Richard Hall
The following tribute was printed in SALON on 10 October 2011:
The Times published an obituary for our late Fellow Richard Hall in
its edition of 26 September 2011, hailing his ‘visitor-friendly’ approach to
excavations in York that have transformed our knowledge of England’s early
medieval towns, documenting archaeologically the major contribution made by
Viking conquerors and settlers to urban development and international
trade.
The obituary went on to say: ‘While managing year-round digging teams in
meticulous excavation to the highest standard, Richard also saw the importance
of sharing his finds with a fascinated public. Spectators at the huge Coppergate
site in the centre of York were allowed on viewing platforms and were able to
watch excavators revealing timber structures and artefacts … Richard’s gift for
popular communication, with clarity of expression, crisp turn of phrase and dry
wit, soon turned his dig into one of York’s most popular attractions.
‘The consequent huge public interest led a visiting entrepreneur, Ian
Skipper, to suggest to the York Archaeological Trust, for whom Richard worked,
that the dig should be made permanent below the shopping centre that was planned
for the site. The resultant Jorvik Viking Centre, which Richard helped to
develop, became, with its innovative display and interpretation techniques, one
of the most successful archaeological exhibitions in the world. Now anticipating
its 17 millionth visitor, Jorvik has been widely copied, changing approaches to
museum display, and has been responsible for introducing generations of children
to Viking history which hitherto hardly made an appearance in the British school
curriculum.
‘The Coppergate site was owned by a sympathetic city council, which
co-operated by clearing the site well ahead of development while the trust set
about assembling resources for a massive excavation in deeply stratified
waterlogged deposits. A fundraising campaign led by Magnus Magnusson was
honoured by the patronage of the Prince of Wales, the Queen of Denmark, the King
of Sweden, the Crown Prince of Norway and the President of Iceland and enough
money was raised to begin the work. The initial results more than justified the
hopes and five-and-a-half years of continuous excavation ensued. Richard’s team
sometimes numbered more than 100 and to work on it almost became a rite of
passage for many young archaeologists. By 1984, with the dig over and the Jorvik
Viking Centre built, Richard and his team of co-workers — one of whom, Dr Ailsa
Mainman, the ceramics researcher he would marry — turned their attention to the
production of a series of magisterial reports on the excavation and finds,
almost all of which have now been published.
‘Earlier in his York career, Richard was called upon to carry out recording
when St Wilfrid’s Anglo-Saxon crypt under Ripon Cathedral in North Yorkshire was
turned into a treasury. This began a long association with the cathedral. He
became chairman of the fabric advisory committee and eventually the cathedral
archaeologist, guiding conservation schemes with consummate diplomacy. Further
excavations over and around the crypt demonstrated its method of construction
and showed St Wilfrid had utilised building materials re-used from some unknown
Roman building, as he had also done at Hexham, Northumberland. Outside the
cathedral various excavations coupled with reconsideration of earlier
observations and records enabled Hall to reconstruct the topography of the
Anglo-Saxon monastery and its enclosure. This growing expertise in church
archaeology brought appointment to the Cathedrals Fabric Commission and he also
became archaeologist to York Minster where over the past decade he had been
providing archaeological surveillance for the Minster’s conservation
programme.
‘Richard Hall served as president of the Society for Medieval Archaeology and of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society, as Chairman of the Institute of Field Archaeologists (now Institute for Archaeologists) in its formative years, and as a trustee and Secretary of the Council for British Archaeology. Abroad he had been a British representative on the Viking Congress and a member of international reference groups dealing with the archaeology of Viking-age and Hanseatic towns in Northern Europe.’
The Society's Honorary Secretary Brian Ayers wrote an obituary of his close friend which appeared in The Guardian on 13 October 2011. The Telegraph also published a tribute to Richard Hall on 12 October 2011.