great hall, and chapel.

The article discusses Haverfordwest Priory, an Augustinian priory constructed in Haverfordwest, Wales in the 13th century. The land was given to the Augustinians in 1200 and was leveled using a series of drains. Excavation of the ruins revealed a 14th-15th-century garden as well as evidence of the Dissolution carried out by Henry VIII.

The article describes Lamphey Bishop's Palace in Pembrokeshire, Wales, which acted as a residence for bishops of St. Davids Cathedral. The extant palace was constructed from the 13th-14th centuries by Bishop Geoffrey de Henlaw and Bishop Henry de Gower with rebuilding from the 15th-16th centuries. Henry de Gower's hall features an arcaded parapet similar to the bishop's palace at St. Davids, Wales.

The article describes Nevern Castle (Castell Nanhyfer) in Wales. The castle was captured by Robert fitz Martin in the Norman conquest of 1108-1110 and likely ruled by Welsh Lord Rhys ap Gruffudd in the 1160s and following 1191. Excavation of the site suggests it was occupied during the 12th century, including rebuilding in the late 12th century, and later used for agricultural purposes.

The article describes Dryslwyn Castle in Wales. The castle features early 13th-century masonry as well as rebuilding from the 1280s. The castle was sieged by Edmund, Earl of Cornwall in 1287 and partially demolished in the 15th century. Features of the castle include a gatehouse, an outer and middle ward in addition to an inner ward, and a chapel tower.

The article describes Pembroke castle in Pembrokeshire, Wales. The Norman castle was founded by Earl Roger of Shrewsbury in the 1090s and was an earth and timber construction until the 13th-century, when it was rebuilt by William Marshal. The castle was partially destroyed in the 1640s Civil War and restored in the 19th-20th centuries. Features of the castle include a barbican, a gatehouse, a curtain wall, and towers.

The article describes the Carew site in Wales, consisting of a medieval castle, a tidal mill, and a 10th-11th-century cross. The Carew Cross is an early Christian monument with an inscription. Carew Castle was founded by Gerald of Windsor circa 1100 and was constructed by the Carew family in the 14th century to later be taken into the possession of Sir John Perrot. The Carew Mill has existed since before 1558 but the extant mill dates to the 19th century.

The west front of Lincoln Cathedral is unique and complex and, despite the very plausible conjectures about its early development, there is still a debate as to what form the early cathedral took. This paper describes the preliminary results of a major resurvey of the western end of Lincoln cathedral. It establishes the sequence of building during the eleventh and twe!fth centuries in an account which differs significantly from what has been previously written, about the building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Luminescence dating has been applied to ceramic bricks sampled from a selection of English medieval ecclesiastical and secular buildings in Essex, Kent and Lincolnshire, ranging in age from the fourth to the late sixteenth centuries. The results obtained for the Anglo-Saxon churches, which included Brixworth, confirmed the reuse of Roman brick in all cases. The dates for the earliest medieval brick type indicate that brick making was reintroduced during the eleventh century, a century earlier than previously accepted, and dates for bricks from the same secular Tudor building indicate that the practice of recycling of building materials during the late medieval period was also applied to brick. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A single burnt-out winq is all that remains of Wressle Castle which stands on the banks of the Derwent, 10 km (6 miles) east of Selby in Yorkshire. It was built in the 1390s for Thomas Percy, and formed part of a significant group of rectangular castles designed by or attributed to the architect John Lewyn, but was later refurbished to the highest standards for the fifth Earl of Northumberland in the first quarter of the sixteenth century; Our knowledge of it during this period is enhanced by an almost unique combination of resources; the surviving structure, highly detailed plans and drawings made when if was complete, the great Northumberland Household Book of 1512, and a group of the Earl's woodwork. By combining these it is possible to visually recreate the castle allocate a particular function to each of its seventy-one rooms, and people them with their respective staffs. This further enables probable attribution to be made regarding the domestic arrangements and use of Bolton Castle, for which there is little contemporary documentation. If also provides a well-provenanced body of information regarding the use of early Renaissance designs in an English noble household. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The consideration of contemporary 'designed landscapes' around late medieval castles is now well-established. However, all too often the consideration of such a landscape is not accompanied by an equally detailed study of the building from which it was viewed, particularly the 'viewing windows' - windows suggested to be deliberately placed within a building to provide a view over, across or towards a specific element of a designed landscape or the wider natural landscape. This paper discusses such windows, and also wall-walks, within the architectural context of one particular castle. It identifies three basic questions which should be asked in relation to any view (how did the viewer look, what were they looking at and why did they choose to look at it?), and seeks to demonstrate that windows and wall-walks intervene between the viewer and the view to the same degree as they facilitate the act of looking. An appreciation of these processes is crucial to understanding late medieval concepts of viewing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1994 investigations comprising geophysical and earthwork surveys, together with evaluation excavations were carried out at Hylton Castle, Sunderland. The results confirmed the former presence of buildings east of the gatehouse tower, and contemporary with it. Some evidence for a hitherto unknown sixteenth- or seventeenth-century successor to the castle was discovered on an artificial terrace overlooking the earthworks of an ornamental garden with associated water features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The identification of an eighteenth-century plan and a set of nineteenth-century photographs, in conjunction with a new survey of its remains, has permitted the reinterpretation of an early eleventh-century building at Avranches, in the Département of Manche, Normandy. This has shown that it measured 37 m by at least 27 m, was at least 16 m high, and that it can be considered as a donjon or 'keep', or, as now more usually termed, a 'tour maîtresse' or 'great tower'. The remains of the building and its interpretation are described, with the aid of plans and the key material referred to above. Among the largest 'great towers ' known (at least in plan) and one of the three known pre-Conquest examples in the Duchy, it is of great significance to the rapidly advancing study of this class of building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on several monasteries and castles of the Middle Ages that were constructed in close proximity with each other. The motives of the castle-builder in founding a monastery include the health of the founder's soul, it could serve as a family mausoleum, and monasteries can be responsible for the celebration of the masses held within it. Foundations at Waverley, Tauton and Farnham were included, despite being the exceptions to the normal sequence of building the castle first and monastery later.

Excavations have recently produced valuable new evidence for the structural types used in the vernacular architecture of lowland and eastern Britain during the sixth-eighth centuries A.D. The evidence from a number of contemporaneous sites suggests that a highly characteristic building tradition was in widespread use. The identifying features of this building tradition are defined and its affinities discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent consideration of the date construction of the hall at Tamworth Castle puts the building into a medieval context. It is suggested that the structure was raised in the second quarter of the fifteenth century or earlier. With a span o foyer eight metres (27 feet) its impressive tie-beam and double collar roof trusses represent the full structural development of the post and truss tradition and its place in that tradition is discussed. This significant late medieval timber frame has not stirred much interest since J. C. Buckler drew part of a roof truss (B.M., M.S. 36436, p. 38620) and little documentary evidence has come to light which might establish close dating of the structure. A short account of the associated domestic buildings inside the shell keep reflects the general trend from first floor to ground floor hall and the eventual abandonment of the latter as the centre of the household. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A salt-tax, existing in France since the thirteenth century, led to the construction of bonded warehouses. One such grenier-à-sel was in existence in Honfleur before 1372. By the late seventeenth century, chiefly as the result of the development of herring and cod fisheries, the need had arisen for new larger salt-warehouses. Three were constructed in Honfleur, of which two survive, dated 1670. They were built of stone from the demolished town walls. The most striking feature of these two buildings is the roof carpentry, the trusses of which are a hybrid form comprising straight rafters, rising from projecting sole-plates and carried on the backs of curved principals springing from a point high up the walls to reach collar level. Above the collars rise king-posts supporting both ridge purlins and under-ridge purlins. This structure may be considered to fall within the truck tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of fortification in Brittany from the Gallo-Roman period to the end of the Middle Ages has recently attracted considerable local interest. Much valuable work has been done on both the documentary sources and the archaeological evidence but the results of these researches have not significantly entered into general discussions nor have these two aspects of the subject always been successfully combined by architectural historians and archaeologists. This paper aims to provide a basis for comparison with developments elsewhere by suggesting a chronology and examining some of the principal social and political factors leading to successive campaigns of fortification. In particular the development of feudal society, the rote of the frontiers with neighbouring provinces and the relationship of dukes of Brittany with their leading lords (especially centring on problems of control, licensing and financing of castle and urban defences) are dealt with during a period when the duchy enjoyed a considerable degree of political independence from the crown of France. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the remains of the Brampton Bryan Castle located in the English village of Brampton Bryan. The castle came into the possession of the Harley family following the marriage of Margaret, co-heiress of Sir Brian de Brampton, to Sir Robert de Harley. The site where the castle once stood is surrounded by a ditch, which could be filled with water at need. The south wall of the Hall and Kitchen range, together with the Porch, part of the inner Gatehouse, the Barbican and the outer Gatehouse are the only remaining parts of the castle.

The article describes Cilgerran Castle in Wales. The castle was captured by the Welsh in 1165 and left to William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke in 1219 before being recaptured by the Welsh and regained by Marshal's son in 1223. The castle was largely constructed in the 13th century but features some fragments of 12th-century masonry as well as some 14th-century masonry.

The article discusses St. Dogmaels Abbey, a Tironian abbey constructed in Wales in the 12th century with rebuilding in the 13th-14th centuries. Pre-Norman carved stones have been found at the abbey site. Features of the abbey include claustral buildings, a church with a chancel and south transept, and a chapter house.

The article describes Manorbier Castle in Wales, which features 12th-13th-century architecture with little rebuilding other than a 16th-17th-century barn in the outer ward. The castle was occupied by the de Barri family from the 12th-14th centuries and was also used in the Civil War in the 1640s. Specific features of the castle include a gatehouse, a curtain wall, and a Norman hall.

The article discusses Haverfordwest Castle in Pembrokeshire, Wales. The settlement at Haverfordwest was established by Tancred (Tancard) c. 1110 and appropriated by King John of England in 1210 and later by Eleanor of Castile. The extant parts of the castle largely date from the late 13th-century. The castle was influenced by its proximity to Ireland and features two wards. The castle was used as a prison in the 18th-19th centuries and used as the county museum from 1967 to 1994.

The article provides information on Chetham's Library and School in Manchester, England which was discussed at the 133rd Summer Meeting of the Royal Archaeological Institute in 1987. The origin of the buildings in which Chetham's Library and School are housed can be traced to the second quarter of the fifteenth century. This medieval buildings, made up of red sandstone, are composed of a rectangular block set around a cloister and a long east wing with a short extension ending in a gatehouse. Quarters for the servants and guests are housed in the east range of the building, while the Audit Room is housed at the south end of the baronial hall. The fifteenth-century ceiling of the Audit Room features moulded beams and bosses, as well as a plaster freize of circa 1600.

The article looks at the architectural design of Dean Castle in Kilmarnock, Scotland. The estate was given by Robert I to Robert Boyd in 1316. The tower or keep, built in the 1360s, was originally accessible only at first-floor level, with a stone-vaulted hall and vaulted kitchen and cellar beneath. At the south of the tower is the palace called Place of Kilmarnock. The palace was built as their main residence when the Boyds were at the height of their power. The castle, together with collections of early arms and armour, tapestries, and musical instruments, was donated by Lord Howard de Walden to Kilmarnock and Loudoun District Council in 1975.

The article offers information on the architectural design of the Bothwell Castle in the Clyde valley, in Scotland. The Bothwell Castle is considered the grandest piece of medieval secular architecture in the area. The castle's building history can be divided into four historical phases. The earliest work recorded was after 1241 when the properties of Bothwell were purchased by Walter de Moray. A cylindrical donjon was built and designed to form part of a pentagonal courtyard layout. The fifteenth- and sixteenth-century phase focused on domestic changes. In 1669, the castle became both a quarry and a terminal vista for a house erected on the higher ground to the east.

The article looks at the architectural design of the Culzean Castle in Ayrshire, Scotland. The castle is said to be the largest and most complex of Robert Adam's castellated designs. Designed in 1745 by Englishman Roger Morris, while the site architect was William Adam to be replaced by his sons John and Robert. Due to the social supremacy attached to castle dwelling and the picturesque predilections of the architect, the site was decided to be developed around the old castle. The castle was a tall narrow tower with chimney stacks astride the steeply pitched side gables and all set within a barmkin wall.

The article offers information on the Elstow Abbey in Bedfordshire, England which was visited during the Summer Meeting of the Royal Archaeological Institute in July 1982. It was a large Benedictine nunnery founded c. 1078 by Countess Judith of Huntingdon, allegedly in expiation for the betrayal to her uncle the Conqueror of her husband's treachery. The present parish church is the nave of the Abbey church, with the late sixteenth-century blocking wall at the east end inserted in the last bay before the crossing. Its inner wall carries a memorial to Sir Humphrey Radcliffe who acquired the property in mid century.

The article presents information on the Abinger motte in Surrey, England. It has remained a classic illustration of the minor Norman castle since its excavation in 1949. It was first constructed in 1100 and was apparently rebuilt during the mid-twelfth-century civil wars after several years of abandonment. The Abinger motte belonged to the great tenant-in-chief William fitz Ansculf. It is speculated that the building might date from before 1086, in which case it was presumably constructed by fitz Ansculf.

The article describes the Moreton Corbet Castle located in the village of Moreton Corbet, Shropshire, England. The castle served as a small Marcher stronghold established by one of the Toret family in the twelfth century in the Middle Ages. Through a Toret heiress, the castle was acquired by the Corbets of Wattlesborough. It is located on a site of little natural strength. Among the surviving parts of the castle are the north wall and parts of the east and west walls of the keep. Ownership of the castle has remained with the Corbets.

The article describes the remains of the St. Mary's Church located in Shrewsbury, England. The historical significance of the church building lies in the fact that it was built during an important period in English architecture, the beginnings of English Gothic. It is noted that the stylistic detailing of the outer barrel-vaulted chapel of the north transept reveals that the work may not be of much later than 1175. It has been observed that major work was carried out to the mid-twelfth-century chancel, when the north arcade was built in 1225.

The article describes the remains of the Bromfield Priory in England. It is considered an interesting case of a Saxon minster church which retailed many of its old attributes. It is noted that the east and parts of the north wall are Norman and the south wall of the nave had been claimed as Norman. The author claims that Bromfield was not cruciform but perpetuated the Anglo-Saxon arrangement of a two-cell body with lateral transepts. The Norman church was attributed to the Benedictines, whose canons or their patrons might have built the church.

The article describes the remains of the Wigmore Castle located in Herefordshire, England. It was the home of the great and sometimes overweening family of Mortimer. It was one of the richest and grandest of the great Marcher castles, but is now ruined. In spite of the damage suffered by the castle, its site, earthworks and remains are impressive. It was an eleventh-century Marcher plantation of castle and was founded by a tenant-in-chief on a new site. Much of the building described is dated to the early fourteenth century.

The article presents an account of the Ludlow Castle located in Ludlow, England. It is noted that the castle stands at the highest point of a bluff bounded on the west by the River Teme. A large outer bailey, walled already by the late twelfth-century date was provided to the original castle, which suggests that the town was already laid out prior to the date. In the early fourteenth century, a magnificent first-floor hall with three-storey chamber blocks at either end was built. The castle gradually decayed.

The article traces the history and architecture of the town of Tenby, Wales. The town features pre-14th-century town walls and the medieval parish church of St. Mary's which was rebuilt in the 15th century. The town harbour features a lifeboat house built in 1904 and a newer lifeboat house constructed in 2005. There is very little evidence of the plan of the medieval town.

The article traces the history of St. Brynachs Church in Pontfaen, Wales, which features c. 9th-century cross-carved stones and a possibly medieval nave and chancel, with restorations carried out in the 19th-20th centuries.

The article offers information on the Bothwell Parish Church in Scotland. Archibald, the third earl of Douglas and Lord of Galloway, acquired the Barony of Bothwell through marriage in 1362. In the late 14th century, Archibald petitioned the Pope to have the parish church of Bothwell elevated to collegiate status. The earl added a new choir to the existing parish church after the petition was granted. The parish church is believed to be erected in the late 12th century based on the stone fragments sculpted in Norman-Romanesque tradition found during the restoration of the church in 1933.

The article focuses on the royal castles in Scotland, which was presented at the Summer Meeting of the Royal Archaeological Institute in 1986. The principal castles were at Dumbarton and Stirling which occupy the summits of natural rocky citadels. Dumbarton's medieval remains are fragmentary, while Stirling still exhibits fortifications and architecture of residential and ceremonial purpose. The Stewarts were the most powerful of the nobility in the region before their accession to the kingship in 1371. Dundonald Castle was their main centre and it reflects the family's promotion to royal status in the later fourteenth century.

The article provides information on the Skipsea Brough castle at the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The structure was built in the late eleventh century and served as the center of the lordship of Holderness until its demolition by order of King Henry III in 1221. The castle features a motte 11 meters high and 100 meters in diameter at the base, set in a mere that had been drained by 1720, with a crescent-shaped bailey to the south-west and utilizing a natural ridge. The floor of the mere can be crossed by two causeways, on the west and east of the motte.

The article offers information on Saint John's Hospital in Bedford, England which was visited during the Summer Meeting of the Royal Archaeological Institute in July 1982. The hospital was founded, or possibly re-founded, by Robert de Parys and John and Henry St. John in the 1880s, where they observe the canonical hours and administer charity to the deserving poor of Bedford. The nearby church of Saint John seems to have served the dual function of hospital chapel and parish church. The hospital is a stone-walled building much modified since the dissolution and the only details which are certainly late twelfth century are some reused shaft fragments with alternate bands of cable and pellet ornament.