Symbolic perception of the church door in early English exegetical writings and in medieval liturgical practice is illustrated and discussed as the wider context of a proposal that the arched iron strip at the top of the twelfth-century church door at Stillingfleet, North Yorkshire, represents the rainbow of Noah's Flood, perceived as a reminder ofjudgement past and of judgement still to come, and as a symbol of the covenant between God and humanity. The possibility is considered that on other surviving early medieval church-doors too, the rainbow shape, even if primarily functional or dictated by the shape of the door-opening, and notwithstanding the absence of other figural imagery, may have been recognized as an emblem of the covenant, basis of all church-sanctioned contracts, aptly dislayed on the threshold—where various liturgical or other formal actions had their setting—of the sacred spaces of the domus dei.

The palace at Mirepoix (Ariege), erected by Bishop Philippe de Lévis in the 1520s, still stands today at the west end of the cathedral, its two-storey chapel and offices intact. With its original room layout still easily discernible, it is a unique survivor for its period, offering more information about the domestic arrangements of a bishop than can be deduced from the palaces at either Rouen or AIM. This paper proposes that a set of carved panelling, which for the past 150 years has found shelter in a Scottish baronial mansion, was almost certainly made for the gallery of the Mirepoix palace. A closely reasoned physical argument for this claim is adduced. The work is analysed and discussed in terms of its subject matter, function and style. An attempt is made to put it into the context of early Renaissance art in south-west France, the Loire valley and northern Italy. Its unique significance for the study of the early French Renaissance will become apparent. Finally, the monument's intriguing post-Revolutionary afterlife contributes important new information about the mechanisms of European and British nineteenth-century antiquarianism.

It will be in the recollection of the Society that on the appearance of the first volume of the “History of Caesar ” by the Emperor Napoleon, the Council took occasion to express to His Imperial Majesty their high esteem for the learning and ability and the power of antiquarian investigation which that work displays. The wish, which at the same time they took the liberty of stating, that we might be allowed the honor of adding His Majesty's name to our list of Fellows, received a gracious response, and we have now, as you are aware, the great gratification to see the Sovereign of France enrolled among us as a Royal Fellow.

In the course of last year I was concerned, together with Mr. R. J. Whitwell, in publishing in Archaeologia Aeliana a particularly detailed account of the construction of a galley at Newcastle-upon- Tyne in 1295. The building of this vessel was part of an extensive naval programme due to the war with France begun in the previous year. Although I was able to trace the accounts of many of the vessels built on this occasion, I failed to find those of the two galleys which the City of London was directed to furnish. Quite recently, I came upon the full particulars of the building of the second of these among the ‘Sheriffs' Administrative Accounts’ at the Public Record Office, which are a subdivision of the class of ‘Accounts, etc.’, formed from the ancient miscellanea of the King's Remembrancer of the Exchequer. With this detailed account I found a summary of expenses prepared from it, and a similar summary of the expenses of some repairs done at the same time and place to two barges. In the similar subdivision entitled ‘Works ’ was a like summary of the expenses of construction of the first galley. The accounts which I had previously found had been classified as ‘Army and Navy’, but the circumstances that in London the sheriffs were responsible for the expenses had led to these accounts being separated from those of the other vessels.

In late 1996 a heraldic parcel-gilt badge (fig 1) was found during a metal detecting rally by Mr Martin Hay of Horley, Surrey, in a field just to the north of Chelsham Court Farm, near Chelsham, Surrey (National Grid Ref: TQ 388 586). The badge was subsequently brought by Mr David Williams of Reigate, Surrey, to the Department of Medieval and Later Antiquities at the British Museum for identification. It was established that the find had been made on land belonging to Earl Compton of Castle Ashby, Northamptonshire. The Chelsham estate was acquired by the Sixth Marquess of Northampton in 1943 and passed on via family Trustees to The Earl Compton in 1994. As this single find was made before the Treasure Act came into force on 24 September 1997, it does not qualify as Treasure under the terms of the new legislation. As a casual loss under the old regulations of Treasure Trove, ownership of the object was claimed by the landowner who has generously agreed to lend it to the British Museum for display purposes.

I have once more to thank you for the renewal of your confidence and to express my intention of continuing to serve the interests of the Society with such ability as I possess. There never was a period when our work was more necessary, for the destruction brought by peace is even greater than the destruction wrought by war on the visible evidence of past history. The excavation of sites before they are built over or used for other purposes is a matter of constant urgency. The destruction of country houses no longer required for their original purpose must be controlled. But as our material becomes restricted, the increasing knowledge which we acquire through research throws ever more light on the past. The task of this Society, and it has never been pursued with greater zeal, is the dissemination and enlargement of our knowledge of the cultures of the past of all dates and in all lands.

Surprisingly little attention has been paid by scholars of Henry VIII to the heraldic ceiling of the Chapel Royal in St James's Palace (fig. 1). Study of its decoration has fallen somewhere in between surveys of Tudor architecture and painting. In this article specific problems relating to the ceiling will be addressed: when it was made, the iconography, the reasons for the iconography, the visual source of the ceiling and how it was transmitted, and who made it. The ceiling warrants attention because its programme of Henrician heraldry is a key to the understanding of the political iconography of the Royal Supremacy. In addition, the ceiling's dependence on a contemporary Italian architectural treatise for its design is unusual for its time.

The most copious and important finds from the famous Iron Age cemetery at Hallstatt were excavated by J. G. Ramsauer between 1846 and 1863. Doubts have been expressed about the validity of grave associations accepted on his authority. This paper discusses some of the evidence that is available for assessing Ramsauer's methods of excavation and recordings and for establishing valid grave associations. Key documents are a series of manuscript accounts of the excavations, the ‘Protokolle’ (one of which was presented to the Library of the Society of Antiquaries), and a later working catalogue which survives in the Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna.

Early in March this year, shepherds reported to the Forest Department that they had found a cave, with paintings, on the ancient site of Salamis, Famagusta District. This information was passed to the Museum, for whom I inspected the place. All that was then visible was a large hole in the sand, about 15 ft. deep and 6 ft. wide, which led into a narrow shaft opening on to a round chamber; this was full, nearly to the top, with sand and rubbish. The paintings and upper inscriptions (pl. XI, 2) were all visible, and it was possible to crawl through to the second chamber, which was practically clear.

Le sol de l'ancienne civitas Elusatium, aujourd'hui Eauze dans le département du Gers, a à plusieurs reprises rendu au jour des objets antiques. Il y a deux ans y a été recueilli notamment l'anneau de bronze émaillé, de forme ovoïde, reproduit ci-dessous, de 3 centimètres et demi environ de diamètre maximum, dont la décoration se détache en rouge sur fond champlevé.