| ISSN 1357-4442 | Editor: Simon Denison |
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| LETTERS |
From Mr Chris Daniell
Sir: The Reformation, like any religious change, is very difficult to assess accurately from archaeology (`Resisting the Reformation in secret,' March). The particular problem with the Reformation is that the archaeological evidence is almost wholly that of destruction - small objects and books were easily defaced and the landscape is littered with monastic ruins. What replaced the old ways was the new Protestant belief in the total authority of the Word of God as given in the Bible - elements which leave little or no trace in the archaeological record.
It is therefore difficult to see clearly how accepted the changes at the Reformation were. Pockets of resistance are known, especially in the Celtic fringes, and there were one or two attempts at uprising, notably the Pilgrimage of Grace, which included many social issues within its cause. It is more suprising perhaps that there was so little overt, organised resistance: examples tend to be individuals, or occasionally a parish, taking action.
There is a huge and still divided historical debate about whether the Reformation had `popular roots', and how accepted it was. One key to its popularity was the number of Bibles which poured into the country. Unfortunately, like virtually all aspects of the Reformation, the numbers of Bibles, and the extent to which they were accepted, are hotly disputed. It is clear to me, however, that for huge areas of the country the reforms were accepted, sometimes grudgingly, but often with conviction, as the Protestant martyrs under the Marian persecution testify.
In should also be remembered that the Reformers were not intent on wiping away all traces of the past. They were principally interested in reforming late medieval Catholic religion by using only Biblical texts as their guide, rather than combining the Bible with ecclesiastical Catholic tradition. In their search for a `pure' religion, the reformers were particularly interested in Anglo-Saxon theology and texts as examples of good practice. Thus there was not a reaction against old practices as such: only those which were seen as idolatrous, superstitious and non-Biblical.
Some traditions continued where they did not openly contradict the new beliefs. It is possible that the burial of intact altar slabs follows the tradition of the burial of fonts under the floors of churches, revealing the wish to bury holy objects at holy sites.
Social factors also played their part. This is probably true of south door burial, which may be no more than the ever-present desire to be noticed by one's surviving contemporaries and descendants. There is a thin but distinct line between remembrance and prayers for the deceased. One way to test the idea that south door burial marks the desire to be prayed for by one's surviving relatives would be to see if south door burial stops being a feature in firmly Protestant parishes. It is in such cases that the fusion of historical study and archaeology can cast light on how the Reformation affected people religiously and socially at a local level.
Yours sincerely,
CHRIS DANIELL
Past Forward
York
2 April
From Mr Andrew Sewell
Sir: You refer to the concentration of burials typically found around the south entrance of a church. St Michael's Church here is set across a relatively gentle spur, but it appears from the south to be on a substantial mound. This is the residue of centuries of burials.
The tradition is that at the Resurrection, when the dead buried with their feet to the east stand up, there is a distinct risk of being overlooked if one finds oneself in the shadows on the north side of the church.
Yours sincerely,
ANDREW SEWELL
Aldbourne,
Wiltshire
10 March
From Mr NA Hudleston
Sir: I agree in the main with your hypothesis about the location of tombstones around the south door of a church [that they were intended to attract prayers for the dead]. The older tombstones, early 1700s, at the church at South Stainley are around the south door.
Regarding the burial of altar slabs, our original stone altar slab underlies our present wooden altar table. The present table was moved forward a few years since, and now the vicar stands on the old stone to celebrate communion.
Yours sincerely,
NA HUDLESTON
South Stainley
North Yorkshire
11 March
From Dr Stephen Aldhouse-Green
Sir: I write regarding the CBA's campaign to extend the range of sites that may be protected by scheduling, to include, for example, peat bogs (Update, March). May I draw your attention to another vitally important class of site which lacks the status of a `monument'. Under present practice caves cannot be given the protection of scheduling unless they have actually produced evidence of human presence. In other words, the only way to gain archaeological protection for such sites, which have become an increasingly precious reource, is to dig a hole in them. There are, I believe, strong grounds for protecting all caves where Pleistocene deposits are known or strongly suspected.
Yours ever,
STEPHEN ALDHOUSE-GREEN
University of Wales College,
Newport
19 March
From Dr John Nandris
Sir: I am sure it has not escaped you that your photograph of part of Penrhyn Slate Quarry in the Ogwen Valley was upside down (`First historic landscapes register created in Wales', March). This made its 60ft high galleries stereoscopically confusing, but still managed to evoke the perhaps unlikely sentimental attachment I have to this most impressive opencast mine.
I grew up on a farm in the Ogwen Valley, and in 1956 carried out a juvenile survey of the quarry, with its many conduits, galleries and shafts, as it was then in operation. I learned from the quarrymen how to abseil between the galleries on a rope, and how to split slates, and avoid being blown up.
There are few more historic and evocative landscapes than the Welsh, and my reminiscences may have no more statutory force than the new Welsh historic landscapes register itself; but in some respects it could be worth recalling that not so long ago red squirrels lived along the Ogwen, where a steam engine worked to thresh the corn and the sheaves were stacked up for the harvest, milk was delivered door to door by pony and trap to hill villages such as Tregarth, and working horses were shod at the blacksmith where now there are pylon lines and traffic on the A5.
Yours sincerely,
JOHN NANDRIS
Institute of Archaeology
University College,
London
11 March
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