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, 9 July 2025

Medieval cellarage in Southampton


The BBC News website had a very interesting article recently about a striking twelfth century cellar in Southampton which is one of the surviving fragments of the castle. It was constructed to hold barrels of wine imported for the use of the King’s court. This was presumably.from Gascony after 1154, although some may have come directly across the Channel from Normandy or the Loire.

Southampton still has impressive remains of the town walls and was an important trading centre in the medieval centuries. This was not just for wine but also for the range of luxury goods  from the Mediterranean imported by Genoese and Venetian merchants.


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