A Stakeholder Case-Study

St Oswald’s Church, Lythe, North

Tom Pickles and Johannes Secker

Early Christian Churches and Landscapes (ECCLES)

www.earlychristianchurchesandlandscapes.wordpress.com

CONTENTS

Introduction 3

Context – Streoneshalh () and Lythe 4

Impulse – The Story of Johannes Secker and Lythe 5-7

Process 8

Project Brief 9-15

Exhibition 16-17

2 INTRODUCTION

Early Christian Churches and Landscapes (ECCLES) is a collaborative interdisciplinary project investigating Christian churches and landscapes before 1100 across the Isles – Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and . ECCLES is one part of a pan-European project – Corpus Architecturae Religiosiae Europeae (CARE). Researchers of early Christian churches and landscapes before 1000 – prior to the foundation of reformed monastic communities, the great rebuilding of local churches, and the inception of diocesan and parish records – face three key problems. First, there is no comprehensive catalogue of the textual, material, and onomastic evidence for churches for any region of the Isles. Second, there are regional variations in the nature, quantity, and quality of that evidence. Third, early medieval linguistic, ethnic, religious, and political boundaries did not correspond to modern national boundaries, yet research often proceeds by nation. Basic questions lack conclusive answers. How many types of church existed? What were their defining characteristics? What was the chronology of church building? What regional patterns exist? Are these genuine patterns or the result of differential survival of evidence?

In the long term ECCLES will create a web portal housing databases of the evidence for pre-1100 churches with mapping facilities – Early Christian Churches and Landscapes Inter-Active (ECCLESIA). The Arts and Humanities Research Council have generously funded a Research Network to facilitate preliminary work that must be completed before the web portal can be created and the databases can be compiled. The meetings of that network are also designed to provide interim resources for academic researchers and non-academic stakeholders with an interest in Christian churches and landscapes before 1100.

The Co-Investigator, Sally Foster, devised a stakeholder framework to structure our events, comprising stakeholders with different interests in the evidence. The third set of non-academic stakeholders was Infrastructural Stakeholders, that is those people with a concern for the on-site interpretation, presentation, or promotion of that evidence. The Principal Investiagor, Tom Pickles, invited representatives of the parish community from St Oswald’s Church, Lythe, , to the Infrastructural Stakeholders Workshop on the basis of his prior knowledge and admiration of the exhibition of early medieval stone sculpture they had created. During all three Stakeholder Workshops it became clear that to inspire parish communities to engage in the curation and presentation of that evidence, it is essential to establish the relevance of that evidence to their individual and collective stories. This was no more clear than in Johannes Secker’s account of the personal experiences that connected him to Lythe Church and its stones and inspired him to draw others together to devise a project to display them. Johannes kindly agreed to share his story, the process, and the project brief, as a case study for us to promote.

3 CONTEXT

STREONESHALH (WHITBY) AND LYTHE

Lythe is now a small village located on the north-eastern coastal plain of Yorkshire, about 50 miles north of York and three miles from the coastal town of Whitby.

Bede, monk of Wearmouth and Jarrow, completed his Ecclesiastical History of the English People c. 731. He tells us that there were two Old English speaking peoples north of the River Humber: the Deirans in what is now Yorkshire, and the Bernicians in what is now County Durham and Northumberland. During the seventh century, the kings of these two peoples fought with one another, eventually uniting them into a single people and kingdom, which Bede called the Northumbrians. One way in which these kings competed with one another for authority and power was through the foundation of religious communities.

King Oswiu of the Bernicians was one such king seeking to extend his authority and power over the Deirans. Bede tells us that he did this by marrying a Deiran princess, Eanflaed, by granting land to another Deiran princess, Hild, for the foundation of a religious community at Streoneshalh (Whitby) in 657, and by handing over their daughter Aelfflaed as an oblate to that community. Eanflaed and Aelfflaed were subsequently joint abbesses of the community.

Streoneshalh (Whitby), Bede relates, was an important influence amongst the Northumbrians and across Britain and Ireland. Oswiu convened a council there in 664 at which he decided to follow Roman Easter dates. Hild talent-spotted divinely blessed cowherd called Caedmon who was the first person to compose Old English verse about religious topics: one of his compositions survives as the Old English poem Caedmon’s Hymn. Eanflaed and Aelfflaed established a cult for their Deiran ancestor King Edwin, the first Northumbrian king to convert officially to Christianity.

A combination of evidence suggests that Streoneshalh (Whitby) received grants of land in a series of royal territories up and down the north eastern coastal plain. Bede reveals that Hild established a daughter house at Hackness and that Streoneshalh (Whitby) had an estate worked by lay brethren and provided with a church at Osingadun, probably modern Easington. Fragments of sculpture from the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries testify to early churches at Whitby and Hackness, and suggest others at Lythe and Easington. In the eleventh century all four churches lay at the centre of royal territories on loan to earls and those churches were mother churches for enormous mother parishes corresponding to these territories – probably because they were founded within early royal territories and assumed pastoral responsibilities for their inhabitants. Lythe’s early significance and royal associations may be reflected in its medieval dedication to St Oswald, a king of the Deirans who converted to Christianity and was martyred in battle against a pagan king.

4 IMPULSE

THE STORY OF JOHANNES SECKER AND LYTHE

Recently at an ECCLES Workshop at the University of Chester under the direction of Dr Thomas Pickles, we were gently chided about having left out the autobiographical element of the story of the creation of the Exhibition. I was a key member of the Heritage Committee, which spearheaded the creation of the Exhibition. It was made up of representatives of Lythe Parish Church Council and of the congregation at large. But, of course, under the rubric of “bringing together those concerned with on-site interpretation, presentation, or promotion of the evidence” I had to “plead guilty” to having been the lead voice because I had a certain expertise, historically and linguistically speaking, which enabled me to ‘make a case’ on behalf of St Oswald’s to the various authorities which had to be persuaded that an Exhibition of the Stones was justified and possible. Consequently, I have agreed to give an account of my involvement in the story of the Stones Exhibition at St Oswald’s Church to ECCLES. Some basic facts now to explain how an “Incomer” to North Yorkshire had a hand in the Stones Exhibit.

I was born and raised in the Netherlands. On Sunday morning, the 1st of February 1953, when I was 13, our family was flooded out of house and home, and lost what little we had, except for the clothes we stood up in. Six weeks later, on March 19th, we boarded a ship called the “Groote Beer” (the Big Bear) in Rotterdam and sailed to Canada, arriving in Halifax, NS on 1st March, and arrived by train in Edmonton, Alberta on the 6th of March. Life, in a foreign and English-speaking country, began anew.

By 1959, having Matriculated, by means of correspondence school, I started at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, as an Engineering student. But ‘seduced’ by a course in English literature and a course in Philosophy, I changed course and pursued a BA in English literature. I was ‘hooked’ on the earlier periods; Old and Middle English (450 – 1300AD). I then did an MA on Old English, taught for two years, and went on to 3 years post-graduate studies in Old English at University College London (UK). Unsurprisingly, the history of the British Isles, from the Roman withdrawal, c. 410AD, to the later Middle Ages, became a necessary adjunct to my literary interests. So, I knew the stories of Caedmon, Whitby Abbey, St Hilda, the Synod of Whitby, and St Oswald well before I arrived on these shores.

I would, presumably, have continued living in Canada after returning from London, but fate, as it does so often, intervened. In 1968 Josephine, my wife to be, arrived as a new member of staff in the English Dept. at the University of Calgary, where I was a Junior Lecturer. We hit it off straight away. She was a post-graduate of University College London with an MPhil in English Lit, and had studied every historical period, from Old English Literature to the Moderns. She too had ‘done’ Old English, and we talked ’the same language’, sometimes, reciting Caedmon’s Hymn and other bits of verse, such as The Wanderer and The Seafarer, to each other.

5 One very cold winter’s day, -30 C with an icy wind blowing from the north, we walked across the Calgary campus, arm in arm, back to our offices after lunch, and squeezing my arm she said emphatically, “John, I can’t die in this country”. I knew in that moment that eventually we would have to move (back) to England.

The next episode in this part of the story came many years later, in 1995, long after I had retrained as a Harpsichord Maker and Josephine had qualified as a Jungian Psycho-Analyst. On a visit to Britain and on her way north to visit her aging aunt, she decided to go up to Scotland by travelling along the north-east coast. I was back at home on our acreage in the foothills of the Rockies, north-west of Calgary. The telephone rang, and within seconds of greeting each other, Josephine announced: “John, I’ve found the place where I can die!” In answer to my query about where she was, she answered that she had been in Whitby and had stood at Caedmon’s Cross, on the headland of Whitby Abbey! She had been forcibly struck by that part of the inscription which reads: “Caedmon, Father of English Sacred Song. Fell asleep hard by AD 680”. Where else, could she have been? I agreed to her proposal, on the condition that she deferred dying for as long as possible.

The following year we were back in the Whitby area looking for a house, and I remember driving up Lythe Bank for the first time and seeing St Oswald’s rise majestically above the hedgerow to our right and I was gripped by this commanding and beautiful church. Josephine, of course, had already seen it the year before and she too had had a similar experience on seeing it for the first time. In short, we found a house in Lythe, which, looking east, has an unimpeded view of St Oswald’s sitting on its headland with the sea behind, a wonderful compensation for the loss of seeing the Rockies from our acreage in the foothills. (A minor niggle on my part: Why did a Norman style church tower have a spire added to its solid square top?)

By this time in my life, I had increasingly lost interest in religious practice and for some years had stopped going to church altogether. Josephine’s attitude to religious belief and practice was much more differentiated, and much deeper. So, when she tried to persuade me to come to St Oswald’s, she more or less had to drag me in. My resistance was worn down partly because of my interest in the church building and its rich history, but even more by the welcome and warmth of its congregation, and their openness. The fact that it was a singing congregation was an additional boon. Thus, began my personal journey back to a richer and deeper Christian belief. And so we come to the Stones at St Oswald’s.

When we had become part of St Oswald’s congregation and I began to express an interest in the stones, my interest was met with encouragement by the Churchwardens, Sue Mason and Noel Casson. Noel, in particular, was very helpful because he had knowledge about the recent history of the stones, since he provided access to the Durham University Archaeological team, which had come some years before to identify and record the collection, and to photograph and draw the Viking Stones for Vol VI of the Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture. This remarkable study, edited by James Lang, was a major guide in identifying what had initially appeared to me as ‘a heap of stones’ in the SW corner of the tower base area, below the West Gallery. It also identified the smaller pieces which were laid out on a purpose-built wooden shelf along the north wall below the tower, and it confirmed what an earlier incumbent had written in his historical introduction to St Oswald’s.

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In addition to the ‘Viking Stones’ on display there were also a large number of Post Conquest Medieval stones in the modern crypt. Some of the larger Medieval pieces, were with the Viking collection, and there were additional stones, both Viking and Medieval, including the one complete hogback and the stone sarcophagus, and several other large pieces, in the churchyard, in the area toward the north boundary wall, almost level with the east end of the chancel. For a full description see the St Oswald’s Lythe Heritage Project brief (below).

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PROCESS

Contextual Research Following his impulse to understand more about the Lythe stones and to provide more on-site interpretation, Johannes Secker identified the expert on Lythe, Dr David Stocker (formerly of English Heritage, now Historic England), who he identifies as ‘the major source of inspiration for the whole project.’ Johannes writes: ‘He gave very generously of his time and his very extensive knowledge. Though unnamed on the list of contributors, from my perspective he was the most important support, particularly in the early stages. His historical grasp of Viking England is second to none.’

Planning Permission To establish the restrictions on the building, Johannes checked the English Heritage (now Historic England) listings, which revealed that St Oswald’s is a Grade 1 Listed Building. Susan Harrison, then of English Heritage, therefore oversaw the project.

The Church of England possesses Ecclesiastical Exemption from state planning processes for its functioning churches. This means that the Diocese is the primary forum for planning permission. Johannes identified Philip Thomas, then Secretary to the York Diocesan Advisory Committee, as a source of information: ‘[He] was an enthusiastic supporter of the whole project from the start and shepherded us through the Faculty process.’

Funding Almost by chance, Johannes was alerted to the fact that the National Park Authority had a pilot grants scheme, to which he successfully applied for funding to outsource the design of an exhibition. This was the foundation for a successful Heritage Lottery Fund application.

Tendering To identify a suitable company to design the exhibition, Johannes and his collaborators wrote a Project Brief (reproduced below): the successful response came from Dick Raines Design Ltd York. They worked with photographer John Potter and illustrators Peter Snowball and Lesley Collett.

Conservation To ensure correct conservation practices were followed, Johannes persuaded the York Archaeological Trust to become involved. Dr Richard Hall, the then Director, acted as an advisor to the whole project. Stuart Harrison catalogued all the medieval stones and provided a detailed descriptive Inventory which is kept with the collection.

8 PROJECT BRIEF

St Oswald’s Lythe Heritage Project

Overview

The Heritage Committee of St Oswald’s Lythe PCC, North Yorkshire, is proposing that a permanent interpretative display be created to exhibit the collection of sculptured stones found at this church. This brief aims to set out the requirements to tender for this project.

This is a local community initiative. The general aim is to conserve and secure the collection and to make it accessible to as wide an audience as possible. The exhibit is intended to be ‘autonomous’ in that is would not normally be manned.

Background of Carved Stone Collection

At the time of the Restoration of St Oswald’s in 1910-11 a large number of old carved stones were discovered: two are Anglo-Saxon, almost forty pieces are of Anglo- Scandinavian origin and there is a large number of post-Conquest Medieval pieces. The collection of Anglo-Scandinavian carvings is the largest known collection of its kind in Yorkshire and the North of England. In archaeological and historical terms they are deemed to be of national and international importance.

The two Anglo-Saxon pieces are evidence of a probable pre-Anglo-Scandinavian stone church. The Irish quality of the gable finial as well as the proximity of Whitby suggest that the church at Lythe may have been a cell of the Whitby estate at a time when the monastery at Whitby was strongly influenced by the Irish church through its connection with Lindisfarne (Lang, 167).

The 35 pieces of Anglo-Scandinavian carved stones and fragments of monuments are the heart of the collection. They date from the later 9th to the earlier 10th centuries. Although there are other collections at other churches on the North York Moors (e.g. Bursall and Brompton) the collection at Lythe is unparalled in number and scope. In brief they include the following:

 Six pieces of decorative cross shafts  Two cross heads  Five grave markers and fragments of three others  Fifteen hogback fragments (large pieces up to half a hogback in size)  Two hogbacks (incomplete)  One recumbent monument  One recumbent monument fragment

9 (The two Anglo-Saxon pieces and all the Anglo-Scandinavian pieces are catalogued, photographed and described in James Lang Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture, Vol. VI, Northern Yorkshire, The British Academy, OUP, 2001.)

The collection of medieval stones includes a piece of scalloped capital, a piece of upshaft capital with roll mouldings from a doorway, another piece of door moulding and damaged Norman tympanum (Vyner) as well as other pieces of major architectural value and interest including a corner support (?) with the carved figure of a Green Man. This part of the collection is clear evidence of a continuing ecclesiastical tradition at St. Oswald’s Lythe.

By themselves the Anglo-Scandinavian sculptured stones represent a unique collection in historical and archaeological terms. David Stocker has described them as constituting “one of the most important such collections in Europe”. James Lang has commented on their features as being peculiar to Lythe and, in noting the contrast with the Abbey site, which it vastly outnumbers in the number of pieces found, he speculates that, “Lythe was the principal cemetery for Viking-age settlements in the Whitby strand area.” The Anglo-Scandinavian collection in combination with the earlier Anglo-Saxon pieces and the Post Conquest Medieval pieces represent a rich and comprehensive heritage, possibly unrivalled.

To sum up. The two Anglo-Saxon pieces are evidence of a stone church pre-dating the post-Conquest church. The early date of the gable finial and the piece of door jamb has been used to support the hypothesis that this church was dedicated by Cuthbert to King Oswald (Cambridge, 141-3). The large number and character of the Anglo-Scandinavian sculptured stones clearly point to the importance of this ecclesiastical site during the period of Viking invasions and settlement. The collection of post-Conquest medieval stones, though not uniquely important, is evidence of a continuing ecclesiastical tradition at Lythe and of the continuing prominence of this particular church. The historical importance of this site is striking from a modern vantage point.

Present Location of Stone Collection

The sculptured stonework is to be found at three locations in and around the church and most of it has probably been unmoved in almost a century.

The majority of the Anglo-Scandinavian carvings along with some pieces of later stonework are to be found in the Tower Base area underneath the Western Gallery. The smaller pieces are laid out on a purpose built wooden shelf on the north wall and on the window sill in the south wall. The larger pieces are laid out on the stone floor at the back.

The remaining Anglo-Scandinavian pieces (aside from a largely complete hogback) are kept in the crypt, along with most of the Post Conquest Medieval architectural fragments. They are stacked on the foundation wall or leaning against it, along with and behind other diverse materials.

10 The last pieces are found outside in the churchyard more or less level with east end of the chancel and near the north perimeter wall: a largely complete hogback, a piece of window tracery and a stone tomb. The latter is cracked into three pieces.

Current Issues

The preservation of this collection is now a matter of urgency. Conservation, security and proper housing are necessary. A properly conceived interpretive display combined with adequate storage facility, would meet the needs of conservation and security.

It should be pointed out in this connection that in the course of the last 20 years or so three losses have been incurred: a shaft fragment (Lang #6, ills 484-487), a grave marker (Lang #16, ills 527) and a finial (Lang #37, ills 586) one of only two pre- Anglo-Scandinavian pieces which provide evidence for an earlier stone church on this site. Furthermore, in their present location at the back at the tower base, the stones are subject to constant accidental wear and tear. Finally, the pieces which remain in the churchyard to this present day are subject to constant erosion by the elements.

Currently the carved stone collection and the history it bears witness to are mostly neglected by the majority of visitors because there is no proper display and only minimal interpretation.

Aim

Firstly, to provide a permanent interpretive display of the total sculptured stone collection at St Oswald’s Church, illustrating the long and rich history of St Oswald’s and Lythe Village. The display needs to be effective and simple and above all to be in keeping with the character of the Church.

Secondly, since it may not be possible to display all the stones, secure and protective storage will have to be provided for the remainder. (See below, Guidelines for Proposals, pp5-8, for details)

Venue

St Oswald’s Church is dramatically situated above Lythe Bank, just east of Lythe Village. It has a commanding view of the sea and the sands stretching to Whitby, with a distant but clear view of Whitby Abbey with which it shares a history.

Display Area

The display would be located in the Tower Base area below the West Gallery at the back of the church. This is a compact and reasonably well lit area open to the nave but there is a natural sense of separation of this area from the main body of the church. The floor is raised 150 mm above the floor of the nave. The ceiling is

11 plastered panelled between oak beams. There is a narrow stained glass window in the west wall and there is a rather larger window in the south wall with a deep casement. Both the north and south wall have one monumental slab each.

There are two framed panels of photographs showing the church before, during and after the restoration. These could be incorporated into the display or relocated to the north wall of the nave near the choir vestry. There is a small oak display case in front of the shelf on the north wall with the Millennium Record Book. This will be moved elsewhere as will the large display board which stands lengthwise in the middle of the area. The horse drawn plough along the south wall will also be removed.

The crypt below the tower base will be cleared of the various items which have been stored there and will be equipped to store the pieces which cannot be displayed.

Audience

St Oswald’s has a large number of visitors throughout the year. On the basis of signatures in the visitor’s book it has been estimated that the number of visitors during the peak period, June – September, is 1200 -1500, of which 2/3 are non-local.

During the rest of the year the number of visitors would drop off but even if it only equalled the number during the summer months that would still give a total off somewhere on the order of 2400 – 3000.

There is an Open Door policy during daylight hours at St Oswald’s throughout the year (it is usually closed by 6:00pm during the summer) It is located just off the Cleveland Way –15min on foot and it is in close proximity to Whitby – approximately four miles by road. The Church is listed in the tourist guide “Historic Churches in Whitby and the Esk Valley”.

Lythe C of E School is closely connected to St Oswald’s with special school services and visits and thus it forms an important additional audience.

Our target audience for is to be as wide as possible. It would include disabled people, school parties, family parties, and so on. We would like to make the exhibit as exciting, interesting and accessible as possible. In addition to this mostly non-specialist audience we would also like to attract those with a special interest: students, professionals and keen amateur church historians, as well as visitors from abroad. The resource potential for educational institutions goes without saying.

Objective

The overall objective of the heritage project would be to focus on the unique early history of St Oswald’s and the village of Lythe, using the collection of Sculptured Stones as the central artefacts. The interpretive display would illustrate the history of this ecclesiastical site, linking the ancient Christian past with the present: from St

12 Cuthbert and St Oswald in the 7th century, through the Viking invasions of the 8th and 9th centuries, to the Post Conquest period and beyond.

Topics

 Early Christianity in Lythe and surrounding area.  The first stone church  A contemporary cemetery  The connection of the church at Lythe with Whitby Abbey  The presence of the Vikings and their impact on the region  The art of the Anglo-Scandinavian stone carver at Lythe  The stories of the stones and what they signify  The Post Conquest Church and its rich architectural history

GUIDELINES FOR PROPOSALS

The Display to consist of selected pieces arranged in three sections: Anglo-Saxon (i.e. pre-dating Anglo-Scandinavian), Anglo-Scandinavian and Post Conquest.

ANGLO-SAXON (2 pieces) . Anglo-Saxon pieces: only one extant now, #36 door jamb (Ills 593-6), but photograph(s) of missing piece is extant, #37 Finial, (Ill 586)

ANGLO-SCANDINAVIAN (19 pieces) . Selected decorative cross shaft pieces, #1a-b, 2a-b (Ills 463-6 and Ills 467-74) and 6, (Ills 484-7) and cross heads, #7 (Ills 488-92) and 8 (Ills 493-7) . Hogback stone from Churchyard, #29 (Ills 572-4), and one or two significant fragments of hogback, #17 (Ills 536-8), 19 (Ills 532-5), 25 (Ills 553-6) and 31 (Ills 557-9) . Some (2-3) pieces denoted as Gravemarkers, #9 (Ills 498-502) and 18 (Ills 539-41)

NB The pieces selected and the number of pieces selected can be altered to suit (refs by number and illustrations from James Lang CASSS VI).

Post Conquest (7 pieces) . Stone Tomb from Churchyard . Anglo-Norman Tympanum piece . Green Man Stone . Scalloped capitol piece . Piece of upshaft capitol with roll moulding . One or two other pieces of particular architectural interest & date (advice needed from Church historians)

The Hogback, # 29, the Stone Tomb and the Window Tracery Fragment are to be moved from their present location in the churchyard to their new locations inside the church and cleaned.

13 REMAINDER

The remainder of the collection to be stored on purpose built wooden shelves in the crypt and to be properly identified and numbered. New lighting is to be installed (on the shelving?) in such a way that the pieces are easily viewed. A wooden platform is to be constructed with additional lighting so stones can be examined more easily. The shelving and table to be arranged in such a way that this part of the collection can be accessible on selected occasions when required.

MODERN HISTORY . Some thought must be given to the historical gap between the end of the Medieval period and the 1910/1911 Restoration, if only to connect the early church to the present day one.

General Conditions . The display area must be wheelchair accessible by providing a ramp up to the raised floor level here. . Access to the crypt and bell tower via the door in the north wall of Tower Base Area to be kept free. . All pieces on display must be secured and effectively lit to highlight the particular features. . All items must be identified and described and the various sections of the collection are to be coherently related to each other by means of an overall theme/timeline. . Where pieces are ‘reconstructed’ with wood, the interlays should be fully three-dimensional. . Architectural pieces where possible are to be displayed as though in situ in reconstructed façade. . Photographs of non-selected pieces, or other photographs of similar pieces elsewhere, might be used to enhance the display. . The display in terms of colours, etc., should be in keeping with the character of the church. . The display will not normally be manned so should function effectively without attendants.

INTERPRETATIVE PAMPHLET We want to commission an interpretative pamphlet to be commissioned (possibly from Dr Richard Morris and David Stocker) giving a more detailed account of the collection and the history/archaeology of St Oswald’s Church aimed at those visitors who would like a fuller account of the collection.

AUDIO-VISUAL . We need professional advice and guidance on what is available and desirable in this area, keeping in mind the following: we want to make the exhibit as accessible as possible, but we don’t want technology or systems that would tend to interfere with other visitors. Furthermore, we need to think of maintenance and security of technology since normally the exhibit will not be manned.

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. There are certain items that we would like to list. We want a leaflet for visitors, in addition to the full interpretive pamphlet mentioned above, and we want a separate leaflet specifically designed for children of primary school age.

. We also want a CD to be produced including interpretive comment, pictures and where appropriate music. Its purpose would be akin to the Interpretive Pamphlet but directed at a more general audience.

. We also want a web-site to be set up so people can find out about the collection remotely. This would need to be done for us and we would need to allow for occasional updating of the site. Clearly we hope this would draw more visitors.

MAINTENANCE COSTS

We hope that monies raised by the sale of the Interpretative Pamphlet and the CD and other monies offered specifically at the exhibit will be sufficient to maintain the display over time and replace any damaged items; e.g. headsets or such like items.

15 EXHIBITION

The result of this story is a wonderful exhibition housed in the westernmost parts of the nave of St Oswald’s Church. A series of information boards provide information about the historical context, the discovery of the stones, their dates, and their possible significance. The text is accompanied by illustrating reconstructing a plausible original context for the stones as above ground recumbent grave markers with cross- shaped headstones set in a cemetery and possible colour schemes for the paint that probably once covered their surfaces. The stones themselves are mounted on freestanding wooden plinths with space on three or four sides to facilitate movement around them and the setting up of varied lighting arrangements for photography. The whole space is set out as a discrete exhibition space to leave the main body of the church – the chancel and nave – free for worship and prayer. A new website provides visitor information for the history of the church and advertises the exhibition, which is the source for the images below: http://www.stoswaldslythe.org.uk/Default.aspx

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