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Celebrating Hampshire Historians

Joyce, James Gerald

1 Jan 1819 – 28 June 1878

James Joyce (B.A., F.S.A., B.D.) graduated at Oxford in 1846 and in the same year was admitted to holy orders. He held positions at Wing, Buckinghamshire, and Burford, Oxfordshire, before becoming in 1855, by the gift of the Duke of Wellington, rector of Stratfield Saye in Hampshire.

It was the second Duke who invited Joyce to excavate at nearby Silchester and he worked there from 1864 to 1878, meticulously recording the results in his illustrated three-volume diary. His painstaking method had much to be admired and his obituary in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries conveys this well.

With his pen or pencil in one hand, and his spade in the other, he examined wisely and warily every trace which could put him on the road to further and future discovery, entering in his ‘Journal of the Excavations’ every fact and measurement of the slightest significance, noting with skill and discrimination every surface laid bare, every object exhumed, every coin discovered and, in short, enabling the reader…to follow every step of the excavation from day to day.

Joyce and his workmen excavated in several parts of the site, but it was his work on the town gates, forum basilica, houses in Insula I and XXIII and a temple in Insula VII which were the most important, not least because they were published.  His most significant single find (on 9 October 1866) was undoubtedly the bronze ‘Silchester eagle’ the inspiration, in later years, for both book and film.

Joyce’s appreciation of stratigraphy and awareness of Darwin’s work on earthworms demonstrates his interest in early scientific techniques.  Darwin’s sons visited the site to study his sections and Darwin’s last book The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms with Observations on their Habits (1881) contained illustrations taken from Joyce’s record.

Joyce’s work drew the attention of General Pitt Rivers and the Society of Antiquaries to Silchester and this resulted in a twenty-year project (1890 -1910) aimed at revealing a complete plan of the Roman town.  More recent work, including a fifty-year involvement by the University of Reading and Prof Mike Fulford, has continued to explore the unrivalled potential of this remarkable site.

Away from Silchester, Joyce examined a tomb in Winchester Cathedral, reputed to be that of King William Rufus, and a very early Piscina, built into the wall of Ewhurst church.

Sources

  • Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries 2nd ser., 8 (1879-81), 106-8

  • Wikipedia

Portrait

The Silchester Eagle found in 1866

No portrait known – Silchester Eagle in his place.

Contribution to county’s history

Joyce’s meticulous and methodical work at Silchester and his skill as an artist, set new standards for archaeological investigation. 

Relevant published works

  • Joyce J (1865) On the Excavations of Silchester, Archaeologia, XL p 403-06

  • Joyce J (1869) On the Opening and Removal of a Tomb in Winchester Cathedral, reputed to be that of King William Rufus Archaeologia XLII p 309

Critical Comments

Other Comments

Contributor

Dave Allen – May 2024

Key Words

Silchester

Any queries or further suggestions for this part of the list should be addressed to celebrating@hantsfieldclub.org.uk.

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