Fragmented pasts: medieval monastic window fragments in archaeological archives with English Heritage and the University of York

Details of project 

This collaborative doctoral project will bring new digital methods to recording, cataloguing, analysing and interpreting the architectural fragments of window surrounds and tracery that were removed from their original contexts during and after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1540s, and which now sit in the archaeological stores and standing ruins of English Heritage.

It will explore whether - and how - new technologies can expedite the recording and cataloguing of these fragments and their reconstruction, to illuminate past artistic designs, craft practices and networks of monastic patronage and compare these fragments with surviving examples in other monastic and ecclesiastical sites.

This project will be jointly supervised by Dr Nick Holder and Susan Harrison (English Heritage) and Professor Kate Giles and Dr Dav Smith (Department of Archaeology, University of York), and the student will be expected to spend time at both the University of York and English Heritage, as well as becoming part of the wider cohort of CDP funded students across the UK

Research with English Heritage 

This research studentship is one allocated to English Heritage by the AHRC. The successful student will be expected to spend time carrying out research and gaining relevant experience with the partner in the Helmsley Archaeological Store and monastic sites in Yorkshire and the North of England as part of the studentship.

The student will have opportunities to contribute to a variety of English Heritage activities such as collections documentation, volunteer training, public engagement and writing interpretation/exhibition text. Much of this will be related to the medieval windows project but there will also be opportunities to gain wider heritage sector experience and work with English Heritage staff on other projects.

Methodologically, the project will test the potential of new techniques such as scanning and modelling, and generative AI to reduce timescales and costs of traditional ways of studying worked stone. The student will benefit from the distinctive training offer of the Department of Archaeology at York, with the ability to access and audit modules in buildings recording, digital heritage and stained glass, enabling us to see the ‘whole window’ in context. They will have access to state of the art scanners, modelling systems and VR suites in the Wolfson Digital Heritage Centre, Berrick Saul building. They will also have an opportunity to undertake placements with University specialist research centres, such as Heritage360. The project can also draw on documentary evidence for the demolition and recycling of monastic stone, for example in the Court of Augmentations material at The National Archives.

This project will address an emerging gap in the specialist recording, analysis and interpretation of window tracery and worked stone in general, and harness the potential of established and emergent technologies such as generative AI, to find innovative solutions to expedite time-consuming and costly recording and cataloguing processes, and connect collections together, piloting ways of working that can be applied to other collections and sites in the future.

Research questions include

• How can new digital recording technologies support the rapid record worked stone collections and create more automated catalogues in which data is more findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable?
• What can digital technologies reveal about medieval craft methods of setting out, carving and fixing windows and tracery, exploring connections within and between collection fragments, sites and networks of monastic window stonework; and subsequent reuse and adaptation in new glazing schemes, including post-Dissolution reuse contexts?
• How can these digital augmentation technologies be used most efficiently to facilitate window reconstruction, and conversely, to prospect stone collections to identify cognate pieces and create analytical and interpretive tools. 
• What can these new ways of seeing, understanding and interpreting this material offer the curatorial, commercial and academic professions and the wider public, to help people engage with and care for these collections and sites in the future?