The Churches, Settlements and Archaeology of Ea Medieval Norfolk Matthew Godfrey April 2007 PhD Archaeology UMI Number: U224099 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U224099 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Minsters, Estates and Parish Boundaries: the Churches, Settlements and Archaeology of Early Medieval Norfolk. Author Matthew Godfrey Abstract The primary aim of this research has been to examine the development of the parish in Norfolk. This has been achieved by focussing on the earlier arrangements of great estates and pastoral care. The development of parishes is often linked to the nucleation of settlement, provision of local churches and the development of open field agriculture. In Norfolk these developments are poorly understood due to a lack of early documentary evidence, a complex pattern of landholdings portrayed in Domesday and the disruption caused by Scandinavian settlement. Traditional views on these territorial organisations are critically re-examined using an extensive compilation of settlement, church and archaeological data from the county SMR. This study has revealed a complex landscape that cannot be easily generalised. It challenges existing views about the distribution of settlement and local churches, the usefulness of Domesday and previous assumptions about the impact of Scandinavian settlement. Case studies have been analysed in detail to demonstrate the many subtle differences in the landscape evident at a local level that are not apparent at a county level of consideration. There is evidence to support the idea that great estates were once present in the county, but there is little to demonstrate that a system of minster churches once existed. This research has also shown that parish units can be used to demonstrate many aspects of the landscape that cannot easily be recovered by other methods. At the core of this study is the use of GIS data management software which has proven to be a powerful research tool for landscape analysis and allows contrasts and comparisons to be made with the data that would not have been possible by other methods. Contents Abbreviations vii Acknowledgements viii List of figures ix Chapter One: Introduction 1 Chapter Two: Topography, Christianity and Early Sources 2.1 Topography 8 2.2 Early Christianity 11 2.3 Place-Name Evidence 16 2.3.1 Early Place-Names 17 2.3.2 Scandinavian Place-Names 18 2.3.3 Topographical Place-Names 19 2.4 Early Charters 20 2.5 Domesday Book 21 2.5.1 Population 21 2.5.2 Agriculture 26 2.5.3 Woodland 27 2.5.4 Churches 27 2.6 Conclusion 28 Chapter Three: Great Estates and Minster Churches 3.1 Great Estates 30 3.1.1 Review of the Evidence 30 3.1.2 Fragmentation of the Multiple Estates 33 3.1.3 Berewicks and Place-Names 33 3.1.4 Boundaries 34 3.1.5 Multiple Estates in Norfolk: current perspectives 35 3.2 Minster Churches 39 3.2.1 Minster Terminology 39 3.2.2 The Minster Model 40 3.2.3 The break up of the Minster System 43 3.2.4 Minsters in Domesday Book 45 i 3.2.5 Post-Conquest Documentary Evidence 46 3.2.5 Minster Churches in Norfolk: current perspectives 47 3.3 Conclusions 49 Chapter Four: Village, Field, Parish and Hundred 4.1 Villages, Fields and Settlement Evolution 52 4.1.1 Field Systems 54 4.1.2 Discussion 55 4.2 Parishes 59 4.2.1 Terminology 60 4.2.2 Evolution of the Parish 60 4.2.3 Discussion 64 4.3 Hundreds and Deaneries 67 4.3.1 Hundreds 68 4.3.2 Discussion 72 4.3.3 Deaneries 72 4.3.4 Discussion 73 4.4 Conclusions 75 Chapter Five: Early Churches, the Building Evidence 5.1 The Romanesque 76 5.1.1 Anglo-Saxon Architecture 78 5.1.2 Late Anglo-Saxon Architecture 80 5.1.3 Saxo-Norman Architectural Details 80 5.1.4 Norman Architecture 82 5.2 Regional Studies 84 5.2.1 Archaeological evidence 84 5.2.2 Building materials 85 5.2.3 Multiple churches 88 5.2.4 Structural evidence 89 5.3 Conclusions 92 Chapter Six: Maps and Methodology 6.1 Mapping 94 6.1.1 Resolution of the Base Map 97 ii 6.1.2 Photocopying 98 6.1.3 Drawing and Tracing 98 6.1.4 Digitising 98 6.2 Database Methodology 99 6.3 General Database Details 99 6.3.1 Geographical Location 99 6.3.2 Parish Place-Names 100 6.3.3 Hundreds 100 6.3.4 Deaneries 101 6.4 Settlement Database Specific Categories 101 6.4.1 Village Classification 101 6.4.2 Place-Name First Recorded/ Separate vill in Domesday 108 6.4.3 Place-Name Classification/ Origins 108 6.4.4 Place-Name Details 108 6.4.5 SMR Data 109 6.5 Church Database Specific Categories 109 6.5.1 Dedications 109 6.5.2 Churchyards 110 6.5.3 Plan Form 111 6.5.4 Dating Evidence 114 6.5.5 Domesday Evidence 116 6.5.6 Secondary Data 117 Chapter Seven: Church Data Analysis 7.1 Architectural evidence 118 7.1.1 Primary Dating Evidence 118 7.1.2 Secondary Dating Evidence 121 7.1.3 Plan Forms 124 7.2 Documentary Evidence 131 7.2.1 Early Charters 131 7.2.2 Domesday Churches 132 7.2.3 Post-Conquest Documentary Sources 135 7.3 Discussion 137 iii 7.4 Conclusions 144 Chapter Eight: Archaeological Evidence 8.1 Metal-Detecting 145 8.2 Field-Walking 147 8.3 The Pottery 148 8.3.1 Ipswich-Type Ware 148 8.3.2 Thetford-Type ware 149 8.4 The Metalwork 150 8.4.1 Middle Saxon Metalwork 150 8.4.2 Late Saxon Metalwork 151 8.4.3 Coins 153 8.5 SMR Data 153 8.6 Discussion 159 8.7 Conclusions 161 Chapter Nine: Settlement Data Analysis 9.1 Settlement Types 162 9.1.1 Dispersed settlement types 164 9.1.2 Nucleated settlement types 166 9.2 Place-Name Categories 168 9.2.1 Habitative place-names 168 9.2.2 Topographical place-names 171 9.2.3 Agricultural place-names 172 9.2.4 Woodland place-names 174 9.2.5 Religious place-names 175 9.2.6 Administrative type place-names 175 9.2.7 Discussion 177 9.3 Scandinavian Place-Names 180 9.3.1 By Place-Names 181 9.3.2 Grimston Hybrid Place-Names 183 9.3.3 Thorpe Place-Names 185 9.3.4 Other Scandinavian Place-Names 186 9.3.5 Discussion 188 9.4 Conclusions 190 iv Chapter Ten: Case Studies Case studies 192 Holt case Study 194 10.2.1 Parish Boundaries 195 10.2.2 Churches 197 10.2.3 Settlement 199 10.2.4 Place-names 200 10.2.5 Field-Names 201 10.2.6 Archaeological Evidence 202 10.2.7 Domesday Book 203 10.2.8 Discussion 206 Loddon Case Study 208 10.3.1 Parish Boundaries 209 10.3.2 Churches 211 10.3.3 Settlement 215 10.3.4 Place-Names 215 10.3.5 Archaeological Evidence 216 10.3.6 Domesday Book 217 10.3.7 Discussion 220 Swaffham Case Study 223 10.4.1 Parish Boundaries 224 10.4.2 Churches 225 10.4.3 Settlement 227 10.4.4 Place-Names 229 10.4.5 Archaeological Evidence 230 10.4.6 Domesday Book 231 10.4.7 Discussion 234 Conclusions 237 Chapter Eleven: Conclusions 239 11.1 Settlements and parishes 240 11.2 Archaeological evidence 241 11.3 Great estates 242 11.4 Local churches 247 11.5 Domesday 249 v 11.6 Minster churches 250 11.7 Future Research 252 Bibliography 253 Appendix CD ROM of Settlement and Church Databases Inside back cover vi Abbreviations DMV Deserted Medieval Village EAA East Anglian Archaeology Report OE Old English OSc Old Scandinavian OS Ordnance Survey SMR Sites and Monuments Record Acknowledgements I am extremely grateful to Deirdre O’Sullivan for her patient supervision of this thesis and her invaluable help and support. I would also like to thank Mark Gillings for his assistance with GIS and David Edwards for second reading this thesis. I have been very fortunate in finding people who have generously given help and advice through out the course of my research and my thanks also go to Jeremy Taylor, Neil Christie, Ian Whitbread and Ruth Young. I have made a number of visits to the Norfolk SMR and I am grateful for the assistance from all the staff there. I would also like to thank all my friends for their constant support in particular Mike Hawkes and Pauline Lawrence for numerous cups of coffee and lunchtime discussions. My final thanks go to my parents without whose constant support this research would not have been possible. List of Figures 2.1 Soil types and topography 9 2.2 The South Elmham ferding 15 2.3 Domesday population per square kilometre 23 2.4 Domesday population per square mile arranged by hundreds 23 2.5 Details of Domesday rural population 24 3.1 Adjacency of Norfolk parishes 38 3.2 The pattern of parishes around North Walsham 49 4.1 Middle and late Saxon settlement in Mileham 57 4.2 The parishes of Norfolk 66 4.3 The hundreds of Norfolk 71 4.4 The deaneries of Norfolk 74 5.1 The Saxo-Norman church of Great Dunham 82 5.2 The multiple Churches of Reepham and Whitwell 89 5.3 The round towered church of West Lexham 90 5.4 Summary of Goode’s suggested dates for round towered churches 91 6.1 The area northeast of Wymondham c.