The documentary evidence relating to the foundation and early history of the almshouse founded by William Brown at Stamford is somewhat extensive and contradictory. The project was in hand towards the end of Edward IV's reign: an undated petition for letters patent for licence to establish the almshouse is extant, wherein reference is made to its chapel as being ‘lately built’. There is no record of this petition having been presented. However, on 27 January 1485 William Brown was authorized by letters patent to found and endow the almshouse. Here again the chapel and other houses and buildings are referred to as ‘newly built’. William Brown and his wife Margaret both died in 1489. The management of the hospital then passed to Thomas Stokke, brother of Margaret Brown. He obtained fresh letters patent from Henry VII on 28th November 1493. The text of these letters patent contradicts the licence of 1485 as it states: ‘Whereas William Browne of Staunford, county Lincoln, one of the Staple of Calais, had proposed to build a chapel and houses in the town of Staunford for divers chaplains and poor of both sexes for an almshouse, but was prevented by death, licence for Thomas Stokke, clerk, the brother of Dame Margaret Browne, relict of the said William Browne and executrix of the will of the said William, to found an almshouse at Staunford aforesaid, (etc.)’. The chapel was consecrated on 22nd December 1494 and Thomas Stokke issued the Statutes for the management of the hospital on 9th October 1495.

On 29th March 1770, Sir Joseph Ayloffe, Vice-President of the Society of Antiquaries, read a learned paper to his colleagues on a painting, then at Windsor Castle and now preserved at Hampton Court, depicting the interview of June 1520 between Henry VIII and Francis I at the Field of Cloth of Gold. Ayloffe presented a long and minutely circumstantial account of the painting, which, in view of the considerable deterioration of the canvas over the last 200 years, is of inestimable value for details concerning colour and design. He also compared the painting with such documentary evidence as was available at the time, and concluded that it was an accurate representation of major features of the Anglo-French interview. Since Ayloffe's time a mass of contemporary descriptive source material has come to light, and it has even been thought that the profusion of seemingly inconsistent details relating to the Field of Cloth of Gold renders impossible any attempt to reconcile the documentary records either one with another or with the pictorial representation. However, a close examination of the sources reveals several fundamental consistencies which enable us to reconstruct, with reasonable certitude, both the scene and the events at the Field of Cloth of Gold: and this synthesis may be used to check the value and authenticity of the Hampton Court painting as an historical document.

The Alfred jewel, found in 1693 in Newton Park near the Island of Athelney in Somerset, now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, is one of the most famous pieces of late Saxon jewellery. It is an intriguing object which has never been satisfactorily explained. The main facts and theories about it are conveniently summarized in the booklet by Miss Joan Kirk (now Mrs. J. R. Clarke) published by the Ashmolean Museum. This present note is mainly concerned with the use of the Alfred jewel and the Minster Lovell jewel, an object of similar character also described in Miss Kirk's booklet, and with the interpretation of the human figure contained in the Alfred jewel.

This report covers the excavation of a pottery kiln producing fine Cistercian wares at a date close to 1500. The coal-fired kiln has six flues. The pottery was fired in large, coarsely made saggars and was remarkable for the wide colour range exhibited. The kiln was situated in the front garden of Potterton Grange Farm and this meant that the area available for investigation was limited.