Whithorn's Early Medieval Sculptured Stones

威索恩被称为“苏格兰基督教的摇篮”，是苏格兰最早的基督教手工艺品的所在地，这是5世纪的“拉丁人”铭刻的石碑。它以与圣尼年的联系而闻名，是英国早期基督教的主要中心之一。英国修道院在爱尔兰以圣徒学校而闻名，在7世纪被取代，当时惠索恩成为诺森布里亚主教团的所在地和朝圣中心。20世纪80年代和90年代的重大考古发掘重新揭示了它在诺森布里亚时期和随后的北欧时代作为一个重要而富有的制造和贸易中心的角色。这些阶段的每一个阶段都在惠桑的雕塑记录中留下了痕迹。这里有来自惠桑的关于的纪念碑，还有17座来自附近的圣尼年洞穴，还有大约30件具有独特的惠桑学派风格的作品，这些作品在当地其他地方找到，但几乎可以肯定是在惠桑的一个作坊里制作的。这一大型早期基督教雕塑收藏，是英国最重要的雕塑之一，以包括几个拉丁文和盎格鲁文的铭文而闻名。材料的年代范围从5世纪到12世纪/不列颠群岛最长的连续序列/然而在这个范围内，几乎90%的纪念碑可以追溯到一个狭窄的年代：10世纪和11世纪。这恰好是完全缺乏关于惠桑的历史文献的时期，因此，尽管这座雕塑在所有时期都提供了与其他形式的证据相抗衡的重要力量，但在这个后期，它对我们理解惠桑的发展至关重要。在地区性方面，德里克·克雷格出版的《惠桑学派》雕塑作品展示了主要教会中心与其附属机构、世俗与教会权威之间的权力关系。由于它包含了非常独特的当地风格的单个作坊的大量近乎当代的纪念碑，惠索恩收藏提供了一个前所未有的机会来分析雕塑生产的组织和技艺的传递。我对惠索恩早期铭刻纪念碑的工作导致我作为学术顾问参与了苏格兰历史博物馆(HS)的一个大型项目，以保护和重新展示惠索恩雕塑。我在这个项目上花了18个月的时间，在一个创新的工作安排(2003-4)。我能够借鉴德里克·克雷格之前未发表的关于起源和风格的著作，以及新委托的地质学专家报告和符文铭文。除了整理现有资料外，我还贡献了大量自己的原创工作，包括进一步研究出处和历史背景，以及对十字形、装饰和铭文的分析。结果是一份提交给HS的未发表的研究报告，这构成了他们解释策略的基础。我还为博物馆的展板提供了文本，并为视听翻译提供了脚本。该博物馆于2005年7月开放，代表了这项研究的广泛传播。然而，至关重要的是，它以学术出版物的形式结出了进一步的成果。我打算利用我的研究假期完成一个来自惠索恩及其腹地的中世纪早期雕塑语料库。我得到了利益相关机构的支持，也得到了包括克雷格博士在内的专家贡献者的同意。HS将提供照片和图纸，并承诺提供出版赠款。基础研究已经到位，我的任务将是将已经收集的原材料收集起来，并以目录形式呈现出来。导言章节的大部分分析和框架已经存在于我未发表的报告中。由于该项目到目前为止进展顺利，我相信剩余的工作能够在拟议的时间范围内完成。

Whithorn is known as the 'cradle of Scottish Christianity' and is home to the earliest Christian artefact from Scotland, the fifth century 'Latinus' inscribed stone. Famous for its connection with St Ninian, it was one of the key centres of early Christianity in Britain. The British monastery, renowned in Ireland as a school for saints, was superseded in the seventh century when Whithorn became the seat of a Northumbrian bishopric and a centre of pilgrimage. Major archaeological excavations in 1980s and 90s threw new light on its role as an important and wealthy manufacturing and trading centre in this Northumbrian period and in the subsequent Norse era.Each of these phases has left its trace in the sculptural record at Whithorn. There are about 64 monuments from Whithorn itself, a further 17 from a nearby eremitic site, St Ninian's Cave, and about 30 pieces in a distinctive 'Whithorn School' style found elsewhere in the local region but almost certainly produced in a workshop at Whithorn itself. This large collection of early Christian sculpture, one of the most significant in Britain, is notable for including several inscriptions, in both Latin and in Anglian runes. The material ranges in date from the 5th to 12th centuries/the longest continuous sequence in the British Isles/yet within this range almost 90% of the monuments date to a narrow chronological period: the 10th and 11th centuries. This happens to be the period when historical documentation for Whithorn is entirely lacking and so, while the sculpture provides an important counterweight to other forms of evidence in all periods, in this later period it is crucial to our understanding of Whithorn's development. In regional terms, Derek Craig's published work on the 'Whithorn School' sculpture has shown how it manifests relationships of power between a major ecclesiastical centre and its dependants, and between secular and ecclesiastical authorities. Because it includes an exceptionally large number of near contemporary monuments from a single workshop in a highly distinctive local style, the Whithorn collection presents an unprecedented opportunity to analyse the organisation of sculpture production and the transmission of skills.My work on the early inscribed monuments from Whithorn led to my involvement as academic consultant to Historic Scotland (HS) on a major project to conserve and re-display the Whithorn sculpture. I spent 18 months on the project in an innovative working arrangement (2003-4). I was able to draw on previous unpublished work by Derek Craig on provenance and style, and on newly commissioned specialist reports on geology, and runic inscriptions. In addition to marshalling existing data I contributed substantial original work of my own, including further work on provenance and historical context, and analysis of cross form, decoration and inscriptions. The result was an unpublished research report to HS which formed the basis of their interpretative strategy. I also provided text for panels in the museum and script for audio-visual interpretation. The museum opened in July 2005 and represents the popular dissemination of this research. It is vital, however, that it bear further fruit in the form of an academic publication. I propose to spend my research leave completing a corpus of the early Medieval Sculpture from Whithorn and its hinterland. I have the support of stakeholder institutions and agreement from specialist contributors, including Dr Craig. HS will provide photographs and drawings and have pledged a publication grant. The basic research is already in place, and my task will be to draw together the raw material already gathered and present it in catalogue format. Much of the analysis and the framework for the introductory chapters exists already in my unpublished report. Because the project is thus far advanced I am confidentthat the remaining work can be completed within the proposed time-scale.