[66] Among the five known Saxon crypts (all of the confessio type) Ripon and Hexham alone show this peculiarity.
[67] See Proceedings Soc. Antiq., 16th June 1892.
[68] In making the above-mentioned excavation in 1891, Mr. Micklethwaite found what was presumably the floor of the body of Wilfrid’s church. It was of plaster 3 inches thick, and was 1 foot 7 inches below the floor of the present Cathedral.
[69] The explanation of the crypt as a confessio is due to Mr. Micklethwaite, and is ably set forth, with its consequences, in Archæol. Journ., vol. xxxix. p. 347.
[70] The square termination of the crypt is in favour of a square presbytery; while his Roman proclivities are perhaps slightly in favour of an apse, and of aisles.
[71] Surtees Soc., vol. lxxiv. p. 83.
[72] It is certainly true that numerous white tesseræ of Italian character, such as Wilfrid might have used, have been dug up on this site (Murray’s Cathedrals, Pt. 1, p. 172, n. 1). They may, however, mark the site of the domestic buildings and not of the church. Or they may be relics of the Roman Occupation.
[73] By Walbran in Proceedings Archæol. Inst., York Vol. 1846 (pub. 1848).
[74] There is an interesting suggestion in Murray’s Cathedrals, Pt. 1, p. 172, n. 2, that the church of which the crypt formed a part was built not by Wilfrid but by Eadhead, who, as the supplanter of Wilfrid, would probably be excluded from Wilfrid’s monastery, but who may, nevertheless, have employed his workmen. The western position of the altar, however, is against placing the work as late as the episcopate of Eadhead.
[75] The suggestion is Mr. Micklethwaite’s. Altare would, of course, mean the high altar in the presbytery above.