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Biography

I was appointed a Lecturer in Early Medieval Archaeology at Bangor in 1979 and became Professor of Medieval Archaeology in 2008. I retired in December 2020 and am now Emeritus Professor of Medieval Archaeology. I continue to supervise some research students.

I am a Fellow of the British Academy, a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. I am also an Honorary Professor at Cardiff University and the University of Durham.

I completed my BA in Archaeology, Ancient and Medieval History at Liverpool University in 1976. I then moved to the University of Durham where I gained a PhD in Archaeology. My thesis examined early medieval sculpture in the Irish Midlands.

Research

My research is multidisciplinary embracing Archaeology, History and Art History. I am particularly interested in early medieval Wales c. AD 400–1100. I also have a continuing interest in early medieval Ireland and Scotland as well as aspects of the history of archaeology.

My book, Life in Early Medieval Wales (funded by a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship) was published by Oxford University Press in 2023.

Much of my research continues to focus on early medieval inscribed stones and stone sculpture in Wales. I am interested not only in the monuments themselves but also in their landscape contexts and what they can tell us about the early medieval society, identity, the Church, patronage and wealth. I have published two volumes of A Corpus of Early Medieval Inscribed Stones and Stone Sculpture in Wales, Volume II, South-West Wales (2007); Volume III, North Wales (2013).

I am currently working, with Gary Robinson (Bangor University) and Howard Williams (University of Chester), on a biography of the ninth-century Pillar of Eliseg. I have also become interested in early medieval graffiti as part of my research on the sculptural assemblage from St Patrick’s Chapel, near St Davids.

Areas of Teaching & Supervision