Students from the University of York are helping to shed light on the church’s heritage

In the past year, St Mary’s Bosses Project, has collaborated with several departments at the University of York to support student projects on the history and heritage of the church. These projects include designing and planning exhibitions, as well as undertaking research into the hundreds of medieval and Tudor roof bosses in the church’s ceiling.

We are looking forward to displaying the exhibitions when it is safe to do so, but in the meantime, we are delighted to be able to share some of the findings from the research on the bosses, which was undertaken by Bryony Wilde for her Masters dissertation in Art History.

Before Bryony’s dissertation, St Mary’s bosses had never been the subject of dedicated research. Her findings are a great step forward in our understanding of the meanings and significance of these amazing carvings. Bryony will be sharing her insights through a series of bi-monthly blogs on our website, as well as ‘Boss of the Week’ posts for the church’s social media channels.

A new blog series on the bosses for 2021

Look out Bryony’s first blog here on Friday 12th February 2021. In the mean time, let’s meet the author:

Bryony Wilde is a recent art history graduate of the University of York. The focus of her MA dissertation was the roof bosses in the church’s nave entitled ‘Meaningful Chaos: An investigation into the imagery, location and function of the medieval roof bosses in St. Mary’s Church, Beverley.’

Her special interest is in medieval grotesque and marginal sculpture. In 2021 she will be working with St Mary’s Church as a volunteer, by creating content which discusses her findings and looks at new ways of interpreting the captivating ceiling.