John Skinner (archaeologist)

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For the eighteenth-century Scottish antiquarian, see John Skinner

The Rev. John Skinner (born 1772 - died 1839), was a parish vicar and amateur antiquarian and archaeologist operating mainly in the area of Bath and the villages of northern Somerset in the early nineteenth century.

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[edit] Life

Skinner was vicar of Camerton, Somerset from 1800 to 1839. He excavated numerous antiquities, especially barrows, such as those at Priddy and Stoney Littleton; and he made visits for antiquarian purposes to Guernsey and North Wales.

[edit] Writings

His journals (1803-34), published many years after his death, are reckoned to be an important historical document, and they are preserved at the British Museum. He also left other manuscripts (The Diary Junction), and published accounts of a West Country tour (1797), Hadrian's Wall (1801) and the isle of Anglesey (1802).

[edit] Death

Skinner committed suicide by shooting himself in 1839, despite which he was buried in consecrated ground at Camerton.

[edit] References

  • Coombs, Howard and Arthur N. Bax, eds (1930) Journal of a Somerset rector: John Skinner, A.M., antiquary, 1772-1839. Parochial affairs of the parish of Camerton, 1822-1832. British Museum mss. nos. 33673-33728. London: John Murray. [Revised and enlarged edn entitled Journal of a Somerset rector, 1803-1834: parochial affairs of the Parish of Camerton British Museum manuscripts no. 33635-33728 & EG 3099F-3123F by Howard and Peter Coombs, Bath: Kingsmead 1971. New edn, same eds, Oxford: Oxford University Press 1984.]
  • Jones, Roger (1999) John Skinner's Visit to the Channel Islands: Guernsey, August 1827. Review of the Guernsey Society (Spring 1999).
  • Skinner, John (1803-34) Journals. MSS. in British Library.

[edit] External links