Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Wednesday 24 August 2022

A possible thirteenth century hostelry near Beverley


The BBC News website reports on an archaeological excavation at a deserted village site at High Hunsley near Beverley. The article concentrated on what is being suggested May have been the village ale house or similar hostelry on the basis of broken crockery of thirteenth century date and a considerable number of animal bones, which suggests catering on a regular basis. We know such places existed, but clear physical evidence is far less common. It will be interesting to see what next year’s dig adds to knowledge of the village and its life.


The excavation of High Hunsley, and what is known of the village’s history and gradual decline, is introduced in another BBC report at  High Hunsley dig: Archaeologists hunt for deserted medieval village



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