The archaeology of Islam in Britain: recognition and potential.

The archaeology of Islam in Britain: recognition and potential. What did the British know about Islam before the modern period? Theauthor reviews evidence which shows that there was contact with, andappreciation of, Muslim culture Muslim culture is a term primarily used in secular academia to describe all cultural practices common to historically Islamic peoples. As the religion of Islam originated in 6th century Arabia, the early forms of Muslim culture were predominantly Arab. from almost the time of the Hegira irithe seventh century. This appreciation varied and was reflected indifferent choices of material culture: coinage, ceramics andarchitecture, in successive periods from the eighth century to thenineteenth. Keywords: Britain, Islamic archaeology, coinage, ceramics,architecture Introduction Any examination of British war graves from around the world willshow that large numbers of Muslims died fighting as part of Britishforces in both the First and Second World Wars. Certainly Muslimsconstituted the largest religious cultural group of the British Empire British Empire,overseas territories linked to Great Britain in a variety of constitutional relationships, established over a period of three centuries. The establishment of the empire resulted primarily from commercial and political motives and emigration movements ,and in the nineteenth century the British Empire contained the majorityof Muslims in the world as a whole. Whilst none of these facts may seemsurprising, the relationship between Britain and Islam further back inthe past is less well known and there is a presumption that the Muslimpresence in Britain and British contact with the Muslim world The term Muslim world (or Islamic world) has several meanings. In a cultural sense it refers to the worldwide community of Muslims, adherents of Islam. This community numbers about 1.5-2 billion people, about one-fourth of the world. arerelatively recent phenomena. Recently, however, a number of historians have begun to challengethis concept of a sharply divided world with little or no contactbetween the Islamic Mediterranean and Britain before the twentiethcentury. Important new studies include Scarfe Beckett's work on therelationship between Anglo Saxon England and Islam (Scarfe Beckett 2003)and Nabil Matar's work on England's relationship with Turkeyand North Africa in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (Matar1998). However, there has been little attempt to examine thearchaeological record The archaeological record is a term used in archaeology to denote all archaeological evidence, including the physical remains of past human activities which archaeologists seek out and record in an attempt to analyze and reconstruct the past. for traces of contact with the Muslim world oreven for evidence of Muslims in Britain. There are, for example,intriguing references to Muslims working in a variety of occupations inseventeenth-century London which may suggest some form of Islamicinfrastructure (Matar 1997). The material presented here is by no means exhaustive but does aimto show the range of ways in which archaeology (the study of materialculture) can illuminate both our relationship with the Islamic world aswell as the role of Islam as a cultural factor in British society.Obviously the scope of material is large and I have chosen toconcentrate on three areas where there is most potential. These arecoins, ceramics and glass, and architecture. There are of course othertypes of evidence which could be looked at including foodstuff andspices, fabrics (carpets and silks), weapons and metalwork technologies(for metalwork see Allan 1994). [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Coins and precious metals Muslim coinage arrived early in Britain either through directcontact with the Mediterranean or via Scandinavian trade routes. Theformer is characterised by gold coins whilst the latter consists chieflyof silver coinage (Scarfe-Beckett 2003: 54-60). The most famous exampleof Islamic gold coinage associated with England is Offa's dinarwhich although found in Italy was probably struck in England (Figure 1).This coin is a copy of an 'Abbasid dinar of al-Mansur from the yearAD 774 and includes the words 'Offa Rex' as well as the moreusual Arabic inscriptions (Lowick 1973; Webster & Backhouse 1991).The dinar has attracted considerable attention and a number of theorieshave been advanced to explain why it was made, including the unlikelysuggestion that Offa had converted to Islam (Hannah 2000). A moreprobable explanation is that the coin was one of a number of coinsminted as part of a tribute to the Pope and the choice of an Arab dinarindicates that this was the most respected currency in Europe at thetime. The eighth-century Mediterranean exchange with Britain isdemonstrated by finds of gold dinars in London, Oxford, Dorset andSussex (St. Leonards-on-Sea, Arundel and Eastbourne, Figure 2: nos. 1-4,6). The Scandinavian trade routes have been well documented (Jansson1985; Kromann & Roesdahl 1996) with large numbers of silver coinsfound in Sweden (70 000+), Denmark (5000+) and Finland (1700+). By farthe largest group of coins are silver and are found in hoards associatedwith Viking or Danish settlements or trade dating to the ninth and tenthcenturies (Figure 2: nos. 5, 7-13). Prominent examples include hoardsfrom Bangor (Caernarfonshire), Goldsbrough (Yorkshire) and the Cuerdale(Cumbria). It is noticeable that the majority of these coins were foundeither within the area of Danelaw or within areas of Norse settlement inthe north-west and Ireland. The Bangor Hoard, discovered in 1894, datesshortly after AD 921. It consists of eight English coins, five Kuficcoins, a fragment of Hiberno-Viking stamped armlet and a cast silveringot ingotMass of metal cast into a size and shape such as a bar, plate, or sheet convenient to store, transport, and work into a semifinished or finished product. The term also refers to a mold in which metal is so cast. . Current opinion considers that these Kufic coins representtraffic in the late ninth and tenth centuries in silver bullion, fromthe region of the Caspian Sea Caspian Sea(kăs`pēən), Lat. Mare Caspium or Mare Hyrcanium, salt lake, c.144,000 sq mi (373,000 sq km), between Europe and Asia; the largest lake in the world. , northwards up the Volga river Volga RiverRiver, western Russia. Europe's longest river and the principal waterway of western Russia, it rises in the Valdai Hills northwest of Moscow and flows 2,193 mi (3,530 km) southeastward to empty into the Caspian Sea. . Thissilver came from the valuable silver mines of the Hindu Kush Hindu Kush(hĭn`d ksh), a high mountain system, extending c. region(near modern day Kabul), with the coins minted at al-Shsh (Tashkent),Samarqand and Andarbah (Boon 1986: 92-4). [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] Later on in the medieval period (i.e. post 1066) there are fewerexamples of Islamic coins found in Britain though it is notable that thetreasury of Henry III contained a significant quantity of Islamic goldcoins (Grierson 1974). The find of 400 Moroccan gold coins from aseventeenth-century shipwreck shipwreck,complete or partial destruction of a vessel as a result of collision, fire, grounding, storm, explosion, or other mishap. In the ancient world sea travel was hazardous, but in modern times the number of shipwrecks due to nonhostile causes has steadily at Salcombe Bay is exceptional. The latestof the coins date to AD 1640 and are minted in the name of theSa'adian Sharifs indicating some sort of trade or perhaps piracy(Porter 2000). Ceramics and glass One of the earliest and most spectacular examples of theinter-relatedness of British and Irish culture with that of Islam is theninth-century Ballycottin cross which is a piece of jewellery in theform of a cross with a glass bead in the centre inscribed with theBismallah in Kufic scipt (Porter & Ager 1999). However, mostexamples of glass and ceramics belong to the medieval period. Although the total quantity of pottery from the Islamic worldexcavated so far is not great, the large number of find spots throughoutthe British Isles British Isles:see Great Britain; Ireland. as well as the chronological spread indicates asustained interest in Islamic ceramics as luxury items (Hurst 1977).Amongst the earliest types of Islamic pottery The era of Islamic pottery started around 622. From 633, Muslim armies moved rapidly toward Byzantine, Persia, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Egypt and later Andalusia.Its early history still remains somewhat obscure and speculative as little evidence survived. found are some sherds ofblue-green alkaline glazed wares from Syria found in a tenth-centurycontext relating to relating torelate prep → concernantrelating torelate prep → bez��glich +gen, mit Bezug auf +accan Anglo-Scandinavian settlement at Flaxengate,Lincoln (Adams 1979). The pottery is of a type which may be identifiedas coming from the central Middle East (Syria, Iraq, Iran) during therule of the 'Abbasid caliphs and as such may be linked to theScandinavian trade with the Islamic world mostly known through coinage.Of a slightly later date are pieces of Raqqa ware found at a number oflocations (see Figure 3) including London (Merton Priory Merton Priory was founded in 1114 by Gilbert Norman, Sheriff of Surrey under Henry I. It was located in Merton, Surrey, England (now the Colliers Wood area in the London Borough of Merton). ; personalobservation), Dublin (McCutcheon 2006) and Grosmont Castle This article may contain original research or unverified claims.Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the for details.This article has been tagged since September 2007. ,Monmouthshire (O'Neil 1932). Raqqa ware is a name applied to aseries of stonewares made of frit frit(frit) imperfectly fused material used as a basis for making glass and in the formation of porcelain teeth. frit (frit),n paste (a combination of quartz andclay) which ensures that the glaze becomes fused with the body.Traditionally called Raqqa ware as it was thought to be produced in thecity of Raqqa, in Syria, between the 1170s and 1259 when the city wassacked by the Mongols (Porter 1981; Mason 1995). Petrological analysishas shown that many of the British examples are attributable to aprovenance in Damascus (Mason n.d.). One of the largest excavated piecesof Raqqa ware is the rim of a jar with a pseudo epigraphic ep��i��graph?n.1. An inscription, as on a statue or building.2. A motto or quotation, as at the beginning of a literary composition, setting forth a theme. inscriptionfrom Grosmont Castle in Wales (O'Neil 1932: Figure 4). The piecesfound in Britain are all of the blue under-glaze painted variety whichwould certainly have looked exotic and sophisticated within the contextof British green, yellow and brown glazed earthenwares produced duringthis period. Also from Syria, though of later date, are a number ofMamluk (1250-1401) fritware jars recently excavated at Plantation Placein London (Pearce & Martin 2003: 99-109). It is possible that theearlier Syrian ceramics were brought to Britain by soldiers returningfrom the Crusades although other methods are also feasible (for adiscussion of trade see Abulafia 1994). [FIGURE 3 OMITTED] [FIGURE 4 OMITTED] Directly related to the ceramic finds from Syria is the discoveryof fragments of an enamelled glass jar also probably made in thevicinity of Raqqa. The glass sherds were found within atwelfth/thirteenth-century medieval ditch in Reigate associated with theextension to a medieval house (Williams 1983). The glass jar wasdecorated with arabesques tendrils, leaf forms and an Arabic inscriptionin red enamel and gilt and would have been approximately 17cm tall byanalogy with similar vessels. Other finds of Islamic glass from medievalcontexts include two neck fragments of a jar from the Chapel of Pyx inWestminster Abbey decorated with an Arabic inscription in gold against ablue enamelled background (London Museum 1967: 293, Plate 84). Anotherpiece of Syrian glass which was almost certainly imported into Britainduring the Middle Ages is the famous 'Luck of Edenhall' in theVictoria and Albert Museum (Figure 5). This glass beaker is decorated inred, blue, green and white enamel and is also gilded (Charleston 1959).Besides glass of unmistakably Syrian Islamic origin there are a group ofvessels known as 'Syro-Frankish glass' which have been foundin a variety of locations in Europe which are of similar form,decoration and composition to the Syrian glass but which haveinscriptions in Latin rather than Arabic script. The majority of findsof Syro-Frankish glass in the British Isles have been found in London(Cook 1958; Clark 1983) though examples have also been found atRestormel Castle in Cornwall (six fragments of the neck of a jar), DaleAbbey in Derbyshire and Weoley Castle in Warwickshire (Cook 1958:176-7). There has been considerable argument over whether these weremade in Syria for the European market or in Europe (Venice) using Syriantechniques and craftsmen (e.g. Engle 1982; Clark 1983). Whatever theoutcome of this debate it is clear that the 'Syro-Frankish'wares are directly derived from Syrian prototypes and must have beenmanufactured with direct knowledge of the Syrian methods of production. [FIGURE 5 OMITTED] Pottery from medieval Spain ('Hispano-Moresque' wares)although still quite rare occur more frequently than material from Syria(Figure 6). Documentary evidence A type of written proof that is offered at a trial to establish the existence or nonexistence of a fact that is in dispute.Letters, contracts, deeds, licenses, certificates, tickets, or other writings are documentary evidence. for the import of ceramics for MuslimSpain includes a ship inventory from Portsmouth which containslustreware from Malaga en route to Edward I's wife, Eleanor ofCastile Eleanor of Castile(kăstēl`), d.1290, queen consort of Edward I of England and daughter of Ferdinand III of Castile. At her marriage (1254) she brought to Prince Edward the territories of Ponthieu and Montreuil and claims to Gascony. (Dunning 1961: 8). Significant quantities have been recoveredfrom major ports such as London and Southampton whilst occasional pieceshave been found at sites throughout Britain and Ireland (Hurst 1977; Ray1992). Imported Spanish pottery comprises both fine glazed wares as wellas unglazed earthenware storage jars though these have only occurredwithin the port contexts in the south of England. The distinctivefeature of the Spanish fine wares was the use of tin glazes which was atechnique not used in Britain until the sixteenth century. Most of thesewares were decorated with lustre lustreIn mineralogy, the appearance of a mineral surface in terms of its light-reflecting qualities. Lustre depends on a mineral's refractivity (see refraction), transparency, and structure. painting which involves the applicationof a metallic over-glaze which is fixed to the glaze by a second firing.The majority of these vessels were decorative dishes or bowls with a fewdecorated jars (albarelli) (Hurst 1977: 76). Although not all of theSpanish pottery was from parts of the peninsula under Muslim rulecertainly the technology, decoration and forms were of Islamic origin.It is perhaps worth noting that the quantity of pottery coming fromSpain did not increase when these areas were no longer Muslim indicatingthat religion does not appear to have been a factor in the trade. [FIGURE 6 OMITTED] Ceramic finds from other parts of the Islamic world are rarer,probably indicating individual gifts or purchases rather than trade.Such objects were highly prized as can be seen from a Turkish Iznik ewerin the British Museum made in the 1580s which is embellished with asilver lid and spout bearing a London date letter for 1597-8 (Sweetman1991: 38-9, 50-51, Figure 23). Another piece of Iznik pottery, in theform of a nearly complete shallow dish, was recovered from anarchaeological context in a cesspit cesspita pit to retain the sediment, usually fecal, of a drain. in Sewardstone Street, Waltham Abbey(Huggins 1969). The Iznik dish along with a Delftware delftware.The earliest delftware was a faience, a heavy, brown earthenware with opaque white glaze and polychrome decoration, made in the late 16th cent. Some of the earliest imitations of Chinese and Japanese porcelain were made at Delft in the 17th cent. dish and a slippainted charger were thought to be the remnants of a single meal datingto 1669 when the owner of the house was arrested and charged withsodomy sodomyNoncoital carnal copulation. Sodomy is a crime in some jurisdictions. Some sodomy laws, particularly in Middle Eastern countries and those jurisdictions observing Shari'ah law, provide penalties as severe as life imprisonment for homosexual intercourse, even if the . Environmental evidence recovered from the pit allowed thecontents of the meal to be reconstructed which included a dozen oysters,three joints of mutton mutton,flesh of mature sheep prepared as food (as opposed to the flesh of young sheep, which is known as lamb). Mutton is deep red with firm, white fat. In Middle Eastern countries it is a staple meat, but in the West, with the exception of Great Britain, Australia, , half a pig's head, a fowl and a desertcontaining raspberries (raspberry seeds were found adhering to thesurface of the Iznik dish which also had cut marks). The best documented finds in London come from the recentexcavations at Limehouse where fragments of Iznik vessels datable to theseventeenth century (Killock et al. 2005: 46-8, Figure 28.24) as well asa large shallow fritware dish in blue, black and white from Kirman inIran were recovered (Killock et al. 2005: 39, Figure 24.7; see alsoTyler 2001). In general however finds of post-medieval Islamic potteryare rare (an exception is a North African two-handled flask recoveredfrom Dover Castle, Mynard 1969: 36) probably indicating that by thistime the Europeans had learnt many of the techniques of Islamic potters(e.g. tin-glaze). From the eighteenth century 'Orientalising' Islamicthemes began to appear in British potteries, such as Chelsea, Bow, Derbyand Longton Hall (Sweetman 1991: 67-8, Figure 32). This phenomenon beganin Germany during the 1740s when representations of Turks began to beproduced by the Imperial Porcelain factory at Meissen (est. 1710). OtherEuropean factories copied this fashion so that the factories at Sevresin France and Copenhagen in Denmark were also producing figures of Turksby the 1780s (Folsach 1996). Recent excavations at the Bow Porcelainfactory The Bow porcelain factory (active ca 1747-1764, closed 1776) was an emulative rival of the Chelsea porcelain factory in the manufacture of early soft-paste porcelain in Great Britain. The factory was located near Bow, London. recovered one of these figures (Figure 7; Grey & Pearce2007). It is also worth noting that both the Copenhagen and Meissenporcelain factories also produced coffee cups ('small cups withouthandles') at least some of which were exported to Turkey. Anotherintriguing example of Turkish influence in ceramics is an Ottoman style'chibouk' (pipe bowl fitted to the top of a water pipe) fromLondon. The chibouk is of identical form to the Turkish product but madeof English pipe clay (Jarret 2007). It is tempting to associate thisfind as well as those of genuine Turkish manufacture with thedevelopment of London coffee houses (see below). [FIGURE 7 OMITTED] [FIGURE 8 OMITTED] Architecture As perhaps the most highly developed aspect of Muslim materialculture, Islamic architecture has had a significant impact on Europeanand British architecture from the Middle Ages to the present day. Thiswas certainly recognised by Sir Christopher Wren who stated that'what we now vulgarly call the Gothick, ought properly and truly benamed Saracenick Architecture refined by the Christians' (Wren1750: 306; Sweetmen 1991:55 n. 36). Important features of buildingtechnology derived from the Muslim world include the 'Gothic'(two-centre) pointed arch developed in Palestine in the seventh toeighth centuries (examples include the Dome of the Rock Dome of the Rock:see Islamic art and architecture. Dome of the Rockor Mosque of OmarOldest existing Islamic monument. It is located on Temple Mount, previously the site of the Temple of Jerusalem. and the Anaziyyacisterns in Ramla; Creswell 1989: 116) and the 'Tudor'four-centre pointed arch first developed in ninth-century Iraq (the Qasral-'Ashiq in Samarra; Creswell 1989: 247) and not used inarchitecture in Britain until the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The most famous examples of Islamic inspired'Orientalist' buildings in Britain include the Royal Pavilionin Brighton (1815), the 'Arab Hall' at Leighton House inLondon (1866) and the 'Arab Room' in Cardiff Castle (1869).However, examples of architecture designed or used by Muslims are harderto find. This is partly because the number of Muslims present in Britainbefore the nineteenth century can only ever have been small. Despitethese limitations there are a few examples of architecture in Britainwhich are clearly directly related to cultural contact with the Muslimworld. There is little or no archaeological evidence of Islamicarchitecture in Britain which can be dated to the Middle Ages (AD1000-1500). However, this does not mean that evidence will not berecovered in the future; there is, for example, documentary evidencethat medieval English monarchs employed Muslim mercenaries in theirbattles against the French in Normandy (Gillingham 1999: 295; Moss2002:155). When we move to the post[degrees]medieval period the evidence forbuildings with Muslim connections increases significantly. Probably thebest known examples are the bath houses (Ar. sing. hammam) constructedat the Tudor palaces of Whitehall and Hampton Court (Thurley1993:167-71). Although not built for Muslim patrons, these bath housesrepresent the first archaeological evidence of a fashion for Turkishbaths which became widespread in nineteenth-century Britain. Theessential difference between Turkish baths and their Classical/Romanpredecessors is their use of hot running water produced in a boilerrather than the ancient hypocaust hypocaust(hī`pəkôst): see heating. system. The examples excavated atWhitehall with 'sunken stone sauna baths' were clearlymodelled on Turkish hammams and one can imagine that they were built inconsultation with a Muslim Turk or at least by someone with experienceof the Ottoman world (cf. Thurley 1993: 171). Another form of building with Turkish connections is the'coffee house' which first appeared in London and Oxford inthe seventeenth century. Coffee appears to have first been cultivated asa stimulant in Arabia from the fifteenth century, if not earlier. Itsearly use within the Islamic world seems to have been associated withSufis; by the sixteenth century it had spread to Constantinople and thenChristian Europe (Wild 2004: 47-8). Although as yet no coffee houseshave been identified archaeologically in Britain, the locations andnames of many of the establishments are known (see for example theHindoostanee Coffee House, 34 George Street, Portman Square; Lillywhite1964). Within the Ottoman Turkish world coffee and smoking wereintimately associated so that excavated remains may be identified as acoffee house from coffee cups and tobacco pipes (see section onpottery). It would be interesting to investigate some of the knownlocations of coffee houses in London to see if they also yield similarassemblages. Both the coffee shops and the bath houses may be linked to theincreasing contacts between Britain and the Ottoman empire consolidatedwith the treaty between Elizabeth I and the Ottoman Sultan Murad III in1581 (Jardine 2004: 210). A concurrent process was the development ofcontacts with Morocco based on a shared antipathy towards Spain. Theculmination of this relationship was the appointment of Kair JaudarbenAbdullah as the first Moroccan ambassador to London in 1637. In 1661 Britain became more directly involved with the Islamicworld when Charles II acquired Tangier on the Atlantic coast of Morrocoas part of the dowry dowry(dou`rē), the property that a woman brings to her husband at the time of the marriage. The dowry apparently originated in the giving of a marriage gift by the family of the bridegroom to the bride and the bestowal of money upon the bride by of the Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza(Routh 1905: 62). The establishment of the colony included theconstruction of a large mole to protect the harbour and a civiliansettlement which Sir Hugh Chomley, the chief engineer, named New Whitbyafter his home town in North Yorkshire. Both the fortifications and thehouses of the settlement were built of mud, presumably pre��sum��a��ble?adj.That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. following local(Moroccan) building practice (Routh 1905: 70). Outside Tangier theEnglish became acquainted with finer aspects of Islamic architecture.Thus Colonel Kirke described Mequinez (Meknes) as 'extremelydelightful, the walks being adorned with rows of orange trees that grewthrough a pleasant and glittering pavement of painted tiles' (Routh1905: 73). The remoteness of Tangier from England meant that there was ashortage of skilled workers to build the town and the governors resortedto using Muslim masons and stonecutters whilst the labour was providedby English troops and former (Muslim) galley slaves (Aylmer 1999:386-7). Although no architectural work in Britain is known to haveresulted directly out of the occupation of Tangier it was important asthe beginning of Britain's colonial encounter with Muslimarchitecture. If we move to the eighteenth century when the expansion of Britishmercantile interests extended into areas with large Muslim populations,we can see an increasing interest in Islamic culture in the form ofantiquities, such as the sixteenth-century gun which now stands in HorseGuards Parade Horse Guards Parade is a large parade ground off Whitehall in central London, at grid reference TQ299800. It was formerly the site of the Palace of Whitehall's tiltyard, where tournaments were held in the time of Henry VIII. (Figure 8), and in the imitation of'Orientalist' architecture in British buildings. Although theRoyal Pavilion in Brighton is perhaps the best known example of Mughalinspired architecture in Britain, the earliest is the now destroyedmosque built by William Chambers at Kew in 1761 (Chambers 1763; Figure9). This was one of three buildings built by William Chambers at Kew,the others being a Chinese Pagoda (still extant) and a representation ofthe Alhambra palace (no longer extant). All three buildings reflect agrowing interest in exotic architecture and provide a means of embodyingthe experiences of merchants and travellers who had visited romantic andforeign places (Crinson 1996: 21). The mosque is particularlyinteresting as it is the first full scale 3D representation of a mosquein Britain. It is assumed that this building was non-functional, merelybuilt for illustrative purposes with no mihrab mihrabArabic mihrabSemicircular prayer niche in the qiblah wall (the wall facing Mecca) of a mosque, reserved for the prayer leader (imam). The mihrab originated in the reign of the Umayyad caliph al-Walid I (705–715), when the famous mosques at (niche to indicatedirection of Mecca). As the building no longer stands, the absence orotherwise of a mihrab can not be verified without excavation, whichincidentally could also indicate whether the whole building was orientedto the qibla Noun 1. qibla - the direction of the Kaaba toward which Muslims turn for their daily prayersdirection, way - a line leading to a place or point; "he looked the other direction"; "didn't know the way home"2. (direction of prayer). Other notable eighteenth-centuryarchitectural representations of the Muslim world include the Turkishtent built for Charles Hamilton at Painshill Park, Surrey, in 1760.Although superficially a tent, in fact this was a substantial structurewith a brick floor and brick walls covered in canvas which could bestowed away in winter. The roof was made of wood and crowned with anelaborate lead covered dome. The tent was dismantled in 1870 and in 1995excavated and rebuilt by the Painshill Park Trust using the originaldesign of Henry Keene (Newton 2007: 70). [FIGURE 9 OMITTED] We have to wait until the nineteenth century for the firstundisputed examples of mosque architecture in Britain. The oldestofficially recognised mosque is the Abdullah Quilliam mosque in BroughamTerrace, Liverpool, established in 1887. Although not purpose-built themosque and reading room were re-modelled from two pre-existing Georgianhouses, complete with features typical of Islamic architecture, such ascusped arches, a mihrab and polychrome pol��y��chrome?adj.1. Having many or various colors; polychromatic.2. Made or decorated in many or various colors: polychrome tiles.n. stylised non-figural decoration.Unfortunately the building fell into disuse dis��use?n.The state of not being used or of being no longer in use.disuseNounthe state of being neglected or no longer used; neglectNoun 1. soon after Quilliam'sdeath in 1932 and now stands in a semi-derelict condition (Savage 2007).The oldest purpose-built mosque in Britain is the Woking mosque built in1889 by Dr Gottlieb Leitner for the Nawab of Bhopal, Begum be��gum?n.1. A Muslim woman of rank.2. Used as a form of address for such a woman.[Urdu begam, from East Turkic beg��m, first person sing. Shah Jehan.Originally intended as a private place of prayer this later became apublic mosque and is now a centre for Muslim devotional activity. Thisis one of only two British mosques which are listed by English Heritage(the other is a former synagogue). Unfortunately there is not space todiscuss either of these buildings in detail except to state that bothwere built by Muslim converts rather than people born into the faith. When we get to the twentieth century we have the firstpurpose-built functional mosques for Muslim immigrants who had begun toarrive as workers in large numbers during the nineteenth century(Halliday 1992). In a process which echoes that of Jewish immigrantsduring the nineteenth century, Muslims were at first reluctant or toopoor to build their own places of worship and instead utilised houses aswell as redundant churches and chapels. One of the first purpose-builtmosques in Wales was the Nur al-Islam mosque built on the initiative ofa prominent Yemeni cleric Abdullah al-Hakimi in 1944 at a cost of $7000(Halliday 1991: 17-57, Plate 7). Unfortunately the mosque was demolishedduring redevelopment in 1958 and a purpose-built replacement was notcompleted until the 1980s. In the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified"meantime, meanwhile a community hall wasutilised. Since the orientation of the building (E-W) was unsuitable,the solution adopted was to mark a series of parallel linesperpendicular to the qibla (i.e. diagonal lines) on the floor of theprayer hall. The mihrab itself was a wooden box with a niche placed inthe south-west corner. This process is particularly interesting becauseit echoes a similar process in Syria and Palestine at the start of theMuslim era (seventh century) when Byzantine churches were converted intomosques. With the advent of even larger numbers of Muslim immigrantsfollowing the Second World War, large purpose-built mosques wereconstructed for the first time. Prominent examples include the Coventrymosque built during the 1950s to cater for the large numbers of southAsian workers in the city's car factories (Castle & Kennedy1996: 23). The Regent's Park mosque built in 1974 represents a verydifferent type of building both in terms of the type of community itserves and its role within British public life. The mosque was built onland donated by the British government in 1944 to provide a place ofworship Noun 1. place of worship - any building where congregations gather for prayerhouse of God, house of prayer, house of worshipbethel - a house of worship (especially one for sailors) for members of staff at London-based embassies of Muslimcountries. However it took 30 years before any building work was carriedout largely due to disagreements amongst the various countries involved(Anon n.d.: 1-2). The mosque which was eventually built was largelyfinanced by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and is indicative of the leadingrole which this country has had in the development of Islam within thewider British Muslim community. Conclusion What does this brief review tell us about contacts between Britainand the Muslim world? The most notable feature is that each of the threecategories examined became important at different times. Thus coins aremost plentiful in the first period (early medieval), ceramics in themedieval period and architecture from the early modern period. Eachpoint to a dynamic changing relationship: in the first period Islam wasfinancially and culturally dominant as exemplified by Offa's dinar.In the second period (medieval) Muslim goods (ceramics) were importedbecause of their technical sophistication so��phis��ti��cate?v. so��phis��ti��cat��ed, so��phis��ti��cat��ing, so��phis��ti��catesv.tr.1. To cause to become less natural, especially to make less naive and more worldly.2. as luxury objects. In thethird period British technology could produce ceramics of equalsophistication to that of the Islamic world which instead became asource of design motifs most notably in architecture and the decorativearts. This schema is obviously too simplistic sim��plism?n.The tendency to oversimplify an issue or a problem by ignoring complexities or complications.[French simplisme, from simple, simple, from Old French; see simple , although it does indicatehow archaeology and the study of material culture can be used to createa fuller and deeper interpretation of the relationship between Britainand Islam. The need for such an understanding and for improved engagement ofMuslims within British heritage is amply demonstrated by studies such asHeath's (2007) work on Islam in British museums and recent work onIslam in British universities (El-Awaisi & Nye 2006: 4-5; Siddiqui2007). However to create such engagement requires a conscious effort tofurther identify and collate col��late?tr.v. col��lat��ed, col��lat��ing, col��lates1. To examine and compare carefully in order to note points of disagreement.2. To assemble in proper numerical or logical sequence.3. information which relates to our Muslimpast. Acknowledgements The preparation of this article benefitted from advice anddiscussions with Nigel Blackamore (National Museum of Wales), VenetiaPorter (British Museum) and Tony Grey (Museum of London The Museum of London documents the history of London from the Palaeolithic to the present day. The museum is located in a 1970s building close to the Barbican Centre, approximately 10 minutes' walk north of St Paul's Cathedral and admission is free. ) without whoseexpertise this article could not have been written. 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When Cardiff left, it merged with the University of Wales College of Medicine (which was also a former member). Lampeter, Ceredigion, SA48 7ED, UK (Email:andrewduncanpetersen@yahoo.co.uk)