Travel and Communication in the Landscape of Early Medieval Wessex
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THE UNIVERSITY OF WINCHESTER Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Travel and Communication in the Landscape of Early Medieval Wessex Volume 1 of 2: Text Alexander James Langlands Doctor of Philosophy May 2013 This Thesis has been completed as a requirement for a postgraduate research degree of the University of Winchester. Abstract This thesis will explore the theme of travel and communication in early medieval Wessex by examining the physical means, the routes of communication, by which people, ideas and goods moved through the landscape. Whilst there is good evidence for the distribution of Anglo-Saxon type-sites in the landscape, such as towns, manors, wics, assembly places and churches, of the thoroughfares that connected these places, their character and function, relatively little is known. There is as yet no document that sets out the map of Anglo-Saxon roads for Wessex. Employing the rich topographical data that survives in Anglo-Saxon charter boundary clauses, this research project sets about reconstructing aspects of the early medieval route network in ten case-study areas from Hampshire, Devon, Dorset and Wiltshire. The project addresses a number of issues that arise out of the boundary clause evidence. These include critically assessing the role the Roman road network played in the seventh to eleventh centuries and developing an understanding of the hierarchy of routes that had emerged by the tenth century. The impact of improved river crossings is also considered as a factor in the development of the route network, along with the manner in which routes were signposted and inscribed and how access through the landscape was controlled. Finally, the thesis addresses elements of how the nexus of communications changed to reflect developments in the early medieval economy and the concomitant shift in the patterns of trade. 2 Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................... 2 Tables ........................................................................................................................ 5 Declaration of Copyright ............................................................................................. 6 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... 7 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 8 PART 1: Literature Review ............................................................................................ 14 Chapter One: The Landscape of Routes and Communications .................................... 14 Prehistoric Trackways .................................................................................................... 14 Roman Roads ................................................................................................................. 17 Medieval Ways and Paths .............................................................................................. 22 Bridges and Fords ........................................................................................................... 30 Waterways and Water Transport .................................................................................. 34 Chapter Two: Travellers and Journeys ....................................................................... 42 Pilgrimages ..................................................................................................................... 42 Clerics and the Mobility of the Church .......................................................................... 45 Messengers .................................................................................................................... 49 Landscapes of Governance ............................................................................................ 51 An Anglo-Saxon Highway Code ...................................................................................... 55 Driving Droves and Leading Loads ................................................................................. 59 Chapter Three: From Emporia to Markets – Trade Networks in Wessex ..................... 67 Emporia, Minsters and ‘Productive’ Sites ...................................................................... 69 The Emergence of a Market-based Economy ................................................................ 75 PART 1: Research Questions ..................................................................................... 79 PART 2: Sources and Approaches .................................................................................. 82 Chapter Four: Anglo-Saxon Charter Boundary Clauses ............................................... 84 The Veracity of Anglo-Saxon Charters ........................................................................... 84 Boundary Clauses: Their Development and Use ............................................................ 87 Laverstock and the Solving of an Anglo-Saxon Boundary Clause .................................. 94 Chapter Five: Landscape Archaeology and Horizontal Stratigraphy ............................ 99 The ‘Palimpsest’, Horizontal Stratigraphy and the Ordnance Survey .......................... 109 Study Area 1: The Harroway ........................................................................................ 117 PART 2: Methodological Conclusions ....................................................................... 123 PART 3: Data Analysis ................................................................................................. 127 Chapter Six: Hampshire .......................................................................................... 128 Study Area 1: The Harroway, Whitchurch, and the Bourne Rivulet Valley.................. 128 Study Area 2: Winchester and the Upper Itchen Valley .............................................. 132 Chapter Seven: Devon ............................................................................................ 138 Study Area 3: Crediton ................................................................................................. 138 Study Area 4: South Hams ........................................................................................... 143 Chapter Eight: Dorset ............................................................................................. 149 Study Area 5: Isle of Purbeck ....................................................................................... 149 3 Study Area 6: Shaftesbury’s Southern Hinterland ....................................................... 154 Chapter Nine: Wiltshire .......................................................................................... 160 Study Area 7: The Ebble Valley .................................................................................... 160 Study Area 8: The Salisbury Basin ................................................................................ 168 Study Area 9: Bradford-on-Avon and its hinterland .................................................... 173 Study Area 10: Kinwardstone Hundred ....................................................................... 177 PART 4: Discussion ..................................................................................................... 181 Chapter Ten: Roman Roads, Markers and Gates ...................................................... 181 The Roman Road Question .......................................................................................... 181 Markers ........................................................................................................................ 187 Access in the Early Medieval Landscape of Wessex .................................................... 205 Chapter Eleven: Bridges, Herepaths, Trade Routes and the King’s Peace .................. 211 Bridge-work, Fortress-work but no Road-work ........................................................... 212 Herepaths and the Hierarchy of Anglo-Saxon Routes ................................................. 215 Trade and Trade Routes ............................................................................................... 230 Conclusions ................................................................................................................ 242 Abbreviations ............................................................................................................ 250 Bibliography .............................................................................................................. 251 Primary Sources ........................................................................................................... 251 Secondary Sources ....................................................................................................... 253 4 Tables Table 1: Bridges that feature in charter boundary clauses .................................................... 31 Table 2: Simplified shift in trade patterns 650 - 1200 ........................................................... 78 Table 3: Study Area 1 charter boundary clauses ................................................................. 128 Table 4: Study Area 2 charter boundary clauses ................................................................. 133 Table 5: Study Area 3 charter boundary clauses ................................................................. 139 Table 6: Study Area 4 charter