STALLWORK IN CHRISTCHURCH PRIORY, DORSET: A FRANCO-FLEMISH ALL’ANTICA WORK OF THE EARLY 1520s

Critical analysis of the quire stalls in the Augustinian priory in Christchurch has revealed that they are an important set of early all’antica styled stalls that were created by ‘alien’ craftsmen, no earlier than c 1520. Many traces of Continental joinery techniques, not then used in England, particularly the use of lamination, support this view. It has long been thought that they were cobbled together from sets of stalls of various dates, but they are all of one period. Much has been lost and many of the parts have been replaced, especially so among the dossiers. The idea that many of the misericords are missing can be discounted because the design of the stalls disproves this. This important set of quire stalls represents one of the last made prior to the Reformation – but they are much misunderstood.