from: Bedwin, O. (ed.) The Archaeology of Essex' proceedings of the Writtle Conference,pp 117-28.(Essex County Council, 1996). trSStrXc.700 - L066 by Stephen Rippon rcduccd importance. The same appears to be true of Ilsscx. r\t Barking, it formed 77o/o(by weight) of the pot- tcry from a Middlc Saxon quarry pit, sealed by a building Introduction whose pottery assemblage contained just 460/ograss-tcm- This papcr will consider llssex from c.700 ro 1066. pered warc (Redknap 1991, 356); a coin of 845-55 was Though thcrc is a widc range of cvidence, and a number of associated with the upper levels of this building. A wood- important excavations on Middle to Late Saxon sites in en mill-leat, dated by dendrochronology to 770, produced the (lounty, this is the first synthcsis of the available mate- an assemblagc of 32%ograss-tempcred ware (Redknap rial. Spatially, this papcr rvill consider thc old County of L99L,356). l)sscx, corresponding to thc Late Saxon shire. krndon, thc seat of thc llast Saxon llishopric, will be rcferrcd to in Thc occurrencc of Middlc Saxon pottery imported from passing, but its archaeology and history are adequately Ipswich, rvhose production appcars to have started c.650 dcalt with elscwhcrc (eg. Vince 1990). and ceascd c.fl50 (Wade 1988, 93), is rather morc wide- sprcad in Essex than has been previously thought, though The sevcnth century saw a number Norman conquest, was of grcat si$nificancc in "Late Saxon Shelly Ware", derived from thc Upper tcrms of political history and landowning, but with rcgard Thamcs Vallcy (Itedknap 1991), while elsewhcre in Ds.sex to the rvider landscape, forms a rathcr arbitrary division. St. Neots Ware from Cambridgcshirc and locally producecl St. Neots-t1pc shcll-tcmpercd wares predominate. St. F'irstly, this paper rvill idcntifu thc sources availablc for Neots Warc is generally thought to have bcen produced the pcriod. Secondly, royal and othcr high status sitcs will from the late ninth century (Rodwcll and tlodwcll 1993, bc considcrcd, includin$ ,,ccntral the cmer$cnce of early 78), though its appearance in Ilssex cannot be closely places", towns and thc church. Thirdly, thc impact of the dated (the occurrcnce of St. Neots and Thctford Ware in Vikings rvill questioned, be and finally, the rural landscapc association rvith ninth-ccntury coins at Witham (Cottrill u'ill be cxamined and emphasiscd as the major area in 1934) is erroneous; Rodwell 1993a, 102). There are also which furthcr research is rcquired. sortreimports of Thctford and Thetford-type Ware, the lat- ter possibly produced in lpswich. In Colchestcr at least, its The Sources ufe may havc ceased by the mid-elcvcnth ccntury (Crummy 1981, 40). During both the Middle Thc matcrial availablc for this pcriod though varied, is and Late Saxon period therc are also a limited number rathcr sparse comparcd to nei$hbouring areas such as of high sta- tus sitcs rvith imports from the Kcnt (cg. Ilrooks 19f19;llvcritt 19ti6) and East Anglia (cg. continent (l.ig. l). Thcreforc, durin$, our period, a near Newman 1992; Williamson 1993). Documcntary sources continuous p.rtt"ry sequencc exists, though such material such as the Anglo-Saxon (lhroniclc provide a skcleton remains rare and is only fSuffolk). Archaeological sitcs of this pcriod have proved difficult thistory of Essex is dominatcd by sitcs with high dcpositcd, and scicntific dating mcthods nccd to be morc status associations,particularll'u'ith thc (lrown, but also rvidely applied both on burials (cg. Iluggins 1991a), occu- thc ohurch. A unified llast Saxon hingdom probably patithe Rodings and Dengic (llailey and ltcdknap 19ftft). 1988, 34), not unlike thc earlv cstatcs idcntificd in Kcnt (lDveritt1986, 75-9).ln In llarly Saxon llsscx, sand-tcmpcred pottcry prcdominat- thc sevcnth oentury, thc kingdom ed, probably cxtended as far as lvliddlcsex and Surrey -though during thc scvcnth century, this was gradually (Dumvillc 19t19; Yorke 1990). Around 700, rcplaccd by frass-tcmpcred warcs (Cunningham 198i, Middlescx, Surrcy and London wcre lost 360; Ilamcro\\' 19f17; 1993, 22-59). Cunningham (1982, to }Iercia, and though Ilssex itself appears to hara bccn sulrjcct 3(r0) claims that thc cighth and ninth ccnturics rvcrc to limitcd N,Icrcian ovcrlordship thereaftcr, it remaincd an indepcndcnt largcl.v accramic in llsscx, though thc trvo sites usuailv king- clom until around fi20 rvhcn citcd as cvidencc f

rL7 Stephen Rippon

t-rrs.. Hadstockt._ ( { \ \-J .J \ Saffron Walden Wicken Bonhunt > -l.4X S Colchester St Osyth oMt' Clacton

Springfietd S - -- {

\,4\ T

l'i9.1 llicldlc Saxon F)sscx:Imported }latcrial

kinfl,'s hcad rvas rcplaccd b-v a sphinx, pcrhaps rccallinf, ccntral and northcrn Ilsscx thcrc also appcars to bc a cor- past classical f,lorics of (blchestcr (\Ictcalf 1978; 1984, rclation lvith llarll' Saxon ccmctcrics. This usc by thc 34). Ilarly cighth-ccntury "Series ll" sceattasma1'also be Saxon clitc of prc-cxisting monumcnts (also Springfield derived from F)sscx(\'lctcalf 1993, 94-704). Lyons: Iluohlc.v and llcd$cs 19ti7), secn clscwhcrc in Thc l

118 ESSEXc700-1066

\ r\r'r',/x a E E # F E fi E N = #€ fr i F'f;f i 3 k s e : : E -\ i I,JJ FF ? { F 6 "r, Fg; z ;?" ; ; E: J B F i 3:. z-E f;3 rF E a; Ee fi$ d B; .'" E .c0 loil] L_i\>< \ & lll'.. = o r 3 LJ-, F a LrJ I o E -v. IJ O 'i[ N

,\?i X a a iJl

a

a

c! L-trfr qc

( >< s>= ; ) € ( E Irr t IJ o F \ o F tr \r'. r./ 3 "f' ) \tr. ) \ / I () ,/ o J I,IJ tL II . aloo /\w \ re a I z /-.-..Qr\t; F a .\," aH 't! cc a-al uJ a ? I tl

F z :l I z j c0 z ci'.\r r - tiJ ';'i N, ..? Y '., - C) N \/.,t 3 2 o

119 Stephen Rippon

TABLB 1 : ROYAL\ILLS

Royal lloman Romnn Pa{an llundred llundred l'entr oo Demesne lload Tbwn Cemetery Moot Market ? Payrnents (Domcsday)

llrightlingsca Alresford X (lhesterford ((lhesterford) Chcsterford Colchester X Camulodunum Colchcster l,exden Law{ord X Ilavcring X Durolitium Dagcnham Ilatfield X Maldon (Ileybridge) Hcybridgc N. Benflcet X (Wickford) Waltham Waltham X Witham X (Ir.y Chimncys)" L. lJraxted Witham Wickcn/Newport Wcndcns \\rendens X Writtlc X Caesaromngus Broomfield, Writtlc X X Springfield

" Tcmplc/Church site ""provisi

Ilach of thc major sites will now be described in rurn, Therefore, evidence for a villa refalis at (lolchester in thc demonstrating how a u'ide range of evidcncc is both nec- eighth and ninth ccnturics is tcntatirc. Ilou'evcr, a royal essary and desirablc in ordcr to understand the develop- vill was certainly established within thc rvalls sometimc mcnt of thcsc centres. aftcr thc carly tenth century, in thc arca latcr occupied bv the Norman castle (Drury 1982). In 916, lldward thc Colchester Eldcr lay sie$,eto Colchestcr, cxpcllcd thc Danish army (Orummy The ftrrmer classical grandeur of Colchester provides an and establishcd a burh 1981, 24; Dodgson obvious location for a royal vill, its rcusc lcgitimising Ilast 1991). Morphological and mctrical analysis of the field- Saxon power. Tcntativc support for this hlpothesis oomes and property-boundary pattern suggcsts that much fCamulodurum (Metcalf 1993, fl0-1). 32-40,70). l{oman (lolchester appcars to have been virtually aban- doned in the carly fifth century, and the scatter of Early Maldon Saxon huts docs not suggest any degrce of continued The lloman small town at Ileybridgc dcclined in thc urban lifc (Crummy 19t31; 1984, 73-5; 1.992, 118-20, fourth ccntury, though fifth ccntury occupation is testi- 333). Sevcral ltoman extra-mural cemeteries sarv contin- fied by several Saxon "sunkcn-fcaturcd buildings" and ucd burial in thc fifth to scvcnth ccnturies (Crummy pagan Saxon burials in thc lloman cemctery (Drury and 198f , 6-21), though thcy may havc scrvcd a rvider areas Wickenden 19ft2). In the l{iddlc Saxon pcriod, the focus than just the town itself. of occupation appears to have shifted across the river, to the hill at }Ialdon. A shcrd of Ipsrvich Warc from closc to Thcre is almost no evidence for occupation between the thc later church (\\'ebstcr and Oherry 1973,140-1), and cighth and ninth ccnturics (Orummy 1981, 23;1992,34), an carly eighth-ccntury socatta (ltigold and }letcalf 19ti4, and the sparsity of Middlc Saxon grass-tcmpcrcd pottery 257) are the earliest indications of occupation. The place- and total abscncc of Ipswich Ware may su$$cst a $enuinc namc mcans markcd (Itcancy hiatus of occupation (thc Ipsrvich Warc shcrd shown by "Maldon" "hill by a cross" (1993b, Wade 19t18, fig. 54. is crroneous; \Vadc pcrs. cdgson1991, 170). A plausiblc location of this has 376-7),lics bcsidc thc ltiver (lolne around 3 km to the recentl-v bccn cstablishcd (llcdwin 1992, 2l), though south cast of thc Roman torvn. n scvcnth-century thcrc is littlc cvidence for contemporary occupation u'ith- \'lcrovingian vcsscl has bcen discovcrcd thcrc (Orummy in its defcnces(\L'ebstcr and Oherry 1973,140-1). llather, 1981, 2L-2). Thus, thc situation in Colchcster may bc sim- tcnth century and later occupation appears to havc becn ilar to that in London, rvhcrc a tradin$ settlemcnt lay out- focuscd just to thc cast, around thc sitc of thc medieval sidc thc ltoman rvalls, whereas thc ro,val vill was insidc church and markct plaoc (Ilcdwin L992,21; Ilcnnctt and (Iloblc-v 1988, 73; Vincc 1990). Gilman 1989, 151).

r20 ESSEXc700-1066

Witham Greqt Chesterford "Witham" was thc sitc of another burh, constructcd dur- (]reat Chcsterford was held in 1066 by Earl lldgar, king ing King lldu'ard's campaign nhunt, but ltickling just to the south appcars to be Saxon (Clarke et aI. L993). namcd after "Ilicola", wifc of the latc sixth-century king Sledda of the lJast Saxons (Iteaney 1935, S32), and it rcmaincd royal dcmcsnc until Domesday. A possible BarkW/ Haz.:erinS (Fig. 2) Ilaverin$ rvas anothcr ancicnt dcrivation of thc ncighbouring place-name euendon is royal man or at Domcsclay, inoluding "Qucens valley" (ltcancy 1935, 53). The ltoyal conncction the vills of l{omford and ll.rnchurch. It rvas is strensthcncd by thc probablc l.cati.n .f thc Ddwardian assessedas tcn hides, rvhich secms rather low. The cxpla- nation is burh of "Wi$,in$amcrc" at Neuport, a parish that seems to that thc Ilavcring hide was 480 acres, rather havc becn carvecl out of Wicln (Ilaslam 198f1, 2r)). The standin[ in cffect 40 hidcs. A varicty of evidcncc suggests thai much 'f parish church at Nc'rp.rt is thirtcenth ccntun', but its thc ancient llcc.ntrcc Ilundrecl, which included the later cruciftl7 (Ilart 197r, No. 4). !'our hidcs ancl eight 18). freemcn in Lc1't.n .rved dues t. thc hin$s manor at [[al'ering, and East and \vest llam *'cre royar lancl until At Domesdav, Ncuport paid 2 ,,fcrm", ni$hts thc provi- 958 (Ilart 1971, No. 15; VCII tDsscx\rI, 8). \\hcn thesc var- si.ns t. maintain thc liins's household, which suggcstsit ious estatcs arc plottcd, thcy form a discrctc block of ter- rvas thc last surviving clement of a much largci royal ritory covcrin$ thc s.uth-$'est corncr of lNsscx,dcfined to cstatc (Itound 1903,3l),'nc clemcnt of *,hich appcarsto the north by a major sinu.us boundan'rvhich fnlyspeculatc as t. thc othcr clcmcnts i' this territ.rv, th.ugh Itickling and eucndon Horndon-(h:The-HilII f.rm a physically discrctc bl'ck of land o*"..",1 as lo A Latc hidcs, and Wickcn llonhunt, Widdington, Newport and saxon mint rvas bricfly establishcd at llorndon, part \vcndcns Ambo f

121 StephenRippon

Thc only othcr cvidcncc for thcrc having bcen a scttlc- churchcs rverc initiall"vbuilt as cstate chapcls by thc krrd ment hcre this da1', ty, rvith coastal or rivcrsidc krcations particularly favoured though its dating is still unccrtain (Ohristie et aI. L979). (F'ig. 2). Thc carly foundations wcrc on roval lands, and concentratccl around thc periphery of thc kingdom, a sim- lllscwhcre, all that \\'c oan say is that thc prcscnt medicval ilar distribution to that in Kcnt (llrooks 19f19,t'ig. 4.2). stonc church $'as not thc earlicst on a sitc. For cxamplc, At llarkin$, no cvidcncc

r22 ESSEXc700-1066 is unclear rvhcther thcy ever cstablishcd a permancnt set- into 16 manors by Domcsday. In the mcdieval period these tlcmcnt or mcrcly a tcmporary encampment. wcrc grouped into 8 parishcs. ThercfWaltham Abbey (Iluggins that tend to be around thirty to ftrrty hidcs; llarking 40; Ilavcring 40; l9tttla), but thcsc simply represcnt individuals buricd with Itodings 29; Tollesbury 42; Waltham Iloly Oross 4O; picces of Scandinavian metahvork. Thc prescnce of thcse Wickcn 40. These estates cxchangeablc artefacts, such as a pin from Wickcn tend to be ccntred on scttle- mcnts in rivcr valleys, with thcir boundaries I]Norfolk and Suffoll< show no major regcnera- Vilt ficlclwalking. Ilowcver, considering Williamson had to ficldrvalk arcas in cxtremc dctail and under ideal condi- Rural Settlement and the Landscape tions in ordcr to find thc handful

123 Stephen Rippon

: Valley Soils I DomesdayManors O Moated Sites

o - a FieldwalkedAreas I Roman o' X Early Saxon O Late Saxon o : oO,

t: /o

-' \. ') t, \ -i.,'-- \ Lr rColchester Hall .:' ,::1 ,' o

Fig. 3 The evolution of Latc Saxon settlcmcnt around Stansted Airp

In Norfolk and Suffolk, cxtensive fieldwalking shows a The largcst scalc cxcavation is at Springfield Lyons shift in settlcment during the Middle Sa.ron period, with (Bucklcy and llcdgcs 19fi7, 24-3L). Thc small amount of Ipswich Warc tending to concentrate around later church- poksand Wallis rccordcd along thc rvholc coast, and rcccnt acrial ph

124 ESSEXc700-1066

Ilsscx was a rclativcly rvell-rvoodcd county (Darby lgTl). In llsscx, thc church never camc to dominate the land- Like thc coastal marshes, upland heaths and lvoods were scapc. It was a major landowner, but thc estatcs of evcn exploited through intercommoning (ltackham 19tt6, 14; thc major religious houses tended to be dispcrsed (eg. St. l{ippon 199L,58). \\kxrdland was used faddrcss but fron-r c.700 this was undcr }lercian control. It is a number of issucs. Thc developmcnt of torvns is pKent (eA. Pctchcy 1983, Fig. 19.1). Anothcr cxamplc

t25 Stephen Rippon llsscx has sccn a considcrable amount of church archaeol- Acknowledgements of,y particularly in thc 1970s, though there has been lcss I wish to thank all thc staff of thc lJsscx Oounty (louncil rcscarch into the cvolution of thc ecclesiastical hierarchy Archacology Section for their help in my rcsearch, cspc- as a whole. Important infredress the bias torvards high status sites. Ilcrc, thc ponallorvs. [n particular, wc nccd to study the rural Lcad Objects \\'ith Official Ooin Typcs", in Vincc, A.(1. cd. landscape as an cntirc systcm, rathcr than isolatc individ- ,,l.spects rl Saxon uruI l,{onrurn London V'ril. 2: Itinrls rtrul ual componcnts such as settlements and ficlds. Lar$c- Ilnr:ironntentel D,uidence.Ixrndon and lliddlcscx ;\rchacol. Soc. Paper scale ficldwalking and selcctivc cxcavation must play a Special 12, 279-36. Astill, (1.(]. and Lobb, S..f. (1989) "llxcavation of Prchistoric, part gcncsis in undcrstanding thc of thc medieval settlc- Ii its llcnthanr, .1. (1771) Ilistory und Al/tirlttities oJ the Oonvantwtl cnvironmcntal/landscape contcxt and tcnurial rclation- rmd Cuthetlrul oJ llly. Oarnbridgc. lliddlc, f.I. (19[J7) ships bctwccn scttlements. "Thc llook Norton Iloard of lU48: A VikinA Ilurial l,'rom Oxfordshire?", Oxonien.sis 52, 1fl6-95. Thc tcchniquc that can bind all thcsc othcr strands of cvi- llispham, J. (l9tt6) "llcccnt Nletal Detector l'inds from llssex and dcncc tthe preceding, and succccding land- PhD Thcsis, \\rcstfield Oollegc, Ixrndon. scapcs. Thcsc boundarics must, h

126 ESSEXc700-1066

Ilucklcy, D.(1. and IIcdScs, .I.D. (l 9tl7)'the lJrrnxe;\ge uruI Srl-ron ()ellinS, II. (1992) "A (lhronoloSy for Suffolk Placc-Namcs", in Settletnents ut Sprin{fiekl Lyon^s, Dssex.' tln Interbn lleport. Oancr, NI.O.II. e,J.The Afe of Sutkm IIo, 53-64. Iioydcll Prcss, Iissex (lountv (kruncil Archaeolof,y Section Occasional Paper 5, \\bodbridgc. (lhclmsford. Gilman, P. (19U9) "llxcavations in lDssex,l9{Ju', Il.rl.II. 20,157- Ilurnctt, S. (l9fl7) "A Prorcncal Solidus from llau'kncll, Ilsscx", 71. I{urn. Chn 147, 182-3. Gilman, P. (1990) "lJxcavationsin Essex l9[f9', Il.tl.II. 21, 126- Oantrrr, L.II. and Ilathcrlcv, .1. (1979) "Thc \Iedio'al Parks of 39. I,)n$land", Geofrtrytlry 64, 71-85. (iilman, P. (1991) ".r\rchacologvin Ilsscx, 1990", D.il.II. 22,148- (llrristic, II., Olscn, O. and Ta"vlor, II.I{. (1979) "Thc \\krodcn 161. (lhurch of St. Andrcu' at (]recnsted, llsscx", Antfu. .L l,lx.92- (]ilnran, l>. (1992) "r\rchac

r27 Stephen Rippon

L?\€r, P.G. (1930) "Sunec(Lstre, or the Camp of Asheldham", ILodrvcll, \\'.J. (1980) "llcclesiastical Sitcs and Structures in T,I',A.5. N.S. XIX., 1IiO.s Ilssex", in Iluckley, D.G ed. l9fl0, I ltl-22. \IacGorvan, (1987) K. "Saxon Timbcr Structures l'rom The Rodrvell, \\'. (1993a) The Origin^s uruI llurly Duseloptnent of llarking Abbey llxcarations 1985-6", Dssex .Iourruil 22,35-8. Vtithcnn, D.ssex: ,,1 Sturly in Settlernent und trbrtilicatkm, Ilcf)onald, .I. and Snooks, G.D. (1985) "The Detcrminants of Prehistoric to Medieual. Oxbou'Ilonograph, 26, Oxford. Ilanorial Incomc in Domcsday lln$land", ,L Dcon, Ilist. XL\r, llodrvell, \\'. (1993b) "The llattlc of ,,l.s.scrufunand its \,Iemorial .541-56. Church: A lleappraisal", in Coopcr cd. 1993a, IZT-lStl. N{edlycChelmsford Archacol. Trust. Itcp. 4.2; (l.ll.A. llcs. Ilep. Mctcalf, D.M. (l9tl4) "\lonetary Circulation in Southern llnAland 80, [,ondon. in thc First half of thc F)ighrhCcnrury". in ltill. D. and Ileicalf, Ilound, II. (1903) The Domesday liook. VCJI..Il.s.sex, D.NI. ed. Sceuttu^s in Engkrut urul on the Continenr. I].A.R. VoI. I, 333- Ilritish Serics 12f1.Oxford. .s78. Rumble, A. (19{i3) Domesfu4t llook. NIetcalf, D.NI. (1993) ThrSm^sc.lsttntl Sceuttus in the Ashrnoleun Phillimorc, Chichester. Saul'er, P. (1983) Royal 'Tun' in Prc-Oonqucst Museurn Oxlord. hlwne l. Royal Numismatic Society and "The Bngland", in Ashmolcan Muscum, Inndon. \\'ormald, l'. ed. Ideal arul lleality in Frrtnhi^sharuI Anglo-Saxon Society: Swdies N{etcalf, D.M. and Lcan, \V. (1993) "Thc lJattlc of llaldon and the Presented to J.M. Walkrce-Iludrill. l\laakrvclls, MintinS of (lrux Pennics in llssex": Post IIoc Propter IIoc?; in Oxford. Ooopcr, .I. 1993a, 205-224. Scragg, D. cd. (1991) The Buttle r{' Muklon tt.D. 991. (lcntre \'Iilton, l]. (l9fl4) "Ilxcavations at St. Clcment's (lhurch, \\'cst Illackwcll/Thc N{anchcstcr for AnSlo-Saxon Studics. Thurr

128