In memory of our much-missed friend and inspiration, The British Archaeological Association will be holding a conference to celebrate our former secretary on 12-14 December 2025.
The conference opens for registration at 12.30pm on Friday 12 December at Rewley House, 1 Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JA. The President’s Welcome and Introduction will be at just before the first lecture at 2 pm. Tea & coffee refreshments will be served during the lectures and a buffet lunch will be provided on Saturday and Sunday in addition to dinner on two evenings. The conference will also include an evening reception.
⚠️ Please note: The conference is now fully booked!
Conference Programme
Friday 12th December 2025
12:30–13:50 Registration open at Rewley House for collection of programme and badges
13:50–14:00 Richard Plant:Welcome and Introduction
Panel 1: 14:00-15.30
Chair: Manuel Castiñeiras
- 14:00–14:25: Eric Fernie, John McNeill and the Study of the Romanesque
- 14:25–14:50: Gerhard Lutz, A Crucifixus dolorosus in the Cleveland Museum of Art and Art Around 1300.
- 14:50–15:15: Tom Nickson, Alcobaça and Las Huelgas: Forms and Functions in Cistercian cloisters in Iberia
- 15:15–15.30: Questions/Discussion
15.30-16:00 Tea/Coffee Break
Panel 2: 16:00–17:55
Chair: Julian Luxford
- 16:00–16:25: Alexandrina Buchanan, Change title to: The Secretaries of the BAA to c.1900
- 16:25–16:50: Richard Halsey, ‘Few are run of the mill’, the late 12th-Century Capitals of Oxford Cathedral
- 16:50–17:15: Lloyd De Beer, Solomon in the Crypt: Romanesque Reuse and Gothic Intervention at Canterbury Cathedral
- 17:15–17:40: pm: Barbara Franzé, The Müstair paintings: Images, power and society under Charlemagne
- 17:40–17:55: Questions/Discussion
18:00–18:50: Drinks Reception, Rewley House
19:00: Dinner at Rewley House for speakers and pre-booked guests
Saturday 13th December 2025
Panel 3: 9:45–10:50
Chair: Linda Monckton
- 9.45–10:10: Nicola Coldstream, “Sweet Thames run Softly”: London Bridge and the building of St Stephen’s chapel, Westminster
- 10:10–10:35: Fernando Gutiérrez Baños, Understanding the unveiled: a 14th-century Castilian tabernacle-altarpiece in the Wellcome Collection
- 10:35–10:50: Questions/Discussion
10:50–11:00: Anna Eavis, John McNeill and the BAA
11:00-11:30: Tea/Coffee Break
Panel 4: 11:30–12:30
Chair: John Goodall
- 11:30–11:55: Arturo Carlo Quintavalle, Willigelmo and Roman art
- 11.55–12:20: David Robinson, The English Augustinian Canons and their Relic-Cults
- 12:20–12:30: Questions/Discussion
12:30–13:30: Lunch Break, Rewley House
Panel 5: 13:30–15:00
Chair: Alexandrina Buchanan
- 13:30–13:55: Costanza Beltrami, Unexpected Connections: Making Sense of Spanish Gothic in 19th-Century London and Beyond
- 13.55–14:20: Zoe Opačić and Alexandra Gajewski, The Pope and the Emperor: constructing a ruler’s city in the fourteenth century
- 14:20–14:45: Alison Perchuk, Romanesque Los Angeles
- 14:45–15:00: Questions/Discussion
15:00–15:30: Tea/Coffee Break
Panel 6: 15:30-17:00
Chair: Ute Engel
- 15:30–15:55: Richard Gem, St Benedict at Fleury: the Tomb and Shrine of the Saint, 9th to 11th Centuries
- 15:55–16:20: Sally Dormer, Thoughts on Some Fragments of Romanesque Sculpture in Abbotsbury Dorset
- 16:20–16:45: Marcello Angheben, Devotional uses of Pre-Conquest English Manuscripts: the visual expression of the aspiration to see God in the Tiberius Psalter
- 16:45–17:00: Questions/Discussion
19:00: Dinner at Rewley House for speakers and pre-booked guests
Sunday 14th December 2025
Panel 7: 10:00–11:30
Chair: Richard Gem
- 10:00–10:25: Verónica Abenza, The Western Reception of Transcultural Objects: a Matter of Reuse or Recycling?
- 10:25–10:50: Rosa Bacile, The Use of Spolia in the Abbey of SS Trinita’, Venosa, 11th-12th Centuries
- 10:50–11:15: John Munns, How Norman is the Norman Chapel in Durham Castle?
- 11:15–11:30: Questions/Discussion
11:30–12:00 Tea/coffee Break
Panel 8: 12:00–13:00
Chair: Heather Gilderdale Scott
- 12:00–12:25: Róisín Astell, Gendered Boundaries: Women as Antithesis and Exemplar in an early-fourteenth-century English Illuminated Manuscript
- 12:25–12:50: Julian Luxford, The Black Book of the Exchequer
- 12:50–13:00: Questions/Discussion
13:00–14:00: Lunch Break, Rewley House
Panel 9: 14:00–15:00
Chair: Jeremy Ashbee
- 14:00–14:25: John Goodall, The North Transept façade of Merton College Chapel
- 14:25–14:50: Øystein Ekroll, Corbels and chess pieces. A new contribution to the discussion about the origin of the Lewis chess pieces
- 14:50–15:00: Questions/Discussion
15.00–15:30: Tea/Coffee Break
Panel 10: 15:30-16:30
Chair: Richard Plant
- 15:30–15:55: Sandy Heslop, Celebrating the Resurrection in Medieval Norwich
- 15:55–16:20: Neil Stratford, Vézelay, Avallon et al.
- 16:20–16:30: Questions/Discussion
16:30–16:45: Manuel Castiñeiras: Closing Remarks
Conference Convenor: Richard Plant; Conference Secretary: Kate Milburn & Assistant Secretary: Ann Hignell.
This conference has been made possible by a generous donation from Tim and Geli Harris to whom the Association is very grateful.