Frank Aldous Girling

Girling was extremely interested in the culture, history and archaeology of East Anglia. He was a council member of the Essex Archaeological Society, and both he and his wife Minnie were members of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology, and in 1942 he became a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. Girling had a particular interest in merchants' marks and published a book on them, entitled English Merchants' Marks. His interpretation of Suffolk merchants' marks is mentioned in The Arma Christi in Medieval and Early Modern Material Culture, edited by Andrea Denny Brown and Lisa Cooper. Girling also wrote articles for local archaeological societies on a variety of subjects (see bibliography below). He photographed the architecture and archaeological artefacts of East Anglia, and his photography led to important archaeological discoveries. In 1957, through his photography, he found a circle in a field of sugar beet in Dedham. This led to the discovery of the existence of Bronze Age barrows, previously thought not to exist in north-east Essex. Bryan Blake excavated the site for Colchester Museum and found Bronze Age collared funerary urns, which were photographed by Girling in 1960. In his book Suffolk, Nikolaus Pevsner credits Girling for providing his photographic collection of Suffolk for Pevsner's research and for identifying architectural details on various buildings. Girling also provided images for Humphrey Pakington's book, English Villages and Hamlets. Girling also documented farming through his photography.