Length of wall incorporating the Bainbrigg Stones

Summary

Stone wall incorporating a C16 collection of inscribed stones.

Reasons for Designation

This stone wall of late-C19 date incorporating part of a late-C16 collection of inscribed stones, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* constructed of local red-sandstone, it was designed to preserve and display part of a late-C16 collection of stones by a notable C16 antiquarian.

Historic interest:

* for its historic association with Reginald Bainbrigg, a late-C16 antiquarian of national importance;
* the collection of inscribed stones provides insight into the nature of C16 antiquarianism and has the potential to contribute to our knowledge of Hadrian’s Wall as they include an original Roman altar piece, and copies of other Roman inscriptions.

Group value:

* it also benefits from a spatial group value with numerous other listed buildings in the vicinity including a late-C18 building thought to have served as a boarding house to the grammar school.

History

Reginald Bainbrigg (about 1545-1613) scholar and antiquarian, was headmaster of the grammar school at Appleby. He was one of the first to record the remains along Hadrian’s Wall, and his work brought him into contact with William Camden and other notable contemporary scholars. Bainbrigg recorded numerous inscribed Roman stones, some of which Camden printed in the 1607 edition of Britannia. It is understood that Bainbrigg took some Roman inscriptions back to Appleby, made copies of others and even erected contemporary inscriptions in Latin. It is understood that most of his collection was housed in his school house garden at the grammar school. In 1887 the school moved to a new site, and we understand that the stones were moved from the grammar school and incorporated into a stone wall on the opposite side of Chapel Street known as the Broadclose wall. The stones are fully described in a chapter of Archaeology of the Roman Empire in 2001.

Details

Stone wall incorporating a C16 collection of inscribed stones.

DESCRIPTION: a length of low red sandstone wall standing about six courses high with flat coping stones, forming the boundary between a sports field and Chapel Street. The wall incorporates some of Reginald Bainbrigg’s late-C16 collection of inscribed stones. There are 16 stones in total including four identified as late-C16 copies of Roman inscriptions (Roman Inscriptions of Britain (RIB): 998; RIB 2285; RIB 1202 and one now lost) and six late-C16 inscriptions made for Bainbrigg in the Roman style. Two others are considered to be copies of Roman stones but have no inscriptions. One is generally accepted to be an original altar from Whellep Castle, Kirby Thore (RIB 759) with a dedication to Belatucadrus. The remaining three stones are of indeterminate origin.

Sources

Books and journals
Collingwood, R J, Wright, R P, Roman Inscriptions of Britain, Volume 1 The Inscriptions on Stone, (1956)

Websites
ODNB entry for Reginald Bainbrigg by Angus J L Winchester, accessed 08-07-2020 from https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/1084
Notes on Reginald Bainbrigg of Appleby by F Haverfield TCWAA 2nd series 11, 1911 343-78, accessed 08-07-2020 from https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-2055-1/dissemination/pdf/Article_Level_Pdf/tcwaas/002/1911/vol11/tcwaas_002_1911_vol11_0023.pdf

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