18th April 1957
ARCHAEOLOGICAL ACTIVITY
Exciting
discoveries 25 years ago on the site of the Priory of St. John, in the
Robson playing field at Monkhill, Pontefract, are recalled by
archaeological activity which began there on Saturday. Until May 4th,
members of the Pontefract extra-mural class in archaeology at the
University of Leeds, under their tutor, Mr. G.V. Bellamy, will enjoy a
practical extension of the first winter of their three-week course.
"We hope to reveal as much of the ground plan of the Priory, and of
other buildings, as we can", said Mr. Bellamy on Monday.
Any
photographs taken of the 1932 activities, or any personal recollections
of orientation, will help Mr. Bellamy and his class enormously. He is
also trying to trace the whereabouts of a plan which showed the work
done in 1932. He is to submit a report to the Pontefract Corporation,
There
was an early discovery on Monday, when a skeleton was found at the
northern end of the east cloisters. It is of a male, aged 55 to 60 years
old, height about 5ft 9in., and it is thought he was probably a senior
official or patron of the monastery. The skeleton had been disturbed,
said Mr. Bellamy, but there were traces of a shroud wrapping and remains
of a leather sandal. The skeleton has been sent to the Leeds City
Museum, which will make a report to the Wakefield and District Coroner.
The
Priory was founded by Robert de Lacy in 1090, adding to the great
influence which monasticism had in Yorkshire, In the days of Celtic
Christianity, the monastery of Whitby, under the Abbess Hilda, was one
of the leading houses of Northern England.
Another
discovery was that of a stone lectern with corners chipped, but
remaining in a very good state of preservation, and carved with similar
skill and patience. A uniform facing on the ‘bed’ of the desk is in
light enough relief to leave a flat overall surface to take the book,
and there is even a thumbhole in the raised double-lip along the bottom
edge, to give facility for turning the leaves. "Such things are
important as examples or promises almost more than as isolated pieces.
Sections of walls, fragments of columns or buttresses, some of them cut
in graceful curves, and the remains of flights of steps are to be seen,
and their presence and condition lead to the firm belief that equal and
perhaps better specimens remain to be uncovered. Pontefract has been
proud of its Castle... a possession is now revealed which is of greater
historical value still."
But
times were hard and the Corporation was very much concerned that in a
depressed area, such as Pontefract, the expenditure on historical
research would raise a storm of protest. Everything depended therefore,
on the attitude of the Office of Works and three months later the blow
fell. The Commissioners were unable to give financial assistance to the
Council to carry out the scheme for the exploration of the ruins. Sir
Charles had said, "If the work is not undertaken now probably it
will never be done." On the scale he and others envisaged, he was
right.
[
1957 Index ]
