Monasteries in Somerset Mick Aston
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16 Monasteries in Somerset Mick Aston Origins While we can be reasonably sure when Christianity was adopted as a religion in Somerset (Thomas 1981) it is much more difficult to know when monas- ticism was established. Finds of archaeological material which is undoubtedly early Christian show us that there were Christians in Somerset in the late Roman period. The mausoleum at Wells, the predecessor of the later churches and cathedrals demonstrates the structural evidence we can expect (Aston and Burrow 1982b). The problem with early monasticism is that we are not sure of what the archaeology of such sites would look like and the chronology is debatable. There are a number of possible scenarios. It is likely that there were early monasteries or communities of hermits in Somerset, rather like others we see in the western Church, and these could date to the later fifth Figure 16.1: Air photograph of Glastonbury Tor. The and sixth centuries. Such sites existed in Ireland, in excavations near the church tower on the summit nearby southern Wales at Caerwent, Llantwit Major indicate a probable early hermit settlement. (the former Llanilltud Fawr) and Llancarfan, and probably in Devon and Cornwall. Philip Rahtz’s work at Glastonbury Tor (Figure 16.1) suggests a 1992, 250) could have had a monastic element, with site of this type and Carhampton may be another but a possible later move downhill to the church site, it is difficult to point to others in the county at this associated with St Cynog (Bowen 1977). date (Rahtz 1993). It is probable that our ideas are Can we identify any other candidates for early too heavily influenced by later monasticism; there is monasteries or hermit sites? Somerset, between no clear reason why monasteries should be neces- Wales and Brittany, close to Cornwall, and with sarily distinguishable from high status secular sites extensive marshes with islands and numerous caves at this time, though it would help if we had inscribed in the uplands would seem to be a good candidate stones, crosses, reliquaries, bells, croziers and so on! with a landscape ideal for hermits in hermitages. It is possible, for example, that at some time the They may have existed but we have no evidence as enclosure of Cadbury at Congresbury (Rahtz et al. yet. Whether there were any larger monastic estab- 99 100 Mick Aston archaeology; there must be much to learn at Glas- tonbury for this period, despite the extensive earlier excavations (Aston and Leech 1977, 63). From the seventh century, if not earlier, we should expect the provision of churches at the centres of major estates in the county. We would expect the monasteries discussed above to establish churches on their estates; as Christianity gained ground as the state religion we would expect the royal estates to be provided with churches. The churches, the “minsters” of the current liter- ature (Blair 1988; Blair and Sharpe 1992) are diffi- Figure 16.2: The site of Bruton Abbey. St Aldhelm cult to define and even more difficult to demonstrate founded a monastery here and there was a Benedic- archaeologically. Current research tries to define a tine house here in the Middle Ages. hierarchy of churches – looking for subsidiary status with churches and chapels to a central minster. This seems to work in many cases drawing our atten- lishments at this early date (c.450–c.650) is perhaps tion in Somerset (Aston 1986) to Chew Magna, unlikely – there are no probabilities suggested in North Petherton, South Petherton, Taunton, Chewton later documentation. Mendip and Bruton as potentially important and We are perhaps on firmer ground in the seventh perhaps early, minsters. Analysis of early estates, and eighth centuries. Whatever the “conquest” of admittedly usually from later documentation, rein- Somerset by “Anglo-Saxons” consisted of in the forces the idea that these are the main centres, the seventh century we can see the definite influence focal places, in the Saxon landscape. of the Roman church with St Aldhelm, as abbot We do not know what these sites would have of Malmesbury, then as first bishop of Sherborne looked like and how they would have operated (Dorset) in 705 who died at Doulting in Somerset as religious centres in detail. The contemporary in 709. He is said to have founded monasteries documentation is unhelpful and misleading – the at Bruton (Figure 16.2), probably at Frome and terms used, monasteria, ecclesia, etc, can mean possibly at Doulting. We assume that the parish anything from a fully developed monastery, such as churches at these places mark the sites of these we assume at Bath, Glastonbury or Muchelney, to monasteries but there is not a shred of archaeolog- a church with a group of priests – probably most ical evidence for this. minsters were like the latter. The seventh century was the great period for With the Viking raids from the late eighth century founding monasteries, following the conversion of onwards and the terrible disruption of the ninth the Saxon parts of England to Christianity (Aston century, full monasticism seems to have been extin- 1993b). Bath is said to have been founded around guished in England. But minster churches and 676 as a nunnery (in all probability at this date a clergy must have continued to serve the populace. mixed house of monks and nuns under an abbess) Our problem with the eighth and ninth centuries and Muchelney possibly in 693 (Knowles and in Somerset as elsewhere, is we have no structural Hadcock 1971). There is also no reason why the evidence (Taylor and Taylor 1965), few sculptural main site at Glastonbury, below the Tor, could fragments (Foster 1987), few finds of a religious type not have been developed at the same period, with for this period (such as reliquaries, bells, burials etc) the earlier “celtic” establishment on the Tor being and there have been no excavations on any minster replaced by a more fashionable Roman-style layout site in the county. Along with the tenth century on the extensive lowland site nearby. If we did not monasteries, these sites are the most neglected in have the later legendary accounts to confuse us this is British archaeology – our knowledge of them in what we would expect – Glastonbury would then be Somerset is as dark as it is elsewhere. another example (like Ely, Abingdon, Worcester and Monasticism must have been at a very low ebb in so on) of the extensive lowland Anglo-Saxon sites. southern England by the reign of Alfred the Great We know little about these monasteries from their (to 899). He founded the nunnery at Shaftesbury in Monasteries 101 Figure 16.3: Glastonbury Abbey. The ruins of one of the greatest and most wealthy of the abbeys of the Middle Ages in England. Dorset (for his daughter Aethelgifu) and Athelney in Levels in Saxon times had hermitages? How many the Somerset marshes for monks in 888. At the latter were never recorded or lie behind the later refer- he had difficulty in recruiting men willing to under- ences to chapels at such places. Did, for example, take the monastic life, as Asser tells us (Keynes and Nyland (Andredesey – St Andrew’s Island), Marchey Lapidge 1983), so whether the community survived, (Martinsey – St Martin’s), or Oath in Aller, as well as following the full monastic regime, until the refoun- the better known Beckery and Sprawlesmede (later dation of many monasteries in the mid tenth century Burtle) have hermits at this time? must remain uncertain. Athelney seems to have been chosen because The site chosen for Athelney abbey was on the it was on the edge of the royal estate at North island in the fen where there had been a hermitage Petherton, rather like Muchelney seems to have been and which Alfred had used as a guerrilla base in at the north-west edge of the Martock estate. Should his campaign against the Danes. A geophysical we expect other hermitages to be located in “liminal” survey carried out in 1994 established the layout of situations with regard to the early estate structure of the medieval monastery on the hill top, around the the county? (Aston 1986, fig. 7.4). Victorian monument (Aston 1995, 33). William of In the mid-tenth century a great change took place Malmesbury’s description suggests an earlier church which we can now see as the beginning of medieval with a central square surrounded by four apses, monasticism in England which was to last through rather like Germigny des Pré in the Loire Valley, to the Dissolution in the 1530s – the best part of six and this may have been sited at the east end of the hundred years. Glastonbury Abbey was refounded ridge where part of the later monastic church has by Dunstan in 940 (Figure 16.3); this was followed a building on a different alignment. The context by Bath c.963, Athelney c.960, Muchelney c.959 of the site would certainly repay further investi- (Knowles and Hadcock 1971); Wells had become the gation both archaeologically and in its local land- cathedral for the county with a college of canons in scape context. How many other islands in the 909. 102 Mick Aston What did these monasteries look like? We know Generally few monasteries were founded by the a little about Muchelney where a pre-conquest crypt first generation of Normans in England. They (of very debatable date) remains but we only know preferred to donate estates to Norman monasteries the general position of the church at Bath. At back home in Normandy. These foreign monasteries Glastonbury the extensive excavations by Ralegh often established “priories” or “cells” on the manors Radford and others have never been fully published granted to them; few of these have left much trace so the detailed evidence is not readily available for and we should not expect to find sites with fully the reconstructions that have been produced.