294 



THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE 



42 Cricklade Street, Swindon but a Bath school of 

 carving may be involved in each case. Only 

 historical research can finally resolve such matters. 

 The book's illustrations remind us of the sheer 

 craftsmanship of the masons who carried out the 

 plans, for example when constructing The Circus 

 at Bath with its three tiers of double columns and 

 its carved frieze. The point is made that houses in 

 the London Road were designed to look good at 

 the rear as well as the front which was unusual in 

 the city. We are reminded too that John Wood the 

 Younger was designing Salisbury Infirmary in 1766- 

 7 at the time when the Royal Crescent was being 

 built at Bath. Very few mistakes occur. It is odd 

 perhaps to place Hartham Park near Biddestone 

 when it is usually associated with Corsham. On 

 page 168 Crittleton should be Grittleton. 



This is in all a welcome and reliable guide to 

 local buildings in the Classical tradition, not only 

 houses but also buildings with a variety of functions. 

 It is exceptionally well illustrated and will give the 

 reader a permanent source of valuable pictorial 

 material. 



PAM SLOCOMBE 



Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum. 

 Medieval Catalogue Part 3, Edited by Peter 

 Saunders. Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum 

 2001, 272 pages, 88 figures. Price £24.93. 



This is a worthy successor to parts 1 and 2 of the 

 Salisbury Museum Medieval Catalogue, which were 

 published in 1990 and 1991. It covers nine 

 categories of Medieval object- artefacts made from 

 bone, antler and ivory; glass vessels; enamels 

 (admittedly only two items, however); papal bullae; 

 cloth seals; artefacts made of lead/tin alloy, including 

 tokens; balances and weights; pottery, tile and brick; 

 and finally jettons or casting counters. The 

 catalogue of objects in each section is preceded by 

 an up-to-date and authoritative historical 

 introduction which is informative and helpful in 

 putting the objects in their general context. The 

 authors are leading specialists in these different 

 fields coming from the museum, archaeological and 

 numismatic worlds. It is a pleasure to note that 

 some of the authors such as David Algar, Rachel 

 Tyson and John Musty have a closer association 

 with Wiltshire. The volume begins with an 

 appreciation of the life and career of Eleanor 

 Saunders (1948-1992) who undertook much of the 

 preparatory work of the catalogue and was the co- 



editor of parts 1 and 2. The illustrations are by Nick 

 Griffiths. 



Over 1,000 objects are catalogued in the volume 

 and over 650 illustrated or photographed, many for 

 the first time. The greatest proportion come from 

 the city of Salisbury itself or from the major nearby 

 Medieval sites, notably Old Sarum and Clarendon 

 Palace. Together the chapters contribute to the 

 picture of the material culture of the city and 

 everyday life there in medieval times. There are 

 many particularly important and striking individual 

 items, including the Limoges crucifix from near 

 Mompesson House, the reliquary figure 

 (provenance not given) and a walrus ivory chessman 

 from Ivy Street, Salisbury in the form of a king on 

 horseback. These are among the outstanding 

 medieval objects to have survived from Wiltshire. 

 Similarly the collections of some classes of objects, 

 including the glass vessels (from Old Sarum, 

 Clarendon Palace and the Franciscan friary at 

 Salisbury), the cloth seals (mainly from Salisbury) 

 and the pottery (from a wide range of sites, 

 particularly Old Sarum, Clarendon Palace and 

 Laverstock Kiln) are of much more than local or 

 indeed regional importance. 



There are a number of unexpected objects or 

 groups of objects in the catalogue. They include a 

 small group of medieval toys, including some 

 marbles from the excavations at Old Sarum and 

 Clarendon Palace. Marbles are extremely rare and 

 unusual medieval finds. As the text stresses, no 

 examples were found in the extensive excavations 

 at Winchester. A small number of buttons are 

 interesting and useful additions to the still thin 

 corpus of medieval buttons so far identified from 

 England. Pride of place - by no means the correct 

 phrase to use - must go to a group of very unusual 

 semi-pornographic tokens. If these could be 

 confirmed as locally found, they shed light on the 

 city and the mores of its inhabitants not revealed 

 from other sources. 



The volume will be essential to a wide range of 

 users. These include local historians, for whom, 

 for example the chapter on cloth seals represents 

 essential primary evidence for the highly important 

 cloth industry centred on the city in the Middle 

 Ages. Archaeologists, whether professional or 

 amateur, will find many of the sections invaluable, 

 in particular of course that on the medieval pottery, 

 tile and brick. Museum curators and finds 

 recorders will find the authoritative identifications, 

 classifications and descriptions of collections such 

 as the chapter on jettons invaluable to them both 



