Piscina featuring bishops, 13th/14th century
/Piscina featuring bishops
13th/14th century
December 20, 2021
An elaborate stone piscina was recently discovered reused as a garden feature at a local property in the Precinct.
The Cathedral Archaeologist Graham Keevill recently identified four fragments of a stone basin or piscina (used to dispose of water during services), reused as a garden feature at a property in Crow Lane within the Cathedral Precinct.
The fragments reconstructed represent most of the forward relief, featuring four bishops holding croziers, three in mitres and one sporting a tonsure (surely Paulinus and Ithamar, and perhaps Bishop John and the Benedictine Gundulf?).
An initial geological assessment has identified the stone as a calcareous sandstone (quartz grains in a calcite matrix).
Identification of the provenance of this highly decorated item is ongoing. It is possible the basin formed part of the paraphernalia of the high altar and shrines to Saint Paulinus and Ithamar located within the Presbytery.
Jacob Scott
extracts from 2021 dissertation
submitted for Archaeology & Heritage MA
