The Wallingford Burgh to Borough Research Project

Home , Borough, Burgh, Burh

ORE Open Research Exeter

TITLE The Wallingford Burh to Borough Research Project

AUTHORS Creighton, O.H; Christie, N; O'Sullivan, D; et al.

JOURNAL Medieval Settlement Research Group Annual Report

DEPOSITED IN ORE 22 May 2008

This version available at

http://hdl.handle.net/10036/27525

Open Research Exeter makes this work available in accordance with publisher policies.

A NOTE ON VERSIONS

The version presented here may diﬀer from the published version. If citing, you are advised to consult the published version for pagination, volume/issue and date of publication The Wallingford Burgh to BoroughResearch Project by Oliver Creighton,Neil Christie,Deirdre O'Sullivan and HelenaHamerow

Wallingford, t)xfordshire medievalshrinkage of the urban areahas resulted in the In August 2002 the first full field seasonof a new outstandingpreservation of the burh/boroughdefences archaeologicalresearch project was underlakenin and and castleearthworks; in addition, substantialareas of around the town of Wallingford, locatedalongside the open intramural urban space (c. 0.8 sq.krn) survive Thamesin south Oxfordshire.Titled The Wallingford (Bullcroft/Kinecroft),including the area of the lost Burh to Borough ResearchProject, the proposedfive- Normanpriory of Holy Trinity. Thesespaces particularly year programme aims to bridge the traditional gap offer scope for tackling questionsof later Saxon and betweenthe late Anglo-Saxonand Norman periods earlier Norman town planning, whilst the castle through detailed archaeologicalstudy of a highly earthworksenable fresh questions to be raisedconcerning significanthistoric townscapeand its hinterland.The the impactofNorman castle-buildingon the urbanspace, town is justly renownedfor its surviving Saxonburh economyand population. The unsurveyedtown ramparts defencesand the complexand extensiveearthworks of a further offer a near unique opportunity to observethe Norman and later castle imposed into the north-east fonnat, role and evolutionof urbandefence. Finally, the quarter of the urban space.Its riverside position, surroundinglandscape offers much potentialfor analysis overseeinga ford acrossthe Thames,gave Wallingford a through detailedfield walking and geophysicalsurvey strategicrole at the Wessex-Mcrciaborder; the river and combined with air photo study and re-examinationof local communicationsroutes also allowedWallingford findspots(notably Anglo-Saxon and Romanmaterials). to prosperas a royal centreafter the lateeleventh century. The Wallingford Burh to BoroughResearch Project will Declinewas only consequentto the growth of Reading comprisean integratedresearch programme, cornbining abbeyand town to the southand of Oxford to the north academicand professionalexpertise with comrnunity anddue also to changesin therole and navigability of the archaeology, and accessing a wide variety of river. archaeological,topographical and documentarysources. The preservationof town rampartand castleearthworks Theproject has been designed in conjunctionwith several in associationwith a substantiallyrnedieval street pattern localpartners. These include: The WallingfordHistorical makesWallingford of central importancein examining and ArchaeologicalSociety and Wallingford Museum; thenature of lateSaxon town planningand Norman urban The Northmoor Trust (the environmental agency castlebuilding, andyet thereare minimal archaeological responsiblefor the managementof the castle site); dataavatlablewith which to investigatethis. Excavations Wallingford Town Council; South OxfordshireDistrict have been undertakenpreviously in the 1960son the Council; and the County Archaeology Service. The town's west gateramparts, across the former north gate projectmanagement team is headedby academicsfrom (laterburied by extensionsto the castleearthworks), and three universitieswith specialismsin early medieval within the castle inner bailey. These excavations urbanism (N. Christie, Leicester); Anglo-Saxon identified excellent preservationof archaeological settlements (H. Hamerow, Oxford); castles (O. deposits,revealing tenth-century and laterbuildings and Creighton,Exeter); and medieval material culture (D. depositsand cob-built structures. Unfortunately, of these O'Sullivan, Leicester).It is also fully supportedby excavations,only those at the west gate have been previousexcavators at Wallingford, Prof. N. Brooks, R. published.Fufther, no detailedarchaeological assessment Carr and T. Rowley, including accessto their archives. or mappingof the defencesand castle site has previously Collation of archival data (NMR, SMR, watching brief been conducted.To theseprevious excavationscan be data,etc.) and liaisonwith local groupsand preliminary addeda seriesof watching briefs and other evaluations analysisof the castlezone were undertakenin 2001. that provide tantalising glimpses of the town's A pilot field seasonof geophysicaland topographic developmentand materialculture. However, no attempt survey of the Anglo-Saxon burh fortifications and hasso far beenmade to synthesiseand contextualisethis Norman castleat Wallingford was undertakenin August work. Similarly, there are many questionsrelating to 2002.As noted,systematic study of thesewell-preserved Wallingford's origins and contextyet to be clarified or and well-known monumentshas hitherto been lacking. even examined:the presenceof early Anglo-Saxon ln thepublic park known asthe Bullcroft, which occupies inhumation and cremationburials immediatelyoutside most of the north-westernsector of the Anglo-Saxon the south-westdefences of the town (discoveredin the burh, resistivity and gradiometersuryey were carried out 1940s)raises the questionof site statusprior to the burh; 'lost' to locateprimarily the siteof the Norman priory of the natureof the scatteredRoman finds in and aroundthe Holy Trinity - this significantlytwinned with the castle town remains to be addressed;and the environs of in the northernhalf of Wallingford and thesetwo units Wallingford before and after the burh foundationremains suggestingthe relativeavailability of openor lessbuilt- largely obscure. up urbanspace there. Systematically demolished in 1522, Wallingford offers an uniqueopportunity to understand no above-ground features exist of the priory, and an evolving townscapeand its rural settingin a crucial twentieth-centuryrecreational landscaping has further period of Europeanhistorical transition. Late and post- modified the zone.Nonetheless, resistivity coverage has

43 Figttre l7: Wallingford Costle Meadows area, showingthe l{orman and later castle superimposed into the north-east quarter of the Saxor' burh.

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-----<=7/i':..,'',./^?.F= '+z'i'.,.t')^ ''1r( 'J' -----. 2, '2,-/ i":' -''" =--...-., ?1, { ',///r,,r/// , "l / l"l l'> >lllll II\la

Figure IB" Preliminary topographical survey of part of the Ca,stleMeadows area, showing tlte trortl bailel,cle1bnc's and associated landscaping.

45 producedvaluable indications of the likely priory site, landscapingand to the south-eastby the intrusion of suggestinga putative building complex re-using the buildings).Detailed Total Stationtopographic survey of former burh as part of an associatedprecinct. Intensive the earthworksin Castle Meadows was designedto surveywill be requiredin 2003 to determineboth form clarify the structureand configuration of the Nomranand and extent more precisely.Interestingly, topographic latercastle, and to re-assessthe traditional view of a triple surveyalso suggested residual traces of ridge and furrow rampart/wall defensiveorganisation with Civil War acrosspart of thc Bullcroft zone,suggesting agricultural reinforcement.In brief, the cornplexity of landscaping exploitationin associationwith, or more likely post- can be seento reflect an extendedhistory of site usage datingthe monasticsite. extending from late Saxon (burh rampart) to castle impositionand castlegrowth to Victorian ornamental the Bullcroft extendsfully to the The open area of landscaping.Reuse, rnanipulation and redcsigninghave the burh and rnedievaltown (thesein part rampartsof in placesconfused the rnedievalearthworks, although a rnodified internallyand on the summit,but terracedand major finding was the identification of earthwork ditch and bank exceptionallywell preserved with evidencefor medieval landscapingincluding the otherwisc,particularly on the town's north flank), extensiveuse of waterfeatures and managed access lines. surveyed using a Total Station sections were The topographicalanalysis was complementedby a maximum extantdepth of 7m from bank demonstrating resistivityand magnetotnetry survey of a 200 x 20m N-S top to visible ditch bottom. Resistivitysurvey was orientedtransect through the inner bailey and castle directedalso at seekingtraces of possiblelater Saxon defences,to testthe visibility and ciarity of sub-surface planningprevious to the impositionof the priory. town featuresand to checkon the dispositionof the possible Here too valuableresults were achieved,with potential tripledefensive works. tracesof N-S and W-E lanesand possibleintramural tracks;house plots can alsobe suggested,although these Work plannedfor the 2003 seasonwill includc further zoneslikewise require more detailedscrutiny in 2003. geophysicaland topographicalsurvey of the castle Interpretationsare of coursetentative, since the extent complex within its urban setting,the open spaceand and nature of works and buildings associatedwith the ditch-and-rampartdefences of the Kinecroftin thetown's priory are unknown. Most importantly,however, the south-westzone, and the site of a suggestedAnarchy- surveysindicate the Bullcroft to be a zone of much periodsiege-work on the eastbank of the Thames.Morc fruitful archaeologicalpotential. detailedgeophysical investigation will be madeof key zonesof the Bullcroft to clarify the presumedpriory zone The secondprincipal area of studyin2002 comprisedthe and Saxonunits. In addition,a first phaseof landscape Meadows- the complexand extensive earthworks Castle studywill commence,linked to there-analysis of Anglo- preservednorth of the damagedand truncated motte (the Saxonfindspots (e.g. cemeteries at Long Wittcnhamand are heavily damaged through areas south-west Abingdon).