St Albans Abbey

Professor Martin Biddle is an Emeritus Fellow of Hertford College, Oxford, and Honorary Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge. He was the first Lecturer in Medieval Archaeology in England, at the University of Exeter (1963–67) and he has held many other distinguished academic positions worldwide. He is the Founder and Director of the Winchester Excavations Committee (1962–present) and was the Archaeological Consultant at St Albans Cathedral until 2023. Birthe Kjølbye-Biddle was a Danish archaeologist who transformed approaches to archaeological excavation in England. She introduced metric measurements and imposed new standards of rigour in excavation, stratigraphic recording, and analysis. These were adopted throughout the work of the Winchester Excavations Committee which she joined in 1964. This technical brilliance provided the basis for her forthcoming posthumous publication of the archaeology of the Anglo-Saxon minsters of Winchester. Megan Kirkpatrick is completing a DPhil. in Medieval Archaeology at the University of Oxford. This focusses on the medieval castles of Wales, but she has a keen interest in heritage in the Middle East as well as in Wales, and has collaborated with organisations such as the Aerial Photographic Archive for Archaeology in the Middle East. She currently works for the Commonwealth Heritage Forum. Francis M. Morris took a DPhil. in Archaeology at the University of Oxford in 2010 and subsequently worked at the Oxford Celtic Coin Index and on the preparation of this book. Since 2012 he has contributed to the publication of books in the Winchester Studies series, especially on WS 3.i Venta Belgarum: Prehistoric, Roman and Post-Roman Winchester, WS 4.i The Anglo-Saxon Minsters of Winchester (forthcoming), and WS 11 The British Historic Towns Atlas of Winchester. He currently works for Archaeological Research Services.

• PART 1. INTRODUCTION1. Introduction PART 2. THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE 1. The Geology of the Site2. The Site Before the Building of the Chapter House3. The Chapter Houses4. The Slype5. The East Cloister Walk6. The Dorter Range7. The Areas around the Chapter House PART 3. THE ARCHITECTURE AND DECORATION OF THE CHAPTER HOUSE1. The Building Stones2. The Tiled Floors of the Chapter House    3. The Sculpture and Mouldings of the Third (Rectangular) Chapter House4. The Pigments Used in Painting the Sculpture of the Third (Romanesque) Chapter House of 1151–66 and a Gothic Screen of c.1325–505. The Ironwork of the (Romanesque) Door of the Slype6. The Architecture of the Fourth Vaulted Fifteenth-Century Chapter House7. The Window Glass and Leading of the Fifteenth-Century Chapter House8. Slip-Decorated and Plain Floor Tiles9. The Repaving of the Presbytery in the 1870s Using Minton Tiles Copied from the Paving of the Third Chapter House PART 4. BURIALS1. Burials Before the Chapter House: The Skeletal Remains2. Burials in the Chapter House: Identification, Written Evidence, and Discussion3. Burials in the Chapter House: The Skeletal Remains4. Coffins5. Marble Tomb Slabs6. The Purbeck Marble Indent for a Brass of Master Adam Rous and Indents of Brasses Found in the Shrine of St Alban7. The Reburial in the Presbytery in 1979 of the Abbots and Others Buried in the Medieval Chapter House PART 5. FINDS1. Coins and tokens2. Papal Bulla3. Stirrup-Shaped Gold Ring4. Gold Thread trom the Grave of Abbot Warin of Cambridge5. Ivory Crozier of Abbot Warin of Cambridge6. Pewter Chalice from the Grave of Robert of the Chamber (d.1154 x 1160)7. Gilt Copper-Alloy Disc Probably from a Brooch8. Copper-Alloy Hooked Fastener9. Objects of Copper Alloy and Gold10. Ironwork11. Lead Objects12. Bone Objects13. Neolithic Polished Axe and Worked Flints14. Roman Vessel and Window Glass15. Medieval Vessel Glass16. Roman Glass Beads17. Lava and Sandstone Querns18. Pottery19. Clay Tobacco Pipes20. Animal Bones21. Modern Coffin Furniture APPENDICESAppendix I. Burials in the Chapter HouseAppendix II. Sections