Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture, Volume 1: County Durham and Northumberland

Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture #1

by Rosemary Cramp

This analytical catalogue of sculpture from the historic counties of Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire provides a new perspective on the artistic achievement of the late Saxon kingdom. The volume includes individual pieces of the highest quality such as the Bradford-on-Avon and Winterbourne Steepleton angels or the newly discovered figures from Congresbury. Most of the monuments were carved at a time when Wessex art was at its zenith in the tenth and eleventh centuries, a formative period for English cultural identity. This volume sets the sculpture within an historical, topographical and art-historical context, highlighting the close links with contemporary styles in manuscripts and metalwork. Full photographic records of each monument present many new illustrations unique to this volume. An indispensable research tool for all those interested in the early medieval world, this volume is also an authoritative aid for local historians.

328 pages, Hardcover

First published June 20, 1985

About the author

Dame Rosemary Jean Cramp, DBE, FSA, FBA was an English archaeologist and academic specialising in the Anglo-Saxons. She was the first female professor appointed at Durham University and was Professor of Archaeology from 1971 to 1990. She served as President of the Society of Antiquaries of London from 2001 to 2004.

From a university background in medieval English literature, Cramp became the renowned excavator of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow (1959 - 1988), uncovering the complexities of the location where Bede wrote The Ecclesiastical History of the English People in the eighth century.

Her most monumental contribution was the vision and completion of the Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Sculpture.