Professor Jane Hawkes

Research

Overview

Jane's interest in the cultural cross-currents of the Insular world have involved her in a number of international research projects devoted to the art of that region and its links with Europe and Byzantium in the early medieval period. These include:

• Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture: Ongoing. A project based at the University of Durham, which has been set up to identify, record and publish in a consistent format, the earliest English sculpture dating from the 7th to 11th centuries. It currently involves the work of more than twenty researchers from across England, Scotland and Wales, whose scholarship is published in regional catalogues of the individual monuments, fully illustrated by scaled photographs and accompanied by general discussion of their relationships and significance, with full bibliographic references. In addition to being on the Board of this Project, Jane is currently involved researching the sculptural remains from Derbyshire and Staffordshire for the volume of that region.
• Christianity and Culture: Ongoing. An international research, teaching and leadership project based at York, and St John's College, Nottingham. It seeks to explore and explain one of the most important influences of Western architectural history and literature through publications (CD-ROMs and books) and regular international conferences.
• The Latin Bible: Text and Reception: Completed. A project that was devoted to the text and reception of the Latin Bible in medieval and early Renaissance Europe.
• Text and Image: Completed. A research project which was devoted to the compilation of a digitised annotated archive of images in all media that were produced in Ireland and Britain during the early Middle Ages (the 6th-12th centuries) to provide a localised resource of data necessary for scholars working in the related areas of visual and textual studies of the Insular world.
• Sources for Insular Studies: Cultural Cross-Currents in the Middle Ages - Ireland, Britain, Europe: Completed. A research project that was devoted to the compilation of the primary sources necessary for the study of the Insular world.

In addition to these projects, Jane's research has resulted in a number of publications on the art and sculpture of Anglo-Saxon England and early Christian Ireland, primarily from the point of view of its iconographic significances – both in terms of the motifs and images displayed on the artifacts and monuments and, in the case of the sculpture, in terms of the monuments themselves as constructs within the physical and imagined landscapes of the Insular world. 

She has written an introductory book on the material culture of Anglo-Saxon Northumbria, entitled The Golden Age of Northumbria, and an iconographic case study of the Anglo-Saxon monuments at Sandbach in Cheshire (The Sandbach Crosses: Sign and Significance in Anglo-Saxon England), has edited essays from two conference proceedings, Northumbrian Golden Age (1996), and Making Histories (2013), and co-edited an exhibition on Constantine, York's Roman Emperor (2006). Her current work involves a book on the historiography of Anglo-Saxon sculpture, and a volume on the iconography of the pre-Viking sculpture of Anglo-Saxon England. 

Other interests include the representation and recreation of early medieval monuments in the 19th and 20th centuries in the art and architecture of Ireland and England.

Research group(s)

• Sculptural Studies
• Medieval Art and Medievalisms
• British Art
• Architectural History and Theory

Grants

• British Academy Research Development Award (2008 to 2009)
• Department of History of Art, Pump Priming Fund (2007)

Collaborators

• Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture (University of Durham)
  Prof. Rosemary Cramp
• Christianity and Culture Project (University of York)
  Dr Dee Dyas

Available PhD research projects

Jane would welcome enquiries from anyone interested in undertaking post-graduate research in these and related areas. York and its environs are particularly rich in Anglo-Saxon sites and material culture, the most visible of which are the sculpture and ecclesiastical architecture, while the Centre for Medieval Studies provides a base for scholars and researchers working in disciplines complementary to all aspects of the study of Anglo-Saxon art. 

The Department of History of Art is also developing a growing reputation as a centre for research in Medieval Revivals, of which Jane is a part with students currently working in this area at doctoral level (see students).

Local library resources, in addition to the University and Minster libraries, include access to the British Library Documents Supply Centre at Boston Spa, and a collection of local antiquarian journals in the library of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne. 

Supervision

PhD Theses (Centre for Medieval Studies, York)

Awarded

• N. Baker, The Evangelists in Early Medieval European Culture. Jointly supervised with Guy Halsall (Department of History), awarded 2012
• L. Izzi, Early Christian Rome and Anglo-Saxon England. Jointly supervised with Katy Cubitt (Department of History), AHRC funded, awarded 2010
• M. Reed, Scandinavian Sculpture and Material Culture in East Anglia. Jointly supervised with Julian Richards (Department of Archaeology), York Scholarship, awarded 2009.
• C. Maddern, The Northumbrian name stones of early Christian Anglo-Saxon England. Jointly supervised with Katy Cubitt (Department of History), awarded 2008.
• N. Ramirez, The Symbolic Life of Birds in Anglo-Saxon Art and Literature. Jointly supervised with Mary Garrison (Department of History), AHRC-funded, awarded 2006.
• K. Meyer, Iconography of Pictish sculpture. Jointly supervised with Martin Carver (Department of Archaeology), ORS funded, awarded 2005.

PhD Theses (Department of History of Art, York)

In progress

• E. Alexander, Visualising the Old Testament in Anglo-Saxon England.
• M. Herman, An Art of Transition: Anglo-Saxon Art from the sixth to the eighth centuries.
• E. Jackson, Art of the Irish Pocket Gospel Books (AHRC-funded).
• C. Jobbins, The Iconography of the Angelic in Early Christian Anglo-Saxon Art (c. 600-900).
• L. Smith, Waterways and White Gold: The Ivories of Anglo-Saxon England (c. 500-1066).
• H. Stoner, Representing Power and Majesty in Anglo-Saxon England.

Awarded

• H. Stirrup, Colour, Paint And Gold: The Materiality of English Manuscript Illumination in the Twelfth Century, awarded 2013.
• M. Boulton, Conceptualisations of Sacred Space in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria in the Sixth to Ninth Centuries. (AHRC-funded), awarded 2013.
• M. Denton, Style and the Anglo-Saxon arts of 7th- and 8th-century Northumbria. (AHRC-funded), awarded 2013.
• E. McCormick, Casts, Catalogues and Curators: Acquisition and Display of Early Medieval Sculpture in National Museums, c.1850 to 1950. Jointly supervised with Michael White (Department of History of Art), awarded 2010.
• M. Skoblar, 'Sermons in Stone': Eleventh-century Sculpture in Croatia (University of York Teaching Scholarship), awarded 2011.

Publications

Selected publications

•  Making Histories: Proceedings of the Sixth International Insular Art Conference (Donnington: Shaun Tyas, 2013)

• Constantine the Great: York’s Roman Emperor : exhibition catalogue edited with E. Hartley and M. Henig (London: Lund Humphreys, 2006). Short-listed for The Art Newspaper and AXA Art Award for the Best Exhibition Catalogue Published by Art Institutions in the UK and Ireland. Includes: “The Anglo-Saxon Legacy,” pp. 104-14; and catalogue entries on early Christian ivory and carvings at Dewsbury (Yks) and Reculver (Kent), pp. 227; 247-52

• The Sandbach Crosses: Sign and Significance in Anglo-Saxon Sculpture (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2002)

• Northumbria’s Golden Age, edited with S. Mills (Stroud: Sutton Publishers, 1999). Includes: “Northumbrian Sculpture: Questions of Context,” pp. 204-215

• The Golden Age of Northumbria: exhibition publication on the art, history and material culture of Anglo-Saxon Northumbria (Newcastle upon Tyne: Tyne and Wear Museum Services, 1996).

Full publications list

Articles in journals

• Gathering Fruit at Ingleby. An Early Medieval Sculptural Fragment from Ingleby, Derbyshire, Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 163 (2010): 1-15.
• An Anglo-Saxon Carving at Skipwith, East Yorkshire, Archaeological Journal, 81 (2009): 440-9.
• The Lichfield Angel: a spectacular Anglo-Saxon painted sculpture, with W. Rodwell, R. Cramp and E. Howe, Antiquaries Journal, 88 (2008): 1-60.
• The Church Triumphant: the Masham Column and the art of the Church in ninth-century Anglo-Saxon England, Hortus Artium Medievalium, 8 (2002): 337-48.
• John the Baptist and the Agnus Dei: Ruthwell (and Bewcastle) Re-visited, with É. Ó Carragáin, The Antiquaries Journal, 81 (2001): 131-54.
• The Rothbury Cross: an Iconographic Bricolage, Gesta, 35 (1996): 73-90.
• The Wirksworth Slab: an Iconography of Humilitas, Peritia, 9 (1995): 246-89.
• The Miracle Scene on the Rothbury Cross, Archaeologia Aeliana, 17 (1989): 208-10. 

Conference proceedings

• Wilfrid: Carving Contemplation, in N. Higham (ed.), Wilfrid: Bishop, Abbot, Saint (Donnington: Shaun Tyas, 2013): 124-35
• Stones of the North: Sculpture in Northumbria in the “Age of Bede”, in J. Ashbee and J. Luxford (eds), Northumberland: Medieval Art and Architecture, BAA Conference Transactions (Leeds: Maney Publishing, 2013): 34-53
• Design and Decoration: Revisualising Rome in Anglo-Saxon Sculpture, in C. Bolgia, R. McKitterick and J. Osborne (eds), Rome Across Time and Space. Cultural Transmission and the Exchange of Ideas, c. 500-1400 (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2011): 201-21
• Superabundance and Disorder: Ruskin’s ‘Two Great Evils’ and the Church of St Mary, Studley Royal,in J. Edwards and I. Hart (eds), Rethinking the Interior, c.1867-1896. Aestheticism and Arts and Crafts (London: Ashgate Press, 2010): 41-66
• The Church Triumphant: the Figural Columns of Early Ninth Century Anglo-Saxon England, in H. Hamerow and L. Webster (eds), Shaping Understanding: Form and Order in the Anglo-Saxon World, 400-1100, Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History, 16 (Oxford, 2009): 29-42
• Studying Early Christian Sculpture in England and Ireland: the Object of Art History or Archaeology,in J. Graham-Campbell and M. Ryan (eds), Anglo-Saxon / Irish Relations before the Vikings (London: British Academy, 2009), pp. 397-408.
• Programmes of Salvation: the Iconography of the Crosses of Iona, in H. Damico and C. Karkov (eds), Aedifico Nova: Studies in Honour of Rosemary Cramp (Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Press, 2008), pp. 198-225.
• “Viewed through a glass darkly: the questionable movements of art in Anglo-Saxon England,” in P. Horden (ed.), Freedom of Movement in the Middle Ages (Donnington: Paul Watkins Publishing, Harlaxton Medieval Studies 25, 2007), pp. 19-36.
• “W.G. Collingwood and Anglo-Saxon Sculpture: Art History or Archaeology,” in R. Moss (ed.), Making and Meaning in Insular Art (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2007), pp. 259-75.
• “Figuring Salvation: an Excursus into the Iconography of the Iona Crosses,” in S. Foster and M. Cross (eds), Able Minds and Practised Hands: Scotland’s Early Medieval Sculpture in the 21st Century (London: Society of Medieval Archaeology 23, 2005), pp. 259-75.
• “Iuxta Morem Romanorum”: Stone and Sculpture in the Style of Rome, in G.H. Brown and C. Karkov (eds), Anglo-Saxon Styles (Albany: SUNY, 2003), pp. 69-100.
• “The Plant-Life of early Anglo-Saxon Art,” in C. Biggam (ed.), From Earth to Art (Amsterdam: Rodpoi, 2003), pp. 263-86.
• “Reading Stone,” in F. Orton and C. Karkov (eds), Theorizing Anglo-Saxon Sculpture (Morgantown: West Virginia UP, 2003), pp. 5-30.
• “Sermons in Stone: the Mysteries of Christ in Anglo-Saxon Sculpture,” in M. Carver (ed.), The Cross Goes North: Processes of Conversion in Northern Europe, AD 300-1300 (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2002), pp. 351-70.
• “Symbolic Lives: the Visual Evidence,” in The Anglo-Saxons from the Migration Period to the Eighth Century: an Ethnographic Perspective. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Studies in Historical Archaeoethnology, ed.  J. Hines, Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1997. 311-44
•  “The Iconography of Passion or Power?,” in The Insular Tradition. Proceedings from the 6th International Congress on Medieval Studies, ed. C. Karkov, R. Farrell and M. Ryan, N.Y.: SUNY Press, 1997. 27-44
• “A Question of Judgement: the Iconic Programme at Sandbach,” in From the Isles of the North: Medieval Art in Ireland and Britain. Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Insular Studies, ed. C. Bourke, Belfast: HMSO, 1995. 213-20
• “Mary and the Cycle of Resurrection: the Iconography of the Hovingham Panel,” in The Age of Migrating Ideas: Early Medieval Art in Britain North of the Humber. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Insular Studies, ed. M. Spearman and J. Higgitt, Edinburgh: National Museums of Scotland, 1993. 254-60

Chapters in books (commissioned)

• “The  Road to Hell: the Art of Damnation in Anglo-Saxon Sculpture”, in E. Mullins and D. Scully (eds), Listen, O Isles, unto me: Studies in Medieval Word and Image in honour of Jennifer O’Reilly (Cork: Cork University Press, 2011), pp.230-42.
• “Art at Sutton Hoo”, and “The Lindisfarne Gospels,” in T. Ayers (ed.), The History of British Art, 600-1600 (London: Tate Publishing, 2009): pp. 44-45; 198-99.
• “Gregory the Great and Angelic Mediation: the Anglo-Saxon Crosses of the Derbyshire Peaks,” in A. Minnis and J. Roberts (eds), Text, Image and Interpretation: Studies in Anglo-Saxon Literature in Honour of Éamonn Ó Carragáin (Turnout: Brepols, 2007), pp. 431-48.
• “The Honan Chapel: an Iconographic Excursion,” in V. Teehan and E.W. Heckett (eds), The Honan Chapel: A Golden Vision (Cork: Cork UP, 2004), pp. 105-31.
• “An Iconography of Identity? The Cross-head from Mayo Abbey,” in C. Hourihan (ed.), From Ireland Coming: Irish Art from the Early Christian to the late Gothic Period and its European Context (Princeton: Princeton UP, 2001), pp. 184-95.
• “Constructing Iconographies: Questions of Identity in Mercian Sculpture,” in M. Brown and C. Farr (eds), Mercia: An Anglo-Saxon Kingdom in Europe (Leicester: Leicester UP, 2001), pp. 230-45.
• “Description of the Decoration and Iconography of St Mary’s Church,” in Conservation Plan: St Mary the Virgin, Studley Royal, vol.3 (London: English Heritage, 2001), pp. 1-4.
• “Statements in Stone: Anglo-Saxon Sculpture, Whitby and the Christianisation of the North,” in C. Karkov (ed.), Anglo-Saxon Archaeology: Basic Readings (N.Y.: Garland Press, 1999), pp. 403-21.
• “Breaking the Silence: The Road to Calvary at Sandbach,” in A.M. Luiselli Fadda and É. Ó Carragáin (eds), Le Isole Britanniche e Roma in Età Romanobarbarica (Rome: Herder, 1998), pp. 37-48.
• “Columban Virgins: Iconic Images of the Virgin and Child in Insular Sculpture,” in C. Bourke (ed.), Studies in the Cult of Saint Columba (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1997), pp. 107-35.
• “Old Testament Heroes: Iconographies of Insular Sculpture,” in D. Henry (ed.), The Worm, The Germ, and the Thorn: Pictish and Related Studies Presented to Isabel Henderson (Balgavies: Pinkfoot Press, 1997), pp. 149-58

Lecture series

• Sculpture on the Mercian Fringe: The Anglo-Saxon Crosses at Sandbach, Cheshire,17th Brixworth Lecture (Leicester: Leicester UP, 2003).

Reviews

• Ritual and the Rood (by É. Ó Carragáin, British Library Press, 2005), Archaeologia Aeliana 35 (2007): 114-15.
• Pattern and Purpose in Insular Art (ed. M. Redknap et al., Oxbow, 2001), Archaeological Journal 159 (2002): 330-2.
• Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture, vol. 5: Lincolnshire (by P. Everson and D. Stocker, OUP 1999), The Antiquaries Journal 81 (2001): 437-8.

Pamphlets

• The Iconography of St Mary’s, Studley Royal (London: English Heritage, 1997), commissioned.

Articles (unrefereed)

• “Mayo of the Saxons,” with C. Joyce and S. Goldrick, in K. Barton and K. Molloy (eds), South Central Mayo (Dublin: Irish Association for Quaternary Studies, Field Guide 22, 1998): 32-9.

Encyclopedia Entries (commissioned)

• The Ruthwell Cross, Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, vol.25 (Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2003), pp. 622-5.
• 'Anglo-Saxon Art'; 'the Cuthbert Coffin'; 'Anglo-Saxon Sculpture'; and 'Anglo-Saxon Stonework', in Medieval England: an Encyclopaedia (New York: Garland Press, 1998), pp. 77-81; 199-200; 679-83; 716-18.

CD-ROM publications

• Joint editor, advisor and contributor on Anglo-Saxon art and architecture for: Cathedrals and Monsteries (York: Christianity and Culture Project), 2013.
• Joint editor, advisor and contributor on Anglo-Saxon art and architecture for: The Story of the Church in England (York and Nottingham: Christianity and Culture Project), 2010.
• Joint editor and contributor on Anglo-Saxon art for: Patterns of Pilgrimage in England, c.600-c.1100 (York and Nottingham: Christian and Culture Project), 2007.
• Joint editor and contributor on Anglo-Saxon art for: Images of Salvation: the Story of the Bible through Medieval Art (York and Nottingham: Christianity and Culture Project), 2004.

Teaching

Undergraduate

• Impacts of the Late Antique
• The Art of Anglo-Saxon England (600-850)
• The Art of the Early Insular World (600-850)
• The Art of the Dome: Building Heaven on Earth in the Early Medieval World
• Image and Icon: Representing the Sacred in the Early Medieval World

Postgraduate

• Scrolls & Serpents: The Arts of the early Insular World (c.600-900AD) 
• Churches and High Crosses

Other teaching

• Contributions to CMS MA Core module
• Contributions to CMS Interdisciplinary module, Early Medieval York
• Palaeography (CMS Skills Module): lectures and seminars on early medieval palaeography

External activities

Memberships

• Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL), Elected Fellow
• British Archaeological Association (BAA)
• College Art Association, USA (CAA)
• Early Medieval Europe Research Group (EMERG)
• International Society of Anglo-Saxonists (ISAS), Board Member
• Medieval Academy of America
• Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (RSAI)
• Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne
• Society for Church Archaeology
• Society of Medieval Archaeology
• American Society of Church History, USA (ASCH)

Editorial duties

• Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture
  Editorial Board Member
• York University Press 
  Editorial Board Member, 2000-6
• Christianity and Culture
  Editorial Board Member; Editor: Christianity and Culture, CD-ROMs (2000-) 
• Antiquaries Journal
  Reader 
• Journal for the Society of Medieval Archaeology
  Reader
• Studies in the Middle Ages, Series (Brepolis)  
  Reader

Invited talks and conferences

Conference organisation

• Making Histories: Sixth International Insular Art Conference 
  University of York, July 18-22, 2011.
• Representations of Conformity and Dissent in Early Medieval Art, Sessions One and Two
  Sixteenth International Congress, Leeds, 2009. Papers given by PhD students at the University of York.
• New Voices in Early Christian and Early Medieval Art ; Things With Wings: Early Christian Images of Winged Creatures ; Conceptualising Objects: Presentation, Responses, and Display
  Fifteenth International Medieval Congress, Leeds, 2009. Papers given by PhD students at the University of York.
• Anglo-Saxon Art: Questions of Meaning 
  University of York, 2008. One-day meeting with invited speakers and round-table discussion, exploring various iconographic approaches to Anglo-Saxon art.
• Sculptural Studies: Round-Table Discussion
  University of York, 2008. One-day meeting with papers and round-table discussion, focussing on the various issues facing those studying sculpture across a wide historic and cultural spectrum.
• Visual Representations of Medieval Spirituality 
  University of York, 2007. With Dr Dee Dyas, Christianity and Culture Project, York, in partnership with York Minster; three-day interdisciplinary symposium on various aspects of medieval spirituality.
• Cathedral and City
  University of York, 2007. With Dr Dee Dyas, Christianity and Culture Project, York; four-week seminar for North American University Lecturers on interdisciplinary approaches to medieval studies, sponsored by the Medieval Institute, University of W. Michigan, and funded by the US National Endowment for the Humanities.
• Constantine and the Late Roman World
  University of York, 2006. With Prof. Guy Halsall, University of York. A 5-day international interdisciplinary conference held in association with the York Museums Trust, to mark the 1700th Anniversary of the elevation of Constantine as emperor, in York in 306.
• New Voices in Early Medieval Sculpture
  University of York, 2006. Two-day international meeting for graduate students working in the area of early medieval sculpture to discuss various approaches currently applied to the study of the material. Supported by the Department of History of Art and CMS, University of York.
• Meaning and Design in Insular Art, Sessions One, Two and Three
  Leeds, 2002. Three Sessions: Ninth International Medieval Congress, Leeds.
• Pilgrimage: Jerusalem, Rome, Santiago, Ireland
  NUI-Cork, 2000. five-day international interdisciplinary conference attended by over 300 delegates.
• The Golden Age of Northumbria
  University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1996. Five-day international interdisciplinary conference attended by over 250 delegates, held to coincide with the exhibition on Anglo-Saxon Northumbria held at the Laing Art Gallery.
• Sculpture of the North: Some Problems (and Solutions)
  Session: Second International Medieval Congress, Leeds, 1995.

Visiting lectureships

• University of Ohio, Athens, USA (Spring 2010).
• University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia (Winter 2010).

Lecture series

• 2012: "Image and Icon: The Art of the High Cross in pre-Viking Anglo-Saxon England", Annual Summer Lecture, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland
• 2006: "The Iconographic Study of Early Christian Sculpture," The Helen Roe Memorial Lecture, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland.
• 2004: "The Iconography of the Crosses," William Temple Lecture, University of York.
• 1999: "Sculpture on the Fringe: the Sandbach Crosses and their Place in ‘Mercia’," The Brixworth Lecture.

Keynote lectures

• 2013: "East Meets West in Anglo-Saxon Sculpture", International Society of Anglo-Saxonists Biennial Conference, Dublin.
• 2010: “Framing the Image: Anglo-Saxon Sculpture and the Early Christian Icon”, Early Medieval Association of Australia, Seventh Annual Conference, UWA, Perth

Invited international conference papers

• 2013: “Sculptured Relief and Icon in the Art of the Early Anglo-Saxon Church”, 125th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Church History, New Orleans.
• 2013: “Constructing Identities in the Eighteenth Century: Thomas Pennant and the Early Medieval Sculpture of Scotland and England”, Thomas Pennant Workshop, Aberystwyth.
• 2010: “‘Hail the Conquering Hero’: The Adventus of Christ at Ruthwell”, Seventh Annual Conference of the Early Medieval Association of Australia, UWA, Perth, Australia
• 2010: “Stones of the North: Sculpture in Northumbria in the ‘Age of Bede’”, British Archaeological Association, Newcastle upon Tyne.
• 2009: “Communities of Saints: Carving out Life Everlasting in Anglo-Saxon Sculpture,” Forthy-fourth International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, W. Michigan.
• 2008: “Through a Glass Darkly: Re-Visualising Rome in Anglo-Saxon Sculpture,” Ex Changes: Rome Across Time and Space, Cambridge University.
• 2008: “W.G. Collingwood. Artist, Art Historian, Critic, Archaeologist and Anglo-Saxonist: Continuities and Ruptures, 1883-1907,” College Art Association, Dallas, Texas.
• 2008: “The Early Anglo-Saxon Church: Sculptural Identities,” Forth-third International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, W. Michigan.
• 2007: “Angelic Mediation and the Spiritual Life: Anglo-Saxon Sculpture of the Early Ninth Century,” Forth-second International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, W. Michigan.
• 2007: “Divine Inspiration: Gregory, Angels and the Dove of the Holy Spirit in Ninth-Century Anglo-Saxon Sculpture,” Fourteenth International Medieval Congress, Leeds.
• 2007: “The Road to Hell: Visualising Death and Damnation in the early Christian Art of Anglo-Saxon England,” Visual Representations of Medieval Spirituality, York.
• 2005: “W.G. Collingwood and Anglo-Saxon Sculpture: Art History or Archaeology,” Fifth International Insular Art Conference, Dublin.
• 2005: "Studying Early Christian Sculpture in England and Ireland: the Object of Art History or Archaeology,” Joint Symposium of the British and Royal Irish Academies, London.
• 2005: “Superabundance and Disorder: Ruskin’s ‘Two Great Evils’ and the Church of St Mary, Studley Royal,” Aesthetic Interiors, University College, London.
• 2004: “Anglo-Saxon Sculpture: Art or Archaeology,” Eleventh International Medieval Congress, Leeds.
• 2003: “Viewed Through a Glass Darkly: the Questionable Movements of Early Christian Art in Anglo-Saxon England,” Twenty-fifth Harlaxton Medieval Symposium, Harlaxton Manor, Lincs.
• 2003: “Figuring Salvation: an Iconographic Excursus into the Iona Crosses,” Able Minds and Practised Hands, Edinburgh.
• 2002: “The Church Triumphant: the Figural Columns of early Ninth-Century Anglo-Saxon England,” Shaping Understanding, British Museum, London.
• 2002: “Constructing Meaning: the Design of Anglo-Saxon High Crosses,” Ninth International Medieval Congress, Leeds.
• 2001: “The Church Triumphant: the Masham Column and the Art of the Church in Ninth-Century Anglo-Saxon England,” Eighth International Colloquium, Poreč and Split, Croatia.
• 2000: “The Iconography of the Honan Chapel,” The Honan Chapel, NUI-Cork.
• 2000: “The Plant-Life of Early Christian Anglo-Saxon Art,” First International Conference, ASPNS, Glasgow.
• 2000: “The Sacred and the Imperial: Re-constructing Rome in Anglo-Saxon England,” Ninth Annual Conference: Cross-Currents in Literature, Film and the Visual Arts, NUI-Cork.
• 2000: “Constructing Salvation: the Figural Iconography of the Iona Crosses,” Thirty-fifth International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, W. Michigan.
• 2000: “The Church in Stone,” The Age of Conversion in Northern Europe, University of York.
• 1999: “Iuxta Morem Romanorum: Stone and Sculpture in the Style of Rome,” 34th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, W. Michigan.
• 1999: “Sculpture on the Fringe: the Anglo-Saxon Crosses at Sandbach,” ISAS, University of Notre Dame, Indiana.
• 1998: “Reading Stone,” Fifth International Medieval Congress, Leeds.
• 1997: “Cirice or Mynster: Some Iconogaphic Reflections,” Fourth International Medieval Congress, Leeds.
• 1997: “Sculpture during Mercian Hegemony,” Fourth International Medieval Congress, Leeds.
• 1997: “In the Roman Manner: Church and Stone in Anglo-Saxon England,” Augustine and the Conversion of Anglo-Saxon England, LUMSA, Rome.
• 1996: “Statements in Stone: Sculpture, Iconography and the Christianisation of the North,” Third International Medieval Congress, Leeds.
• 1996: “Northumbrian Sculpture: Questions of Context,” The Golden Age of Northumbria, Newcastle upon Tyne.
• 1995: “Death and Female Devotion: the Art and Audiences of the Wirksworth Slab,” Thirtieth International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, W. Michigan.
• 1995: “Questionable Iconographies of Plants and Gardens in Anglo-Saxon Art,” Medieval Gardens, EMERG: Edinburgh.
• 1995: “Iconography and Audience Response(s),” Second International Medieval Congress, Leeds.
• 1994: “A Question of Icons,” Third International Insular Art Conference, Belfast.
• 1994: “Breaking the Silence: the Road to Calvary at Sandbach,” Twenty-ninth International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, W. Michigan.
• 1994: “Symbolic Life,” 2nd International Congress on Historical Archaeoethnology, San Marino, RSM.
• 1991: “The Iconography of the Hovingham Panel,” Second International Insular Art Conference, Edinburgh
• 1991: “The Iconography of the Rothbury Cross-head,” Twenty-sixth International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, W. Michigan.

Invited research seminar papers

• 2010: “Design and Definition. Re-visualising Rome in Anglo-Saxon Sculpture”, Denys Hays Seminar, Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Edinburgh University
• 2010: “East meets West in Anglo-Saxon Sculpture”, Research Seminar, Department of History of Art, University of Cambridge
• 2010: “Constructing a Scholarship: the historiography of Anglo-Saxon stone sculpture. Work in progress”, Research Seminar, Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, UWA, Perth, Australia
• 2009: “The Road to Hell: the Art of Damnation in Anglo-Saxon Sculpture”, Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Durham University
• 2008: “The Road to Hell: the Art of Damnation in Anglo-Saxon Sculpture”, Department of History of Art, University of York.
• 2007: “Studying Early Medieval Sculpture in Britain and Ireland: Art History or Archaeology?”, Department of History of Art, University of York.
• 2007: “An Historiography of early Medieval Sculpture: Nineteenth-century Approaches in Art and Archaeology,” The Micheál Ó Cléirigh Institute for the Study of Irish History and Civilisation, Dublin.
• 2006: “Angelic Mediation: the Study of Anglo-Saxon Sculpture and the Crosses of the Peak District,” Research Seminar, Departments of Art History and Archaeology, NUI-Dublin.
• 2006: “Reviewing Constantine: Anglo-Saxon Sculpture of the early Ninth Century,” Department of Art History, University of Cambridge.
• 2006: “Studying Early Medieval Sculpture: Art History or Archaeology?”, Courtauld Institute of Art.
• 2006: “The Art of the Catacombs,” “The Frescoes of Sta Maria Antiqua,” and “The Iconography of the Doors of Santa Sabina,” Early Medieval Rome Seminar, British School, Rome.
• 2004:  “Anglo-Saxon Spirituality: the Arts of the Manuscript and the High Cross,” Durham Cathedral.
• 2003:  “Sermons in Stone: Iconographic Readings of the Iona Crosses,” Medieval Religion Research Group, CMS, University of York.
• 2000:  “Knots and Whorls: the Early Christian Art of Ireland,” “Sermons in Stone: the Art of the High Cross,” “The Celtic Revival of the Nineteenth Century,” and “The Art of the Honan Chapel,” Twenty-first International Summer School in Irish Studies, NUI-Cork.
• 1999: “In the Roman Manner: Stone and Sculpture in Anglo-Saxon England,” Archaeology Seminar Group, NUI-Cork.
• 1999: “Reading Stone: Anglo-Saxon Sculpture and the Crosses at Sandbach, Cheshire,” Archaeology Research Seminar, NUI-Dublin.1998: “William Burges: Architect and Inventor,” Crawford School of Art, Cork.
• 1998: “Anglo-Saxon Sculpture, Whitby and the Christianisation of the North,” Archaeology Seminar Group, NUI-Cork.
• 1998: “‘Mercian’ Sculpture at Sandbach? The European Context,” Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Dublin.
• 1997: “The Art of the Catacombs,” “The Frescoes of Sta Maria Antiqua,” and “The Iconography of the Doors of Santa Sabina,” Early Medieval Rome Seminar, British School, Rome.
• 1995: “The Wirksworth Slab and an Iconography of Female Humilitas,” Department of Fine Art, University of Edinburgh.
• 1995: “The Iconography of Anglo-Saxon Sculpture and its Audiences,” University of Alabama at Hunstsville; and Miami University, Ohio.
• 1995: “Ecclesiastical Architecture in Anglo-Saxon England,” International Medieval Summer School, University of Leeds.
• 1995: “Anglo-Saxon Sculpture, Questions of Context,” Medieval Research Group, University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
• 1994: “Iconographical Considerations of the Sculpture at Sandbach,” Medieval Studies Research Group, Cornell University.
• 1994: “Rothbury Reconsidered,” Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne.
• 1994: “The Art of the Catacombs,” “The Frescoes of Sta Maria Antiqua,” and “The Iconography of the Doors of Santa Sabina,” Early Medieval Rome Seminar, British School, Rome.
• 1993: “The Iconography of the Sandbach Crosses,” EMERG, Edinburgh.
• 1992: “The Iconography of Anglo-Saxon Sculpture,” Art History and Archaeology Research Group, University of Oslo.
• 1992: “The Rothbury Cross,” and “The Mercian Context of the Sandbach Crosses,” Department of Art History, University of Cambridge.
• 1991: “Insular Sculpture: Relationships between Irish and Anglo-Saxon Sculpture,” Medieval Studies Research Group, Cornell University.
• 1990: “Anti-Semitism and the Mary Myths in Anglo-Saxon England,” Medieval Research Group, University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
• 1988: “The Iconography of Two Scenes on the Rothbury Cross,” Medieval Research Group, University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
• 1988: “The Franks Casket,” and “The Rothbury and Bewcastle Cross-shafts,” University of Hamburg Summer School.

Invited public lectures

• 2013: “Churches and High Crosses in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria”, St Bees Art Society
• 2006: “Sculpture in the Anglo-Saxon Age,” Ferens Fine Art Lecture Series, University of Hull.
• 2006: “The Legacy of Constantine in Anglo-Saxon England,” Historical Association, York.
• 2005: “Art of the Lindisfarne Gospels,” Rydale U3A, Kirkbymisperton, Yorkshire.
• 2003: “Art of the Lindisfarne Gospels,” Friends of the Malton Art Gallery, Yorkshire.
• 2001: “Art of the Chieftain’s Hall,” Laing Lunchtime Lecture Series, Newcastle upon Tyne.
• 2001: “Art of Kingship in Anglo-Saxon England,” Friends of the Laing, Newcastle upon Tyne.
• 2000: “William Burges: Medievalist and Artist,” Cork Historical Association.
• 2000: “Art of the Lindisfarne Gospels,” Laing Lunchtime Lecture Series, Newcastle upon Tyne.
• 1997: “Church and Sculpture,” Northumbrian Historic Churches Trust, Bishop Auckland.
• 1996: “The Art of the Golden Age of Northumbria,” Sunderland University Lunch-time Series, and The Friends of the Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead.
• 1996: “Anglo-Saxon Northumbria: the Material Culture,” Warkworth History Society.
• 1992: “A Reading of the Rothbury Cross,” Morley Medieval Society, London
• 1992: “Sculpture of the Northumbrian Golden Age,” Hexham Local History Society, and The Laing Gallery Lunch-time Lecture Series, Newcastle upon Tyne.
• 1990: “Anglo-Saxon Sculpture in North-eastern England (and Mercia),” Hexham Local History Society and Hexham Abbey Stewards.
• 1988: “Anglo-Saxon Sculpture: An Introduction,” Assn of Archaeological Surveyors and Illuminators.