Excavations In North Elmham Park 1967-1972. Vol. 1 [1]

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EAST ANGLIAN ARCHAEOLOGY

EAST ANGLIAN ARCHAEOLOGY REPORT NO. 9 NORFOLK

NORFOLK ARCHAEOLOGICAL UNIT Norfolk Museums Service

Gressenhall

1980

Excavations In North Elmham Park 1967- 1972

by

Peter Wade- Martins

with documentary research by David Yaxley

EAST ANGLIAN ARCHAEOLOGY REPORT No.9

Published by The Norfolk Archaeological Unit, Union House, Gressenhall, De re ham, Norfolk, NR20 4DR, in conjunction with The Scole Archaeological Committee Ltd.

Typed by Joan Daniells

THE NORFOLK ARCHAEOLOGICAL UNIT ISSN 0307 2460

For details of East Anglian Archaeological Reports - see last page

This volumes is published with the aid of a grant from the Department of the Environment

CONTENTS EXCAVATIONS IN NORTH ELMHAM 'PARK 1967-1972 Page xi

List of Plates List of Figures

xiv

List of Tables

xxi

Contributors

xxiv

PART I:

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 2 THE ANGL0-8AXON DIOCESES IN EAST ANGLIA The nature of the evidence I ll The beginning of the diocese Ill The site of Dornmoc IV The two Elmhams V The diocese in the tenth and eleventh centuries VI The bishops of the re-established see at Elmham by Stuart Rigold CHAPTER 3 LOCATION AND TOPOGRAPHY I The choice of North Elmham as the site of the Anglo-Saxon see ll Topography 111 Early settlement sites in the North Elmham area IV The medieval parish V The topography of the excavated area PART II:

1 3 3 4 5 6 7

13

14 15 21 26

THE EXCAVATION RECORD

CHAPTER 4 METHODS AND THE EXCAVATION RECORD I Excavation methods II Recording procedures Ill The excavated features IV The gazetteer of excavated features and excavation atlas (microfiche) PART Ill:

29 30 30

33

THE EXCAVATION SEQUENCE

CHAPTER 5 PERIOD I. THE MIDDLE SAXON PERIOD I Introduction II The Middle Saxon ditches Ill The Middle Saxon buildings IV The two wells with contributions by John Fletcher, Roy Switsur, Andrew Jones and Heather Jarman V The dating of the Middle Saxon features

119

CHAPTER 6 I II Ill

PERIOD II. THE LATE NINTH AND TENTH CENTURIES Introduction Phase 1: The late ninth century Phases 2 and 3: The tenth century

37 37 57 74

vii

125 125 137

Page CHAPTER 7 PERIOD III. THE EARLY ELEVENTH CENTURY I Introduction 151 II Phase 1: The early eleventh century 153 III Phase 2: The mid eleventh century 162 IV The cathedral cemetery 185 V The dating of the Period III features 191 CHAPTER 8

PERIOD IV. THE LATE ELEVENTH AND EARLY TWELFTH CENTURIES Introduction Phase 1: The mid eleventh century Phase 2: The late eleventh century Phase 3: The early twelfth century The dating of the Period IV features

197 197 202 210 218

CHAPTER 9 PERIOD V. THE MIDDLE AGES AND LATER I Introduction II The archaeological evidence II The documentary evidence

225 225 230

CHAPTER 10 PERIOD VI. THE POST-MEDIEVAL PERIOD I Introduction II The archaeological evidence Ill The docmne ntary evidence

233 233 238

I II III IV V

PART IV:

DISCUSSION OF TIMBER BUILDINGS SEQUENCE

CHAPTER 11 THE BUILDING SEQUENCE I Introduction II Period I III Period II IV Period Ill V Period IV VI Discussion PART V:

239 240 241 242

243 244

HUMAN AND ANIMAL BONES

CHAPTER 12 I II Ill

THE HUMAN BONES by Calvin Wells and Helen Cayton Discussion of the human skeletal remains 247 by Calvin Wells Some contributions from the written sources 303 by Helen Cayton Evidence for longevity from the documentary sources: 314 The implications for the anthropologist by Calvin Wells

CHAPTER 13 I II

A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE BURIALS by Calvin Wells

315 315

Method List of burials

CHAPTER 14 THE ANIMAL BONES I A list of the bone groups submitted for identification II Identification and interpretation of the mammal bones by Barbara Noddle III Identification and interpretation of bird bones by Don Bramwell viii

375 377 409

Page PART VI:

THE POTTERY AND OTHER FIRED CLAY

CHAPTER 15

I ll

m IV V VI

THE POTTERY by Keith Wade with contribution by Richard Hodges Introduction The ceramic sequence Conclusions Fabric coloration notations for the illustrated pottery Fabric coloration lists The pottery gazetteer (microfiche)

CHAPTER 16 ROMAN TILES AND BURNT DA UR I Roman tiles II Burnt daub PART VII:

4 13 413 464 465 467 476 4 79 483

THE METAL AND OTHER FINDS

CHAPTER 17 I II Ill

OBJECTS OF BONE, AMBER, GLASS AND STONE Objects of bone Objects of stone with contribution by David Moore Objects of amber and glass

CHAPTER 18 I II

m IV

PART Vill:

493

THE COINS AND OBJECTS OF NONFERROUS METALS

The coins by Marion Archibald and Stuart Rigold Objects of copper alloy by Ian H. Goodall, with contributions by Blanche Ellis, D.F.Mackreth and D.M.Wilson Objects of silver by D. M. Wilson and Ian H. Goodall Objects of lead and pewter

CHAPTER 19

485 489

THE IRON OBJECTS by Ian H.Goodall

49 5 499

505 507 509

THE DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE

CHAPTER 20

INTRODUCTION by David Yaxl.ey

THE TOPOGRAPHY OF THE PARISH IN THE LATE MIDDLE AGES by David Yaxl.ey The survey of 1454-5

517

CHAPTER 21

CHAPTER 22 I II Ill IV V VI

THE MANORS AND THE AGRARIAN ECONOMY by David Yaxley The manors The tenants The medie val manor ial economy The open fields and the landscape Agri culture in the later periods Housing and population in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries

519

ix

561 563 569 577 582 588

Page CHAPTER 23 I

II Ill IV V VI

BUILDINGS by David Yaxley The bishop's or cathedral manor-house The rectory, prior's, or dean and chapter manor-house Nowers manor-house The old hall The new hall Houses from the probate inventories

PART IX:

597 601 608 609 610 610

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS

CHAPTER 24

CONCLUSIONS

627

Appendix A

635

Appendix B

639

Bibliography

645

X

LIST OF PLATES CHAPTER 2 Pl.I CHAPTER 3 Pl.II Pl.III Pl.IV Pl.V Pl. VI

Pl. VII Pl. VIII Pl.IX CHAPTER 4 Pl.X

North E lmham Cathedral Aerial photograph of the Romano-British settlement at Billingford Vertical photograph showing part of North Elmham village, the New Park and the eastern side of the Old Park Vertical photograph showing North Elmham village and the Wensum valley Aerial photograph of the north end of North Elmham village Aerial photograph showing the parish church, the cathedral ruins and the remains of the farmhouse on the priory site after demolition Aerial photograph showing the medieval moats thrown up by Bishop Despenser in £_.1387 around the cathedral Aerial photograph of the cropmark of the outer bailey Aerial photograph of the earthworks in the New Park

Pl.XIII Pl.XIV

A general view from the church tower of the excavation in progress at an early stage in the 1970 season A general view of the excavation from the church tower at the end of the 19 70 season A general view from the church tower of the excavation at the end of the 1971 season J .C .B. excavator Features under excavation during 1970

CHAPTER 5 Pl.XV Pl.XVI Pl.XVII PI. XVIII Pl.XIX Pl.XX Pl.XXI Pl.XXII Pl.XXIII Pl.XXIV Pl.XXV Pl.XXVI Pl.XXVII Pl.XXVIII Pl.XXIX Pl.XXX Pl.XXXI Pl.XXXII PI. XXXIII PI. XXXIV Pl.XXXV Pl.XXXVI PI. XXXVII Pl.XXXVIII

Ditch A: a general view Ditch A: a close-up of section A1 Ditch F: a general view Ditch F: a close-up view of section F3 BuildingS: after excavation Building S: north side Building S: during excavation Buildings Z and AA A vertical view of Buildings Z and AA Well I: the upper filling of the well pit Well I: the surface of the filling of the well pit Well I: the upper part of the square shaft Well I: the east side Well I: the south side Well I: the north side Well I: a section cut through the south east corner post We ll I: section through wattle cylinder Well I: close-up view of the wattle lining Well I: the circular barrel as first exposed Well I: the barrel, with 30 cm of the filling removed Well I: the barrel with most of the filling removed Well II: the upper filling of the well pit Well II: the top part of the shaft Well II: excavation showing the shoring construction

Pl.XT

Pl.XII

xi

Pl.XXXIX Pl,XL Pl.XLI Pl.XLII Pl.XLIII

Pl.LI Pl. LII Pl. LIII Pl.LIV Pl.LV

Well II: a general view of the bottom of the well Well II: the north west corner Well II: the north side Well II: the south east corner Well II: the east end of the south side with the corner post removed Well II: the south west corner with the corner post removed Well II: the north end of the west side with the corner post removed Well II: the west end of the north side with the corner post removed Well II: the south east corner post Well II: the north east corner post Well II; dowel holes in the north west corner post Well II: the bottom of the north west corner post showing axe or adze marks Well II: plank 13 south side Well II: plank 14 south side Well II: doweled lap joint at west end of plank 14 south side Well II: dowel Well II: dowel

CHAPTER 6 Pl.LVI Pl.LVII Pl.LVIII

Pit 44a section Building P Building 0

CHAPTER 7 Pl.LIX Pl.LX Pl.LXI Pl.LXII Pl.LXIII Pl.LXIV Pl.LXV

Building D The north side of Buildings B and C The south west corner of house AD Inhumations Inhumations Inhumation 145 Inhumation 50

CHAPTER 8 Pl,LXVI Pl. LXVII Pl.LXVIII Pl.LXIX Pl,LXX

Building A Buildings AJ and AK Buildings AJ and AK Vertical view of Buildings A J and AK The lime kiln

CHAPTER 9 Pl.LXXI

Clay pit section

Pl.XLIV Pl.XLV Pl.XLVI Pl.XLVII Pl.XLVIII Pl,XLIX Pl.L

CHAPTER 10 Building AU Pl.LXXII Building AW Pl.LXXIII CHAPTERS 12 and 13 Pl. LXXIV Inhumation 2 showing the undeveloped L.humerus and ulnar fragment Inhumation 2 Pl.LXXV Facial view of Inhumation 103 Pl.LXXVI Pl. LXXVII Skull of Inhumation 5 Pl. LXXVIII Lateral view of Inhumation 103

xii

Pl.LXXIX Pl.LXXX Pl.LXXXI Pl.LXXXII Pl.LXXXIII Pl.LXXXIV Pl.LXXXV Pl.LXXXVI Pl.LXXXVII Pl.LXXXVIII Pl.LXXXIX Pl.XC Pl.XCI Pl.XCII

Skull of Inhwnation 5 Inhwnation 159 Inhwnation 26 Inhwnation 103 Inhwnation 10 Inhwnation 162A Inhwnation 50 Inhwnation 74 (a) Inhwnation 74 (a) Inhwnation 86 Inhwnation 171 Inhwnation 171 Inhwnation 171 Inhwnation 157

CHAPTER 14 Pl.XCIII Bovine horn core Pl.XCIV Bovine horn cores Bovine skull fragment Pl.XCV Bovine horn core Pl.XCVI Sheep and goat horn cores Pl.XCVll Sheep horn cores Pl.XCVIII Horn core from a ewe Pl.XCIX Horn core from a ram Pl.C Male sheep horn cores Pl.CI Horn cores from male and female sheep Pl.CII Massive horn cores from male sheep Pl.CIII Pl.CIV Above: Skull of three year old Norfolk Horn ram Below: Two horn core~:> fl·om male sheep Skull fragment of sheep with round horn cores Pl.CV Pig mandible fragments Pl.CVI Pig mandible fragments Pl.CVII Pig mandible fragments Pl.CVIII Fragment of bovine tibia. Bovine vertebra Pl.CIX Pl.CX Right proximal end of bovine metatarsus Horse femur Pl.CXI Upper left horse metacarpal Pl.CXII Part of a bovine skull Pl.CXIII Skull of dog Pl.CXIV A pair of bovine mandibles from the same animal Pl.CXV Pl.CXVI Two lower third bovine molars etc. Pl.CXVII Lower third molar of sheep etc. Sheep horn core, double Pl.CXVIII Pl.CXIX Sheep mandible Sheep mandible Pl.CXX CHAPTER 17 Combs and comb plate Pl.CXXI CHAPTER 18 Sceatta Pl.CXXII Sceatta Pl.CXXIII Copper alloy keys Pl.CXXIV

xiii

LIST OF FIGURES Page CHAPTER 2 Anglo-Saxon sees abandoned by 1100 Fig.1 CHAPTER 3 A map of East Anglia showing the location of North Fig.2 Elmham North Elmham: the setting of the cathedral site in Fig.3 relation to local topography North Elmham: the Modern Parish Fig.4 North Elmham: a map of the parish showing the medieval Fig.5 roads and commons, the Old Park, the nineteenthcentury village and other scattered settlements A plan of the Old Park Fig.6 Material from the Roman settlement within the Old Park Fig. 7 North Elmham village at the time of the Enclosures Fig.B North Elmham: the medieval village Fig.9 The setting of the excavations Fig.10 The site plan Fig.ll

12 14 15 16 17

19 20 22 23 24 25

CHAPTER 4 A site plan showing all the excavated features facing p. 30 Fig.12 The excavation grid and the key to the sections Fig.13 34 of the atlas Excavation Atlas, sheet A 35 Fig.14 -doB 36 Fig.15 -doc Fig.16 Except for Figs. 14 & 15, -doFig.17 D Figs .14-70 are reproduced -doE Fig.18 on microfiche only in a -doFig.19 F separate wallet which -doFig.20 G accompanies this report. -doH Fig.21 -doI Fig.22 -doJ Fig. 23 -doK Fig. 24 -doL Fig.25 -doM Fig. 26 -doN Fig.27 -do0 Fig.28 p -doFig. 29 -doFig.30 Q -doR Fig.31 -dos Fig.32 -doT Fig.33 -dou Fig.34 -doV Fig. 35 -dow Fig.36 -doX Fig.37 y -doFig.38 -doz Fig.39 -doAA Fig.40 -doAB Fig.41 -doAC Fig . 42 -doAD Fig.43

xiv

Fig,44 Fig.45 Fig,46 Fig.47 Fig.48 Fig,49 Fig. 50 Fig. 51 Fig. 52 Fig.53 Fig. 54 Fig. 55 Fig,56 Fig,57 Fig. 58 Fig. 59 Fig.60 Fig. 61 Fig.62 Fig,63 Fig.64 Fig. 65 Fig.66 Fig.67 Fig.68 Fig.69 Fig. 70

Page Excavation Atlas, sheet AE -doAF -doAG -doAH -doAI -doAJ -doAK -doAL -doAM -doAN -doAO -doAP -doAQ -doAR -doAS -doAT -doAV -doAV -doAW -doAX -doAY -doAZ -doBA -doBB -doBC -doBD -doBE

CHAPTER 5 Fig. 71 Period I 38 Fig. 72 The Middle Saxon ditches 39 Fig. 73 Sections of the Middle Saxon ditches 42 Period I, Phase 1 Fig. 74 53 Fig. 75 Period I, Phase 2 54 Fig. 76 Period I , Phase 3 55 Building H plan Fig. 77 58 Fig. 78 Building S plan facing p. 60 Fig. 79 Building S sections 61 Fig.80 Building sl-2 interpretation plans 62 Fig.81 Building AA plan 63 Fig.82 Building Z plan 65 Fig.83 Buildings Z and AA sections 66 Fig.84 Buildings Z and AA interpretation plans 67 Fig.85 Artist's reconstruction of building z2 68 Building AM plan Fig.86 70 Oven A plan Fig.87 71 Fig.88 Building AM: plans and sections of ovens Bl-B3 72 Fig.89 Building AM sections 73 Fig.90 Building AM interpretation plan 73 Fig.91 We ll I: the east to west section 76 Fig.92 We ll I: the north to south section 76 Fig.93 Well I: the five plans of the well pit 77 Fig.94 We ll I: the elevations of the four sides of the upper 81 square shaft

XV

Fig.95 Fig.96 Fig.97 Fig.98 Fig.99 Fig .100 Fig .101 Fig.102 Fig.103

Fig.104 Fig.105 Fig.106 Fig.107 Fig.108 Fig.109 Fig.llO

Page Well I: the elevation of the circular barrel 82 Well II: the north to south section 84 Well II: the three plans of the excavation 85 Well II: the elevations of the four sides of the facing p. 88 timber cistern Well II: reconstruction view of the interior of 90 shaft: east and south sides Well II: reconstruction view of the exterior of 91 shaft: north and west sides Well II: reconstruction view of the interior of 92 shaft: west and north sides Well II: reconstruction view of the exterior of 93 shaft: south and east sides Chart showing the years, on an arbitrary scale, 96 of the annual rings of five planks and one post from Well II Mean Curve, with widths on a logarithmic scale, 97 for the planks from Tree A Graphical treatment of radiocarbon results on 98 samples I to IV The age of Well II 99 Well II: cross sections through a modern hazel twig 105 and a hazel twig from the well Organic material from Well II 107 Pre-Danish Elmham 122 Artist's reconstruction of Period I, Phase 2 123

CHAPTER 6 Fig.l11 Period II Fig.l12 Period II, Phase 1 Fig.l13 Building W plan Fig.114 Building W tentative reconstruction Fig.115 Building X plan Fig.116 Cess pit, feature 44b plan Fig.117 Pit, feature 1036, plan Fig.l18 Sections through Period II, Phase 1 features Fig.l19 Period II, Phase 2 Fig.120 Building U plan Fig.121 Building U sections Fig.122 Period II, Phase 3 Fig.123 Building P plan Fig.124 Building 0 plan Fig.125 Building 0 pit sections Fig.126 Buildings o1-2 interpretation plans Fig.127 Building Y plan Fig.128 Artist's reconstruction of Period II, Phase 3 CHAPTER 7 Fig.129 Period Ill Fig.130 Period Ill, Phase 1 Fig.131 Period Ill, Phase 1 buildings: houses L, E and B and outbuilding N Fig.132 Buildings L and N plan Fig.133 Building E plan

xvi

126 127 128 129 130 132 132 133 136 facing p. 138 138 140 facing p. 140 143 144 146 147 149 152 153 154 155 157

Fig.134 Fig.135 Fig.136 Fig.137 Fig.138 Fig.139 Fig.140 Fig.141 Fig.142 Fig.143 Fig.144 Fig.145 Fig.146 Fig.147 Fig.148 Fig.149 Fig.150 Fig.151 Fig.152 Fig.153 Fig.154 Fig.155 Fig.156 Fig.157 Fig.158 Fig.159

Building B plan Buildings B and C sections Period Ill, Phase 1 buildings: houses AR and AS and outbuilding AI Building AR plan Building AS plan Building AI plan Period Ill, Phase 2 Period Ill, Phase 2 buildings: house K and outbuildings M, I and J Buildings K and M Buildings I and J plan Period Ill, Phase 2 buildings: houses D and C and outbuildings G, F and R Building D plan Building G plan Building C plan Building F plan Building R plan Building AC plan Period Ill, Phase 2 buildings: houses AE and AD and outbuildings AN, AH, AT and AO Building AE plan Building AN plan Building AD plan Building AH plan Building AT plan Building AO plan The Cathedral cemetery plan Artist's reconstruction of Period Ill, Phase 2

Page 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 168 169 170 171

173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 182 183 184 186 195

CHAPTER 8 Fig.160 North Elmham during the eleventh and early twelfth 198 centuries 199 Fig.161 The Period IV features and the Periods III/ IV pits 200 Fig.162 Period IV, Phase 1 201 Fig.163 Building A plan 203 Fig.164 Period IV, Phase 2 204 Fig.165 Building T plan 205 Fig.166 Building T sections 206 Fig.167 Buildings Q and V plan Building AJ plan facing p. 206 Fig.168 207 Fig.169 Building AJ sections 208 Fig.170 Building AL plan 209 Fig.171 Building AL sections 209 Fig.172 Buildings AJ and AL interpretation plan 210 Fig.173 Building AB plan 211 Fig .174 Period IV, Phase 3 facing p. 212 Fig.175 Building AK plan 213 Fig.176 Building AK profiles and sections 213 Fig.177 Building AK interpretation plan 214 Fig.178 Building AF plan 215 Fig.179 Building AG plan 216 Fig.180 Lime kiln plan xvii

Fig.181 Fig.182 Fig .183 Fig.184

Page 217 218 218 223

Lime kiln section Sections of Phases 1 and 2 boundary features Section of Phase 3 boundary feature Artist's reconstruction of Period IV, Phase 3

CHAPTER 9 Fig.185 Period V Fig.186 Sections through a sample of medieval clay pits Fig.187 The late medieval street plan of the northern part of the village CHAPTER 10 Fig.188 Period VI: Buildings A U and A V plan Fig.189 Building AU plan Fig.190 Building A V plan Fig.191 Building A W plan

235 236 facing p. 236 237

CHAPTER 12 Fig.192 A plan of the cemetery showing the distribution of adult males and females and children Fig .193 A plan of the cemetery showing the distribution of particular characteristics as shown in the key Fig. 194 A plan of the cemetery showing the distribution of particular characteristics as shown in the key Fig.195 A plan of the cemetery showing the distribution of osteoarthritis Fig .196 A plan of the cemetery showing the distribution of those skeletons sampled for lead poisoning CHAPTER 14 Fig.197 Estimated body weight of cattle Fig.198 Dimensions of lower third molar of cattle Fig.199 Cattle humerus distal width Fig. 200 Cattle radius proximal width Fig. 201 Cattle radius distal width Fig.202 Cattle metacarpal proximal width Fig.203 Cattle metacarpal distal width Fig.204 Cattle femur shaft circumference Fig.205 Cattle tibia distal width Fig. 206 Cattle proximal metatarsal width Fig. 207 Cattle distal metatarsal width Fig.208 Length of first phalanx of cattle Fig. 209 Dimensions of bovine horn cores Fig.210 Sheep tibia distal width Fig. 211 Sheep humerus distal width Fig. 212 Sheep radius proximal width Fig. 213 Sheep radius dimensions of shaft Fig. 214 Dimensions of lower third molar of sheep Fig.215 Proportions of scapula shaft of shee p Fig.216 Dimensions of lower third molar of pig Fig.217 Dimensions of scapula neck of pig Fig.218 Pig humerus distal width Fig. 219 Pig radius proximal width Fig.220 Pig tibia distal width Fig. 221 Dimensions of ulna of pig

xviii

226 228 231

251 260 261 266 300

389 389 390 390 391 391 392 392 393 39 3 394 394 395 396 398 398 399 399 4 01 4 01 4 02 4 02 403 403 404

Fig. 222 Fig.223 Fig.224 Fig.225

Domestic Domestic Domestic Domestic

fowl: tarso-metatarsus length fowl: femur length fowl: humerus length goose: tarso-metatarsus length

CHAPTER 15 Fig. 226 The size distribution of ceramic assemblages associated with Periods I-IV Fig.227 The size distribution of ceramic assemblages associated with Periods V-VI Fig. 228 Handmade wares: Ipswich -type ware from Period I contexts: and imported Carolingian wares Fig.229 Ipswich-type ware, ?local slow-wheel ware, ?imported Carolingian ware, and Thetford-type ware from the Period II, Phase 1 cess pits Fig.230 The distribution of residual Ipswich-type ware in Periods II-VI contexts in relation to Period I features Fig. 231 Period II pottery groups Fig.232 Period II pottery groups Fig. 233 Period II pottery groups Fig. 234 Period II pottery groups Fig.235 Period II pottery groups Fig.236 Period II pottery groups Fig.237 Pottery groups from Periods III/ IV and late Period IV / early Period V Fig.238 Pottery from a late Period IV / early Period V group Fig.239 Pottery groups from late Period IV /early Period V Fig.240 Pottery groups from late Period IV/ early Period V and Period V Fig.241 The earliest medieval pottery groups from the end of Period IV / early Period V Fig.242 Local medieval glazed wares Fig.243 Local medieval coarse and glazed wares Fig. 244 Local medieval coarse wares Fig.245 Local medieval coarse wares Fig.246 Local medieval coarse wares Fig. 247 Local medieval coarse wares Fig.248 Local medieval coarse wares Fig. 249 Local medieval coarse wares Fig.250 Late medieval local glazed wares, early postmedieval local glazed wares and early postmedieval imported wares Fig. 251 Seventeenth-century pottery groups Fig.252 Seventeenth-century pottery groups Fig. 253 Seventeenth-century pottery groups CHAPTER 16 Fig. 254 Examples of Roman tile fragments from Well II Fig.255 Numbers of plain fragments of Roman tile from Well II Fig.256 Numbers of fragments of flue tiles and tegulae from Well II Fig. 257 Examples of burnt daub from Well I Fig.258 Examples of burnt daub from Well I x ix

Page 410 410 410 411

414 415 417 420

422

429 430 431 432 433 434 437 438 439 440 442 450 451 453 454 455 456 457 458 459

461 462 463 480 481 482 483 484

Page CHAPTER 17 Fig.259 Objects of bone Fig.260 Objects of bone Fig.261 Objects of stone

487 488 491

CHAPTER 18 Fig.262 Objects of silver, lead, pewter, amber and glass Fig.263 Objects of copper alloy Fig.264 Objects of copper alloy

498 500 501

CHAPTER 19 Fig.265 Objects of iron Fig.266 Objects of iron Fig.267 Objects of iron

511 512 515

CHAPTER 21 Fig.268 Topography of the parish in the fifteenth century Fig.269 Reconstruction of Burgrave Field in the fifteenth century CHAPTER 23 Fig. 270 Houses reconstructed from fifteenth- and sixteenth-century probate inventories Fig.271 Houses reconstructed from seventeenth- and eighteenth-century probate inventories CHAPTER 24 Fig.272 Composite plan showing Periods I-IV of the Park site

XX

521 523

612 616

627

LIST OF TABLES Page CHAPTER 4 Table 1 Radiocarbon measurements made from North Elmham Park samples CHAPTER 5 Detail::; oi ring-widths on six planks and one post Table 2 from Well II Table 3 Radiocarbon results and their conversion to the felling year for Well II Table 4 The relative probabilities of the felling date for the timbers from Well II Table 5 Dimensions and shapes of hazel dowels from Well H Table 6 The location and identification of all wood found in the shaft of Well II Table 7 The distribution of wood within the shaft of Well II Types of wood found in the shaft of Well II Table 8 Representation of plant species from Well II Table 9 Table 10 Months of flowering (or fruiting) for species from the Well II deposits Table 11 The pottery dating evidence for the Middle Saxon buildings, ditches and wells Table 12 A pottery catalogue for Middle Saxon features

32

lOO 101 101 108 109-11 112 113 115-6 117-8 119 121

CHAPTER 7 Table 13 The pottery dating evidence for the Period Ill buildings T able 14 The pottery dating for the other Period Ill features

192-4 194

CHAPTER 8 Table 15 The pottery dating of the Period IV boundaries Table 16 The pottery dating of the Period IV buildings

219-20 220-1

CHAPTER 12 Table 17 Ages of juvenile deaths 253 Table 18 Age distribution of adult deaths 254 Table 19 Stature: means and range 254 Table 20 Meric Index: means and range 255 Table 21 Meric Index: distribution 255 Table 22 Cnemic Inde x: means and range 256 Table 23 Cnemic Index : distribution 256 Table 24 Size of male squatting facets 257 Table 25 Size of female squatting facets 257 Table 26 100B/ L (Cranial Index) 257 Table 27 100H/ L (Height-Length Index) 258 Table 28 100H/ B (Height-Breadth Index) 258 Table 29 100B/ NH (Nasal Index) 258 Table 30 10002/ 0 1 (Orbital Index) 258 Table 31 Male cranial measurements and indices (microfiche) Table 32 Female cranial measurements and indices (microfiche) Table 33 Male mandibular measurements and indices (microfiche) Table :J4 Female mandibular measurements a nd indices (microfiche) Table 35 Male skeletal measurements (microfiche) Table 36 Female skeletal measurements (microfiche) Table 37 Numbers and frequency of olecranon perforations 264 Table 38 Distribution of vertebral osteophytosis and osteoarthritis 268

xxi

Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table

39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57

Male maxillary antemortem tooth loss Female maxillary antemortem tooth loss Male mandibular antemortem tooth loss Female mandibular antemortem tooth loss Total male antemortem tooth loss Total female antemortem tooth loss Total male plus female antemortem tooth loss Male maxillary caries Female maxillary caries Male mandibular caries Female mandibular caries Total male caries rate Total female caries rate Total male plus female caries rate Number of births per woman Average number of Harris' s lines per person Ages, by lustra, at which Harris' s lines were found Age distribution of adult deaths Births, marriages and deaths

CHAPTER 14 Table 58 Distribution of fragments among genera Table 59 Less common genera Table 60 Anatomical analysis of cattle bones (expressed a s a %of total) Table 61 Anatomical analysis of sheep bones (expressed as a % of total) Table 62 Anatomical analysis of pig bones (expressed as a %of total) Table 63 Age range of individuals Table 64 Cattle: measurements of whole bones Table 65 Sheep: measurements of whole bones Table 66 Lengths of pig metapodials Table 67 Lengths of other pig bones Table 68 Lengths of horse bones Table 69 Lengths of cat bones Table 70 Lengths of deer bones Table 71 Analysis of bird bones CHAPTER 15 Table 72 The distribution of Middle Saxon and earlier wares throughout the stratigraphic Periods and Phases Table 73 Frequency of Middle Saxon pottery in Period II, Phase 1 features Table 74 Proportion of Thetford-type ware vessel types during Periods II-IV Table 75 Decorative motifs on Thetford-type ware during Periods II-IV Table 76 Thetford-type ware base types during Periods II-IV Table 77 Frequencies of the five most common Thetford-type ware fabric colorations Table 78 Percentage of Thetford-type ware and Early Medieval ware during P e riods Ill and IV, based on phased contexts only

xxii

Page 283 283 28 3 283 284 284 284 285 285 285 285 286 286 286 291 297 297 304 309 378 379 382 383 384 386 387-8 406-7 407-8 408 408 409 409 412 4 18 421 427 4 28 428 435 436

Table 79

Table 80 Table 81 Table 82a Table 8 2b Table 83 Table 84a Table 84b Table 85 Table 86

Comparison of Thetford-type ware and Early Medieval ware bowl and cooking pot diameters during Periods II-IV Features dating to the introduction of Early Medieval ware The Commonest Early Medieval ware fabrie eolorations Frequency of St.Neot's and Stamford-type ware during Periods II-IV Frequency of Medieval pottery in Period IV features Period V coarse ware vessel types: their frequency and rim diameters The commonest Medieval coarse ware fabric colorations The commonest Medieval glazed ware fabric colorations The frequency of non-East Anglian Medieval English glazed pottery Gazetteer of all pottery found in excavated features (microfiche)

CHAPTER 22 Table 87 The tenants of 1454 Table 88 Pasture meadow and marsh Table 89 The tenants of£.· 1567 Table 90 Comparison of the tenants of 1454 and 1567 Table 91 Seed sown on prior' s demesne Table 92 Yield of the prior's demesne Table 93 Seed and harvest on prior's demesne Table 94 Tithe corn received by the prior's manor Table 95 Average tithe yield per accounted year in bu::;hels Table 96 Percentage of land in holdings of different sizes Table 9 7 Number of holdings Table 98 The 'tenements' Table 99 The 'tenements' Table 100 Inventory of John Brooke, 1715 Table 101 Landholders of 1839 T a ble 102 The 1454 survey Table 103 Distribution of messuages, cottages etc. Table 104 Baptisms, marriages and burials in the parish register Table 105 Ratio of dwelling houses to communicants £.• 1600 CHAPTER 23 Table 106 Prior's manor house: repairs noted in the manor accounts CHAPTER 24 Table 107 Summary of the Park sequence

xxiii

Page 436

441 444 444 444 447 448 448 4 52

564-5 567 567-8 568 570 570 571 572 572 577 579 580 580 585 586-7 588 589 590 591 602

facing p. 634

CONTRIBUTORS Marian Archibald, M .A., F. S .A., S .M .A., Assistant Keeper, Department of Coins and Medals, British Museum. Don Bramwell, Ph.D., Retired Head Teacher. Helen M.Cayton, B.A., Ph.D., Blanche M.A .Ellis, Museum Illustrator / Calligrapher at the Armouries, H.M. Tower of London. John D. Fletcher, M.A., Ph.D., Leverhulme Trust Fellow, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and History of Art, Oxford University. Ian H.Goodall, B.A., Investigator, Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), Richard Hodges, Ph.D., Lecturer in Medieval Archaeology, Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, University of Sheffield. Heather N. Jarman, B .A., Documentary Research Assistant, British Academy Major Research Project on the Early History of Agriculture. Andrew K.G.Jones, B.Sc., Research Fellow in the Environmental Archaeology Unit, University of York. Don F. Mackreth, B. A . , Director of Excavations to the Nene Valley Research Committee. David Moore, B.Sc., Higher Scientific Officer, Department of Mineralogy, British Museum (Natural History). Barbara A.Noddle, M.Sc., M.A., M.B.Vet., Lecturer, Department of Anatomy, University College, Cardiff. StuartE.Rigold, M.A., F.S.A., F.R.Hist.S., F.R.S.A., Principal Inspector of Ancient Monuments for England. V.RoySwitsur, M.A. , Ph.D. , Director, Cambridge University Radiocarbon Dating Research Laboratory. Keith Wade, B.A., Field Officer, Suffolk Archaeological Unit. The late Calvin Wells, F.R.A.I., Ph.D., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., Consultant Anthropologist. DavidM,Wilson, M.A., Litt.D., F.S.A., Director, British Museum. David C. Yaxley, B.A . , W .E .A. Tutor-Organiser for Norfolk. (Contributors to this report can be contacted through the Norfolk Archaeological Unit)

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PART I: INTRODUCTION

1. INTRODUCTION This report is the result of six years' excavation in North Elmham Park by the writer and documentary research on the parish by David Yaxley. Funds for the whole project were provided largely by the then Ministry of Public Buildings and Works; additional grants were made by the Royal Ontario Museum, Canada, and the Norfolk Research Committee. The excavations were carried out under the sponsorship of the Research Committee. This Report is presented almost entirely as it was written in 1975, before the Department of the Environment accepted in principle the recommendations regarding various levels of archaeological publication in the Frere report. The report is, therefore, longer and also ordered rather differently from others in the East Anglian Archaeo!.2.gy_series. Some of the detail has been reproduced as microfiche to reduce the size of the printed report. Envelopes of the fiche are distributed with the report. The excavation sequence has also been linked with the currently accepted chronology for the Anglo-Saxon cathedral and the parish church. However, no original research was carried out on the cathedral itself; indeed, further excavation in and around the ruins is required to obtain new dating evidence 1. An attempt has been made to present the archaeological information separately from the interpretation, even though the two are closely linked. The site proved to be complex with a wide range of overlapping features dating from the Middle Saxon period to the nineteenth century. The sequence which has been set out in the report is the one which appears to the writer to be the most plausible. The layout of the drawings, text and tables has been designed so that alternative interpretations should become apparent to those who study the report in detail. The structures, the site sequence and the dating of the periods and phases will require re-examination if adjacent areas are excavated. Indeed, there are sites near the church and the cathedral which must be excavated if they are ever endangered by building work or other disturbance. The excavation results are described and assessed period by period in Chapters 5 to 10; the medieval and post-medieval documentary evidence is assessed in Chapters 20 to

23, and there are general conclusions about the site sequence in Chapter 24. Readers are advised to refer to Table 107 in Chapter 24 when reading the descriptive parts of the report which refer to site phasing and structures.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Special thanks must go to Mr.Robin Don for permission to excavate in the Park and to Mr.R.Bidewell, the tenant. All the finds and the excavation records are deposited with the Norfolk Museums Service 2. Many people assisted both on the excavation and afterwards with the report. Keith Wade was the assistant director of the excavation for most of the time, and afterwards he prepared the pottery report. Derek Edwards assisted with the compilation of the gaze,t-

1

North Elmham Park teer of features which follows Chapter 4, Bob Carr drew Figs.99-102 and Bill Milligan drew Figs. 254 and 257-267. Norma Virgoe kindly checked the final drafts and read the proofs, Otherwise, the identity of most of the contributors should be clear in the text, The county number for the excavation site is 1013,

REFERENCES 1,

Since the report was completed, it was suggested by Stephen Haywood at the 1979 summer meeting of the Royal Archaeological Institute in Norfolk that the whole building can be interpreted as a Norman chapel. However, this argument still needs to be presented in detail, taking account of the results of the Park excavations which show that the site of the ruins is very significant in relation to the Late Saxon cemetery.

2.

Accession numbers: NCM 902 967; L 1977,8,

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2. THE ANGLO-SAXON DIOCESES IN EAST ANGLIA I.

THE NATURE OF THE EVIDENCE

It must be admitted at the outset when discussing the history of the Anglo-Saxon dioceses in East Anglia that there is still no known contemporary documentary evidence which demonstrates beyond doubt that the Elmham see was ever at North Elmham. At South Elmham, in north east Suffolk, there is also a ruined Anglo-Saxon church, known locally as the Old Minster. Bishops of 'Elmham' are mentioned in the ninth century, but prefixes were not applied to these parishes until the Middle Ages.

This uncertainty goes even further, for the identity of the site of the original seventh century mission, at a place known then as 'Dommoc', has not yet been proved conclusively. These are important gaps in our knowledge of the early church in the region. While archaeology can probably do little now to solve the Dommoc question, with both possible sites washed away by the sea, excavations at the two Elmhams should make an important contribution to our knowledge of the early church in the region.

II.

THE BEGINNING OF THE DIOCESE (Fig. 2)

We know that St. Felix was the first bishop of East Anglia (for the history of the diocese see Rigold 1962, Whitelock 1972 and Radford 1961) 1. Already consecrated bishop, he was sent byHonorius, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to East Anglia in about 630. King Sigberht of East Anglia gave him a site for his mission at a place known as Dommoc. It was this site, in later times equated with Dunwich, which was used by St. F elix and his three immediate successors. Bede tells us that the last of these, bishop Bisi, was, through illness, unable to administer his diocese, and that two successors, Aecci and Bedwin, were appointed to replace him. It was probably from this time that East Anglia became divided into two dioceses, presumably corresponding to Norfolk and Suffolk. The date of this division is unclear; 67 3 has in the past been quoted (Clarke 1960, 148; Radford 1961, 119), but 'about 680' would be a safer interpretation of Bede 2. Dommoc continued in use for the Suffolk diocese and the new see was presumably established at Elmham, although it was not until 803, in the act of the Council of Clovesho, that we find Elmham specHically mentioned for the first time. However, William of Malmesbury lists the bishops of the second see as being at Elmham from the beginning, and his List continues as far as bishop Hunberht, who is last reliably recorded attending a meeting in London in 845. After that, there were apparently no further bishops at Elmham for over a century. To the Dommoc List can be added Aethelwald between 845 and 870. Documentary sources tell us little of Elmham or Dommoc during this time. Whether some form of ordered life continued, or whether the effects of disruption caused by the Danish and possibly Mercian raids were complete, is unclear. But if Dommoc was on the coast, the bishopstool would almost certainly have been desecrated by the mid ninth century.

3

North Elmham Pa rk THE PRE -DANISH SEQUENCE OF BISHOPS AT DOMMOC AND E LMHAM (After Whitelock 1972) (Dates in brackets are recorded attestations etc.) Dommoc: undivided see Felix 630/ 1 - 647 / 8 Thomas 647/8 - 652/ 3 Berhtgils 653/3 - 669 / 70 (alias Boniface) Bisi (672) Dommoc:

Elmham:

Aecci Aescwulf Haerdred Cuthwine Aldberht Ecglaf Heardwulf Heardred Aelfhun Tidfrith

Beaduwine Nothberht Heathulac Aethelfrith Eanfrith Ethelwulf Alhheard

Wermund Wilred Aethelwald

(716 ?) (731) (742) (742?, 747) (781, 785, 786, 788, 789) (793, 796) - 798 798 - (798 , 799, 801, 803, 805 , 8 05-7' 816) (824) (825 , 839, 845) (between 845 and 870)

m.

Sibba Hunferth Hunberht

(693) (706 , 716) (731) 736 (742 , £.· 758) (781) (785, 786 , 788, 789, 790 or 793' 793, 793-5, 798 ' 799' 801, 803, 805, 805-7) (814, 816) 816-824 (824 , 825, 839, 845)

THE SITE OF DOMMOC

In the ninth century Dommoc was identified as a 'civitas', a recognisable Roman site, unlike Elmham, which was an 'ecclesia', a new site without great ancestry. Dunwich has for long been the commonly accepted site for Dommoc, but recently Stuart Rigold (1961 and 1974) has put forward a strong argument against this view and in favour of Walton Castle (Fig. 2). Walton Castle was a Roman Saxon Shore fort, close to Felixstowe church, which was washed away by the sea in the eighteenth century. Unfortunately, not only has Walton Castle disappeared, but all except the very western perimeter of the medieval port at Dunwich has been washed away as well (Scarfe 1972, 207; West 1970a). It is Rigold' s argument that the tradition of an ancient see would surely have survived in this thriving medieval town in the Middle Ages if the bishops had been at Dunwich in earlier centuries. But with only a single variant in an otherwise normal twelfth century copy, the medieval copyists persisted in writing Dommoc and not Dunwich. The first explicit identification of Dommoc with Dunwich was by Thomas of Elmham, a monk at Canterbury in the fifteenth century.

Rigold believes that because there is very little evidence of Roman occupation at Dunwich, the lost Roman fort of Walton Castle near Felixstowe is a much stronger candidate for the ninth century description of Dommoc as a 'civitas'. Three, apparently independent, thirteenth century authorities place Dommoc at Felixstowe. But contrary to this view there is some indirect evidence that there was an important Roman site near Dunwich. In east Suffolk no less than four Roman roads appear to con-

4

The Site of Dommoc verge on the Dunwich area in a most remarkable way. There is 'Stone Street' to the north of Halesworth, the two roads from Weybread and Earl Stonham which meet at Peasenhall, and a fourth less clearly defined route through Hacheston (Scarfe 1972, 56). This contrasts with only one possible road to Walton Castle. While this evidence by no means refutes the near certainty that Walton Castle was a Roman fort, it nevertheless makes it arguable that there was a Roman site near Dunwich known in the ninth century as a 'civitas' . One possible reason why Dommoc was not equated with Dunwich in the Middle Ages was that already the older site had been lost. This may have been as much as 1. 5 km away from the present coastline, which seems tu eroue on average about 90 m eve ry 100 years. All trace of the Roman site could easily have disappeared by the Norman conquest. Stanley West has emphasised the strategic importance a Roman coastal fort would have had in this position (West 1970a, 30). Dunwich was roughly halfway between the Shore forts at Burgh Castle and Felixstowe.

IV.

THE TWO ELMHAMS

The location of the Elmham see has, since the last century, been the subject of much discussion (Woodward and Harrod 1874; Howlett 1914). The cause of this debate is the extraordinary coincidence that at North Elmham in Norfolk there is a pre-Conquest church (Plate I) , now identified as the cathedral (Butterick 1903; Clapham and Godfrey 1926; Rigold 1962; Taylor and Taylor 1965), and at South Elmham in north east Suffolk in the Waveney valley, there is another possibly pre-Conquest ruined building, known locally as the Old Minster. The South Elmham Minster was excavated rather superficially in 1963 and in 1964 when the plan of the church was exposed. But the work was limited almost entirely to the wall lines and no attempt was made to strip an area of the interior to locate traces of earlier structures (Smedley and Owles 1970). The discovery in this excavation of a fragment of a carved stone with an interlace pattern, built into the south east corner of the nave, led Norman Smedley and Elizabeth Owles to conclude that the upstanding church was not earlier than the tenth century and that it was probably built in the eleventh century. They also concluded that the large rectangular enclosure around the Minster was 'undoubtedly of Roman date' because of fragments of Roman pottery which had turned up in their excavations (Smedley and Owles 1970, 16). The writer has done a careful survey of the fields around the north, west and south sides of the enclosure without finding any Middle or Late Saxon pottery. The new dating evidence from the Minster excavations and an absence of Anglo-Saxon occupation material around the site rather supports the view that this was not an important centre in preConquest times. Outside the south entrance a scatter of Romano-British pottery was lo cated ; these sherds are mostly small fragments of grey coarse ware. But neither these nor the few sherds from the excavations prove that the enclosure is Roman. In fact there is no evidence for such an early date, and it would be much wiser to keep an open mind until an area of the interior has been systematically excavated. The Old Minster lies within a whole group of eight parishes which themselves form a rectangle some three by four miles across. Seven of these are called South Elmham and the other Flixton. The north side of the rectangle is on the Waveney valley and the east side is parallel to the Stone Street Roman road (which may have led to Dunwich) a mile or so away. This whole group formed a ferding, a quarter of the Hundred of Wangford. Norman Scarfe has demonstrated that the distribution of the bishop's estates in the mid e leventh century does actually highlight the possible connection between South Elmham and the East Anglian bishops (Scarfe 1972, 116-127). In Norfolk the bishop's

5

North E lmham Park

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ancient estates were fairly evenly scattered over the western half of the county. But in Suffolk the picture is quite different. The bishop's personal estates were at Hoxne and at Homersfield to the west and north of the Elmham rectangle; the bishop also had rights of 'sake and soke' over the whole ferding at Elmham. The estates of the Bishop's Fee were almost entirely concentrated in this part of the Waveney valley; and the most noticeable cluster was within the rectangle (Dodwell 1963). This concentration of episcopal estates and the rectangular formation of the Elmham ferding all point to an early origin for this arrangement. Scarfe has gone as far as to suggest that th e ferding of South Elmham was a seventh century royal land gift to the early church. Scarfe believes that all these coincidences are just too remarkable to be mere chance. The implication, he suggests, is that the original see was at South Elmham in Middle Saxon times and that there was a move to North Elmham when the diocese was revived in the mid tenth century. But the apparent absence of Middle Saxon occupation material around the Old Minster site and the excavation evidence for the same period at North Elmham, which is set out in Chapter 5, suggest that this theory should be viewed with caution. If there was a move, it was probably earlier than the tenth century 3. For the purpose of this report, it has been assumed that the see was at North Elmham from the beginning. But if substantial evidence for a Middle Saxon activity does ever come to light at South Elmham, then the conclusions presented in this report will have to be reconsidered 4.

V.

THE DIOCESE IN THE TENTH AND ELEVENTH CENTURIES

After the re -conquest of East Anglia by the West Saxons in 917, it appears that at least the southern part of the region was at first united with the London diocese. For the will of Theodred, bishop of London, dated between 942-951, shows that he had a bishopstool at Hoxne in Suffolk. The first bishop of the revived see at Elmham listed by William of Malmesbury was Athulf, who was consecrated in or before 955. If the dating of the excavated sequence described in this report is correct, it would seem that the North Elmham see was revived a little earlier than the 950s (the date normally given seep. 7 ), possibly by a rather mysterious Aethelwald who is recorded in the 940s. It is unlikely that Hoxne ever held a dominant position. It was first subordinate to London and afterwards to Elmham, although doubtless it was intended to be a local centre for Suffolk, to compensate for North Elmham' s northerly position. The Domesday entry for Hoxne states that the church was the seat of the bishopric of Suffolk at the time of Edward the Confessor.

Miss Barbara Dodwell has dealt with the moves of the see first from Elmham to Thetford in 1071, and from there to Norwich in 1095 (Dodwell 1957). Thetford was certainly central for an East Anglian diocese, but Miss Dodwell suggests that the choice of Thetford, a town already on the decline, was intended only as a temporary step towards an attempt by bishop Herfast to establish the bishopric at the rich abbey at Bury St. Edmunds. When this failed Herfast remained at Thetford, even though land at Norwich had already been given by the king for a permanent site. While at Thetford the bishops used the 'borrowed' church of St.Mary's, and it was not until the move in 1091 by Herfast' s successor, Herbet Losinga, that a permanent alternative to North Elmham cathedral was built, and it was built on a vastly more impressive scale.

6

The Bishops of the Re-established See at Elmham

VI.

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THE BISHOPS OF THE RE-ESTABLISHED SEE AT ELMHAM by Stuart Rigold

Although the title 'Bishop of the Church of Elmham' was used in the ninth century (Whitelock 1972, 22), the single bishop who ruled from the middle of the tenth is, in all contemporary references and authentic pre-Conquest attestations, even where every other bishop has a named see 5, simply 'Bishop of the East Angles'6. This preserves the duality of the diocese, with two sees - Elmham and Hoxne, which was then dedicated to the 'other' East Anglian martyr-king, St. Aethelbert 7. The table to which this is a preamble is ultimately based on the more or less congruent lists of Florence of Worcester and William of Malmesbury, which for the postDa nish age may be held to embody a continuity of information rather than antiquarian reconstruction 7 (Thorpe 1948-9, I, 233; Hamilton 1870, 147). 1t avoids the sometimes confusing convention of giving the theoretical limits of a date, separated by x, and offers a more positive range of probabilities. A date without a circa may err by± 1 8; one with a circa allows a deviation up to 3 or 4; either, with a query, is hypothetical, involving arguments from silence or subjective judgements. Both lists recommence in 955, but the West Saxon recovery of East Anglia was complete by 921, from about which time there is some archaeological indication of a building on the present cathedral site at Elmham (Rigold 1962-3, 104). Before that, far from relapsing into paganism, the people had commemorated St.Edmund on their coins since the 890s (Blunt 1970). Whether or not they received any episcopal visitation, Theodred 9, bishop of London (and Essex) through most of the interval since the reconquest (from 926 at latest, to 951 or 952), can be seen from his will (Whitelock 1930, 2, no.1) also to have ruled Suffolk, where he held much land, saw to the enshrinement of St.Edmund in the first seemly church at Bury and made a bequest to the community at Hoxne. His place in Norfolk, where he held little, is less sure but it is likely that he acted as bishop in both, while there was not yet a comparable community at Elmham. Norfolk, if administered apart, would have easier communication with Dorchester than with Lindsey. Of two bishops, not mentioned in the lists, for whom a part in East Anglia has been proposed (Searle 1899; Stubbs 1897), Aelfred, who attested in 933-4, was probably of Lindsey, but Aethelwald, named in rather questionable charters between ~45 and 949 (Sawyer 1968, nos.507, 544, 549) is less explicable. The seal, found at Eye, Suffolk, and confidently assigned to his ninth century namesake (Wilson 1964, 131) 10, has no known parallels as a seal at that date 11, yet if the seal-holder were the later Aethelwald he would have been appointed to all East Anglia in the time of Theodred, to whom his charge might briefly have reverted. There is no evidence that Theodred's successor exercised it, but about the time of his death one Eadhelm, an abbot or titular abbot, presumably from Wessex 12 and perhaps on an unwelcome mission of organisation, was slain by the men of Thetford, who paid heavily for it. Both lists open with Athulf. The form Eadulf is unwarranted: it derives from a profession of obedience cited by Stubbs 13, which is not to be found in the Canterbury profession-roll 14 but only in Cotton Cleopatra E 1, in a text that is certainly tampered with and possibly spurious 15. Athulf, however, attests over twenty acceptable charters of Eadwig, th roughout his brief sole-reign, from the end of 955, but nothing earlier 16. He was evidently a court-prelate, one of the clique of secular clerks that surrounded Eadwig, and on the wrong side, in both senses, in 957, when Eadwig was forced to cede his realms north of the Thames to Eadgar. Sent out into the wilderness, to the diocese where he be longed, he dutifully attended Eadgar' s witans in 958 and 960 (Sawyer 1968, nos.674, 675, 685), but appears only once thereafter, at the rededication of New Minster in 966 17. He has been confused with his namesake of Hereford, for whom an enormous

7

(10 & 11)

North Elmham Park

tenure, from the 9 50s to 1012, is claimed. It is not unthinkable that he might have held both dioceses: such pluralism was not unknown and there were ancient, if unexpected, connexions between them, as that between Wenlock and Icanho in St.Mildburgh's time (Finberg 1961, 202-209) 18, and in the enshrinement of St.Aethelbert at Hereford, near one of his own estates. But the long-lived bishop of Hereford probably first appears, signing as Pontifex 19 in 971, when the earlier Athulf was dead. The latter, like all the bishops of the East Angles (and also like Aethelwald), normally signed last of the witnesses. If Athulf built anything at Elmham it would have been after 957. Aelfric I, posthumously called the 'Good', had a short tenure and left no reliable attestations. One hesitates to credit anything from the 'pseudo-Ingulph' stable, but it includes one witness-list that might be genuine. Its order is normal and it gives Aelfric his proper title, where a Norman fabrication might not 20. It is attached to a 'foundationcharter' for Crow land purporting to date from 966, which is perhaps a trifle too early. Of the two Theodreds, any attempt to divide them seems arbitrary 21 and it is just possible that Florence of Worcester was misled by a mention of Theodred of London and that there was only one. A Theodred witnesses under Eadgar from 973 22, but not his charter to Ely in 970 (Sawyer 1968, no. 751), which may imply that the see was then vacant. There is no Theodred in the few charters of Edward the Martyr (if his sympathies were Benedictine he might well have been out of favour), but one appears under Aethelred in 979 and 982 (Sawyer 1968, nos.834, 840) and, perhaps the other, frequently between 993 and 995 23. With Aethelstan, who attests from 997 to 1001, the Liber Eliensis notices the formation of a strong bond between Ely, previously exempt or claimed by Dorchester, and the East Anglian see, to which the monks henceforth profess obedience (Stewart 1848, 11, 65) 24. He was apparently buried at Ely 25 and his successors, Aelfgar the 'Alms-full' and Aelfwine, were actual monks of Ely, who did their 'stint' of ten years or so as bishops and then retired to the monastery (Stewart 1848, II, 72, note 30). Aelfgar attested from 1001 to 1012 26. He had resigned for many years before he died, with the reputation of a saint, at Christmas 1021 27, since Aelfwine, according to the Liber Eliensis, was appointed by King Aethelred, who was hardly in a position to do so after 1013 (Stewart 1848, II, 75). Aelfwine attested until 1022 and died, according to a possible Ely tradition, in 1029 28. He supervised the Benedictine settlement of Bury and Hulme, which brought the foci of power in the dioceses well east of Ely and established potential monastic sees. Surely neither of these monk-bishops had his heart in Elmham nor thought of it as more than a temporary base . Aelfric II, the Black, appointed by Cnut early in his reign, surely little if any after 1022, was not a monk, nor was he, like some secular prelates, a magnate in his own right. His modest wealth and politic outlook can be judged from his will (Whitelock 1930, 70, no. 26), by which he divided nearly all he had among Bury, Hulme and Ely and the secular communities at Hoxne and at Elmham, which is there mentioned for the first time. In this prudent bishop with no outside loyalties, who kept peace with Harold Harefoot yet reinsured himself with a heriot to the 'Lady' (doubtless his stepmother, Aelfgifu-Emma), we may probably see the effective refounder of Elmham as a respectable see, with some sort of chapter and at least the beginnings of a stone church. His death is recorded among several bishops in 1038, but to him alone the chronicler assigns no immediate successor 29. Aelfric Ill, the Little, a monk who had been prior of Ely (Luard 1859, 386 ff.), was presumably appointed in 1039 or even 1040. He is named in the will of Aelfric Modercope, traditionally dated to 1042 or 1043 (Whitelock 1930, 74, no.28), but was dead by Easter of the latter year, when the 'Lady' procured the succession for her very secular chaplain Stigand 30, another of 'Cnut' s priests' but of a different stamp from Aelfric Black. A few months later, when the Confessor made bold to confiscate his mother's

8

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.

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The Bishops of the Re-established See at Elmham

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wealth and undo her proteges, he deposed Stigand and put in his stead Grimcytel, already bishop of the South Saxons, to whom he may have promptly addressed a writ assigning the Lady's eight-and-a-half hundreds in Suffoi:~ to Bury 31. There, in effect, they remained until her hungry ghost was appeased by the l:::tachinators of 'local government reorganisation', but she had more prompt satisfaction the following year, in the intrigue by which Grimcytel was declared simoniacal and the slippery Stigand reinstated. It is doubtful whether the latter had much time for East Anglia. Though afterwards a most uncanonical pluralist himself, when he was promoted to Winchester in 1047 he was careful to resign East Anglia to his brother Aegelmaer (or Ailmer: not Aethelmaer). Both brothers were deposed by the Conqueror in 1070. Aegelmaer, like his two Norman successors, was married and completely 'secular', treating the temporalities of the see like lay holdings (Dodwell 1957) 32; but at least he added to them considerably and acquired a strong interest in the district. The final stone cathedral at Elmham is most probably his work. Herfast (or Arfast), chaplain and for a short time chancellor to the Conqueror, cared little for Elmham, since he alienated much of the great estate to his foster-brother 33. His removal of the see to a 'borrowed church' at Thetford was decided by 1072, though later dates are sometimes put on it. In his belated profession of obedience to Lanfranc he calls himself bishop 'of Elmham or (seu) Thetford' 34. He did not regard this perfunctory fulfilment of the order to place sees in populated towns as final, having designs on Bury, whose independence and exemption needed all the force of Lanfranc and of the Pope himself to preserve them 35. Nor was this the end of Elmham' s cathedral pretensions. William, of Beaufay (de Bello Fago), nominated at Christmas 1085 36, and, like his predecessors, a royal chaplain who provided well for his relatives, was evidently not satisfied with the Thetford arrangement. Though he attests once, and is named in Domesday as bishop of Thetford, in his profession of obedience he reverts to Elmham 37. The matter was settled when Herbert Losinga moved to Norwich in the 1090s, last using the title of Thetford in 1100. THE BISHOPS OF THE EAST ANGLES DURING THE TENTH AND ELEVENTH CENTURIES Theodred of London Athulf Aelfric Bonus Theodred A Theodred B Aethelstan Aelfgar Aelfwine Aelfric Niger Aelfric Parvus Stigand Grimcytel Aegelmaer Herfast William de Bello Fago

926 ? - 952 (acting bishop) 955 - 966 967 ? - 969 ? 971 ? -c. 984 ? c. 984 ? - 996 997 - 1001 1001 - 1012 ? (d. 1021) 1013 ? - 1022 (d. 1029 ?) 1023 ? - 1038 1039 - 1042 1043 and 1044 - 1047 (d. 1072) 1043 - 1044 (d. 1047) 1047 - 1070 (d. after 1072) 1070 - 1085 1085 - 1091

REFERENCES 1.

The bishop's throne is discussed in Ralegh Radford 1961; his eighth century date for the North Elmham building has not won general acceptance.

2.

The author is indebted to Norman Scarfe for pointing out the dangers of using 673 as a reading of Bede. The question was aired in a letter by Stuart Rigold published in the Eastern Da ily Press on 30th Jtme 1973.

9

North Elmham Park 3.

Scarfe's alternative suggestion of 750 being the date for the move is more plausible, but this still conflicts with the North E lmham evidence .

4.

The writer is m uch indebted to Stuart Rigold, Norman Scarfe and Stanley West for their helpful comments made du ring the preparation of this chapter .

5.

Sawyer 1968, no.885 (convenie nt text in Campbell, 1973, 39-42), where eve r y other bishop has a 'church', even the 'Cornish church' .

6.

Orientalium Anglorum episcopus: citations as Helmeamensis, etc. can in every case be shown to be post- Conquest or spurious.

7.

As in Bishop Theodred' s will (Whitelock 1930, 2- 3) .

8.

As many Anglo-Saxon dates may err, for reasons of calendar.

9.

Reputed a saint: see his place in the list of English shr ines in Mellowes 1941 , 30.

10. He abides by his opinion (pers. comm . ) and there is a l so a general similarity to a ninth century coin-type . 11. The lettering (including V V, not 'wen' ) would seem to prefer the ninth century date. My vestige of uncertainty stems from the fact that there is no other English seal, sealing or mention of a seal before the second quarter of the tenth century, e:-;rept the much smaller leaden bulla of Coenwulf. 12. A-S Chronicle, D text, sub anno 952 (Garmonsway 1953, 112). 13 . Searle 1899; Stubbs 1897, implying that it is in the Canterbury roll. 14. Miss A . M. Oakley has kindl y searched the roll, a sewing - together of original profess ions. 15. This cartulary, dating from£.· 1120, contains a proportion of forged material: see Southern 1958, 219. The profession, prefixed to that of Herfast, is addressed to Abp. Oda as Odo, Odoni, i.e. a Frankish form, and by that token the spelling Eadulf and the title Helmeamensis can be dismissed as valueless. 16. Sawyer 1968, nos.598, 606, 609, 611. The only one supposedly of Eadred to bear the name is spurious . 17. Sawyer 1968, no.745. There is no title in the original text. 18 . Icanho may have been in the Fenlands rather than at Iken, Suffolk. 19. Which, sometimes at least, as on the coins of Abp. Aethelheard, can mean an unconsecrated prelate. Sawyer 1968, nos . 782, 792 (questionable). 20. Sawyer 1968, no. 741 (very questionable). 21. Searle 1899 and Stubbs 1897 divide them c. 980, 22. Sawyer 1968, no.751, which Finberg (1961) 116 in note 22, no.302 assigns to 973 , though the original grant may be of 967 : Sawyer 1968, nos. 795 (974), 803 (975). 23 . e . g. Sawyer1968, nos.876, 885, 891(questionable). 24 . cf. also Sawyer 1968, no.89 1 (questionable, but title in proper form). 25. The eighteenth century inscription of Bishop West's tomb, probably preserving information from the medieval shrine and kindly copied for the author by Dr. R. Gem, records his burial (with added date, £.· 996) . 26. Sawyer 1968, nos.899, 926: Sawyer 1968, no,952, assigned to£.· 1018, is very questionable. 27 . A-S Chronic le, D text, sub anno 1021 (Garmonsway 1953, 154) . 28. See note 25 : this is the date given in the inscription.

10

29 . A-S Chronicle, C and E texts, sub anno 1038 (Garmonsway 1953, 160-1). 30 . A-S Chronicle, C and E texts, sub anno 1043 (Garmonsway 1953, 162-3). 31 . Sawyer 1968, no.1046 (questionable). 32. For the form of his name see Bishop and Chaplais 1957, no. 2, pl. II. 33. Richard of St.Denis: cf. V . C.H., Norfolk, II, 281. 34 . Profession in Cotton Cleop. E 1 (see note 15), fol. 26r: though highly loaded it is probably recent enough to be authentic. 35. cf. V . C.H., Suffolk 1911, II, 58. 36 . A- S Chronicle, sub anno 1085 (Garmonsway 1953, 216). 37. In Cotton Cleop . E 1 (see note 15), fol. 28v.

11

North Elmham Park

Lindisfarne 875

A 1GLO SAXON SEES ab a ncloned by 1100

Hex ham 821 + Chester-+ le -street 99~

f) Lindsey ?end of

10/h.cent.

Lichfield

Leicester

1075 +

NE!mham + 1071

+ >c.875

ommoc c. 8~0

Ramsbury 1058 +

Dor chester + c./080

Sherborne Crediton

+ 1075

+ 1050

MILES

0~==--~=-~~5~0-===--~=-~100 PW-M

Fig .1.

Anglo-Saxon sees abandoned by 1100.

12

3. LOCATION AND TOPOGRAPHY I.

THE CHOICE OF NORTH E LMHAM AS THE SITE OF THE ANGLO-BAXON SEE (Figs. 2 and 3)

North Elmham is situated in the middle of Norfolk beside the upper reaches of the river Wensum which flows eastwards to join the river Yare below Norwieh. The main east to west Roman road, which crossed Norfolk from the Fens to the east coast, passed only just to the south of the parish and formed an important bridging point on the river at Billingford (Fig. 3). A branch of this road probably forked off the main route at Billingford, passed through North Elmham parish, then divided again at Brisley. One went north west to Toftrees and the other ran towards King's Lynn (Wade-Martins 1977; Bagshawe 1977). The choice of North Elmham may have been partly determined by its central position in the early diocese, which covered roughly the same area as the modern county of Norfolk. Also, it was adjacent to one of the main river crossings of the Roman road, which in Middle Saxon times wa s probably still the main east to west line of communication. The Roman road to Toftrees provided a route to the north coast, but no roads running southwards into Suffolk from this area have yet come to light; however the study of minor Roman roads in the region is still in its infancy. When in the tenth century North Elmham became the see for an enlarged diocese, including most of Suffolk, it was much less convenient as a religious centre for the region. It is, therefore, not surprising that there was an attempt to transfer the see from Elmham to Thetford in the eleventh century. But inevitably it was soon drawn to Norwich which was the new natural focus for the region. But the choice of North Elmham for the early see was probably not determined simply by its central position and its good communications. A mile and a half to the south of the village there was an early Saxon cemetery on Spong Hill (Hills 1977). This is the largest recorded cemetery of its type in the country; present estimates suggest that several thousand cremations were buried on this hilltop. While there are almost certainly other cemeteries of a similar size which have not yet been examined in such detail, the site was clearly an extremely important one for the immigrant communities of central Norfolk prior to the arrival of Christianity. The pagan tradition of a religious centre at North Elmham was probably another factor in determining the location of the Christian see. There is no evidence of any early Saxon activity actually on the cathedral site itself; the Middle Saxon settlement was apparently founded on a new site some distance from its pagan predecessor.

At the time of the foundation of the Minster there was a remarkable shift of settlement. For not only is there an absence of early Saxon material near the Minster site, there i s a l so no trace of Middle Saxon pottery on Spong Hill or on the known early Saxon settlement sites nearby. The change of life-style in the seventh century was, therefore, far more fundamental than simply a change in religious beliefs.

13

North E Lmham Park

(27)

.•;:{gout/

Peat

Norfolk

Fen

Miles

Fig. 2.

P.W-M.

A map of East Anglia showing the location of North Elmham in relation to the region's topography, the major Roman roads and some other centres connected with early Christianity in East Anglia .

II.

TOPOGRAPHY (Fig. 5).

North Elmham lies within the boulder clay plateau region of central Norfolk. The plateau is dissected by river valleys with gravel terraces, and overlaid in pla ces by plateau gravels 1. The cathedral area and the northern part of the Park e xcavation site lie on a deposit of this plateau gravel which forms a thin spread over the chall y boulder clay. Gravels a lso cover considerable areas of the northern part of the parish , forming the 'Brecks' or fields of poorer soils which were probably only broken up and cultivated at intervals in the Middle Ages. The Spong Hill area at the southern end of the parish is also on gravel, but the western and central parts are mostly boulder clay. So, the parish has a varied landscape, with marshy river meadows, and flat areas of poorly drained boulder clays, while Dunham Hill, Spong Hill and the sides of the Wensum and Blackwater valleys are undulating areas of grave l soils.

14

Ear ly Settlement Sites in the North Elmham Area

(27)

NORTH ELM HAM: THE SETTING

·.:\~ . . / fvt i LEHAfvt

~.i-:1

::r

THE GAZEITEER AND EXCAVATION ATLAS

(!)

The gazetteer of feature s is intended to complement the excavation atlas (Figs . 14 -70). The two togeth er form the prima ry excavation record. Only the first sheet of the gazetteer is printed. This is followed by two specimen sheets from the excavation a tla s. The full gazetteer and the a tlas are reproduced on microfiche in a sepa r ate wallet with this r epo r t. All the r emaining unpublished evidence , particularly the feature cards , the section draw ings, the ac ce ssion books and the finds a 1·e he ld by the Norfolk Museums Service . Featu re Number

w w

TyP3 of feature

Grid Square Period* Structure

Feature Number

TyP3 of feature

Grid Square Period

Structure

P ost h ole

H58 , 158

18

P ost hole

158

2

P ost hole

158

19

Post hole

157

3

P o st hole

158

III/ 2

Fence

20

Post ho le

H57

4

P ost hole

159

III/ 2

Fence

21

Post hole

H57

III/ 2

5

Post hole

157

22

Pit

158

?II

6

Post hole

158

23

Post hole

157

1V/ 1

Building A

7

P ost hole

158

24

Foundation trench K57

II/ 2

Building P

8

Pit

H5S , H59

25

Post hole

J57

9

Post hole

158

26

Pit

J58 , J57

10

Post hole

H58

27

Post holes

J57

11

Post hole

156 , 157

1V/1

Building A

28

Post hole

J57

12

P ost hole

158

III/ 2

Fence

29

Post hole

J58

13

Post hole

H58, 158

III/ 2

Building F

30

Pit

J57

II

14

P ost hole

158

31

15

P ost hole

H58

32

Post holes

K57

III/ 2

16

Post hole

H59

33

Pit

K57

?II

17

Post hole

158

34

Ditch

K55-58

I/2

III/ 2

III/ 2

Building F

Fence

Building F

(!)

§=

..,

(!)

Pl

::::;

0..

trl

8Pl


~ Pl

Ul

Building F

II

Fence

Ditch B

~ORTH

ELMHAM PARK

SRQPONMLKJ

I

HGFEDCBA

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45 44 1.3

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48

T

u

V

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4G

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41 40

1 f"

R1ch refuse l ilyers

~

ForJ t

PWM.

'lJ $l:J '1

Fig .73.

Sections of the Middle Saxon ditches (only the richest of the refuse layers are shown stippled). Sca le 1:100.

;>;"

The Middle Saxon Ditches Keyto Fig.73 A1 (Plate XVI) Feature 44 A -A (Squares G57 and H57) 1.

Mixed brown sandy clay and chalky clay (possibly a recut gulley or ditch in top of fill, perhaps containing remains of chalky plaster).

2.

Brown (10YR 5/ 3) sandy clay (secondary silting of ditch).

3.

Black (2. 5Y N2/ ) loam with a very large number of bone fragments and some shells, especially oysters (refuse layer tipped in from the east side of ditch).

4.

Dark yellowish -brown(10YR 4 / 4) sandy loam and flints (silt layer).

5.

Yellowish-brown(10YR 5/ 6) sandy loam (silt layer filling re-cut of ditch).

6.

Dark brown (10YR 3/ 3) sandy clay (primary silt of ditch).

A2 Feature 44 B-B (Square H57) 1.

Mixed layer of fired red clay, charcoal and chalky specks (burnt deposit in top of ditch filling) .

2.

Layer of brown (10YR 5/ 3) sandy clay sandwiched between two thin layers of white chalky plaster, shown as thick lines on drawing (deposit of white plaster and sandy clay possibly derived from same source as A1: layer 1).

3.

Brown (10YR 5/ 3) sandy clay (secondary silting) .

4.

Mixed brown sandy clay and black loam and a few charcoal specks (upper part of refuse layer: less rich in finds) .

5.

Very black (2. 5Y N2/ ) silty clay loam and charcoal with oyster shells and many bone fragments (very rich refuse deposit thrown in from east).

6.

Dark brown (10YR 3/ 3) sandy clay loam (primary silting).

A3 Feature 44 C-C (Square H56) 1.

Mixed yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 8) clay and black loam and charcoal (burnt deposit in top of ditch, as A2: layer 1).

2.

Black (2. 5Y N2/ ) loam, charcoal specks and oyster shells (secondary rubbish layer).

3.

Brown (10YR 5/ 3) sandy clay (secondary silting).

4.

Mixed brown sandy clay with charcoal specks (upper part of refuse layer).

5.

Black (2. 5Y N2 / ) silty clay loam and charcoal, with bone fragments and oyster shells (refuse deposit).

6.

Dark brown (10YR 3/ 3) sandy clay loam (primary silting).

A4 Feature 950 G-G (Square H54) 1.

Dark greyish -brown (10YR 4/ 2) loam with many chalk specks (filling of post hole, feature 1093).

2.

Very dark greyish-brown (10YR 3/ 2) loam (filling of gulley, feature 1017).

43

North Elmham Park 3.

Dark greyish-brown (10YR 4 / 2) loam (filling of gulley, feature 1028).

4.

Dark greyish-brown (10YR 4 / 2) loam (fill of medieval clay pit, feature 957; although they were well separated in time, layers 3 and 4 showed no clear distinction between them).

5.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 6) sandy clay (secondary silting of ditch feature 950, cut into by gulleys 1017 and 1028).

6.

Dark greyish-brown (10YR 4 / 2) loamy clay with flints, shell and bone (recut ditch filled with refuse laye r thrown in from east).

7.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 4) sandy clay loam (ditch silt).

8.

Greyish-brown (2. 5Y 5/ 2) clay loam with oyster shells (thin refuse laye r) .

9.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 4) sandy clay loam (primary ditch silt).

A5 Feature 950 E -E (Square H53) 1.

Dark greyish-brown (10YR 4 / 2) loam (filling of gulley, feature 1027).

2.

Dark greyish-brown (2.5Y 4/2) sandy loam (top of filling of gulley, feature 859).

3.

Very dark greyish-brown (10YR 3/ 2) loam with charcoal specks (lower filling of gulley, feature 859).

4.

Very dark greyish-brown (10YR 3/ 2) loam with chalky plaster lumps (upper filling of gulley, feature 1017).

5.

Dark greyish-brown (10YR 4 / 2) loam with many chalky plaster lumps (lower fill ing of gulley, feature 1017 containing chalky plaster fragments).

6.

Dark brown (10YR 3/3) sandy loam (top of filling of ditch, feature 950).

7.

Thin, indefinite layer of light olive brown (2. 5Y 5/ 4) clay with chalk fragments and charcoal specks (thin refuse layer, perhaps with cess staining).

8.

Brown (10YR 4 / 3) sandy clay (secondary ditch silting).

9.

Dark greyish-brown (10YR 4/2) sandy clay with chalk fragments and charcoal specks (as 8).

10. Greyish-brown (10YR 5/ 2) sandy clay (as 8). 11. Mixed laye r of yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 6) brown (10YR 4 / 3) and light olive brown (2. 5Y 5/4) sandy clay with many bone fragments (layer of sandy clay silting with many refuse bones, but less organic than A1: layer 3, A2: layer 5 or A3: layer 5). 12. Olive brown (2.5Y 4 / 4) sandy clay loam (primary silt). 13. Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 6) sandy clay loam (primary silt).

A6 Feature 950 C-C (Squares H52 and I52) 1.

Dark brown (10YR 3/3) sandy clay with loam pockets (lens of clay in upper filling of medieval clay pit, feature 86 1).

2.

Very dark greyish-brown (2. 5Y 3 / 2) loam (loam filling of medieval clay pit, feature 861) .

3.

Olive brown (2. 5Y 4/4) loam (filling of gulley, feature 907).

4.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 6) very sandy loam (secondary silting of ditch).

44

The Middle Saxon Ditches 5.

Dark yellowish-brown (10YR 4/4) loam with many charcoal specks, bone fragments and oyster shells (refuse layer thrown in from east).

6.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 6) sandy clay loam (primary silting of ditch).

A7 Feature 950 B-B (Square 151) 1.

Brown ( 10YR 4/ 3) clay loam (filling of pit, feature 1178, but the east edge of the pit did not show in the section) .

2.

Very dark greyish-brown (2. 5Y 3/ 2) loam (top filling of ditch containing gulley features 1110 (1) and (2), buttheywere not visible as separate features in section).

3.

Brown (10YR 4 / 3) clay loam (secondary silting ditch).

4.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 6) sandy loam with animal bones (secondary silting with refuse).

5.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/6) sandy clay loam (primary silting of ditch).

A8 Feature 950 A-A (Square 150) 1.

Filling of post hole, feature 1035, removed.

2.

Dark yellowish-brown (10YR 4 / 4) clay loam with charcoal and chalk specks (as 3).

3.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 6) sandy clay loam (secondary silting of ditch against causeway).

4.

Thin layer of very dark greyish-brown (10YR 3/ 2) loam (thin organic layer deposited immediately subsequent to layer 5).

5.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 8) sandy clay with chalk specks and flints (clay backfilling to form a causeway across the ditch).

6.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 6) sandy clay loam (primary silting of ditch prior to causeway).

A9 Feature 1785 B-B (Square 148) 1.

Dark greyish-brown (2. 5Y 4/ 2) loam and areas of yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 6) sandy loam (upper loam filling).

2.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 6) sandy clay loam with animal bones (secondary silting of ditch w ith refuse).

3.

Ye llow ish-brown (lOYR 5/ 6) clay loam (primary silting of ditch).

A10 Feature 1785 A-A (Square 147) 1.

Dark greyish-brown (2. 5Y 4/ 2) loam and areas of yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 6) sandy loam (upper loam filling) .

2.

Olive brown (2 . 5Y 4/ 4) sandy clay with animal bones (secondary silting with refuse).

3.

Olive brown (2. 5Y 4/4) silty clay (primary silting of ditch).

45

North Elmham Park

All Feature 2022 A - A (Square J44)

1.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/6) sandy clay.

2.

Dark brown (10YR 3/ 3) sandy loam (secondary silting).

3.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 6) sandy clay with bone fragments (secondary silting with refuse).

4.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 4) clay loam (primary silting).

A12 Feature 2022 B-B (Square J43)

1.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 6) sandy clay.

2.

Dark brown (10YR 3/3) sandy loam (secondary silting).

3.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 6) sandy clay with bones (secondary silting with refuse).

4.

Yellowish-brown(10YR 5/ 4) clay loam (primary silting).

A13 Feature 2612 D-D (Square J42) 1.

Dark greyish-brown (10YR 4/ 2) sandy loam with brownish-yellow (10YR 6/ 6) clay (upper loam filling).

2.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/6) sandy clay with chalk and charcoal specks.

3.

Brownish -yellow (10YR 6/ 6) clay and chalk specks with bones (secondary silting and refuse layer).

4.

Light yellowish-brown (10YR 6/4) clay (primary silting).

A14 Feature 2612 C-C (Square J41)

1.

Brownish-yellow (10YR 6/ 6) clay and greyish-brown (10YR 5/ 2) sandy clay.

2.

Dark brown (10YR 4/3 ) sandy clay and brownish-yellow (10YR 6/ 6) clay (as A 13: layer 1).

3.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 6) sandy clay and chalk specks.

4.

Yellowish-brown(10YR 5/4) sandy clay and chalk specks with bones (secondary silting with refuse).

5.

Yellowish-brown(10YR 5/4 ) clay (upper part of 6).

6.

Yellowish-brown(10YR 5/ 6) clay (primary silting).

A15 Feature 2612 B- B (Squares J40 and J41) 1.

Filling of double post hole, feature 2710, removed.

2.

Dark brown (10YR 4 / 3) sandy clay and a.reas of yellowish-brown (lO YR 5/ 6) sandy loam (upper loam filling).

3.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 4) sandy clay and specks of burnt daub.

46

The Middle Saxon Ditches 4.

Yellow ish-brown (10YR 5/ 6) sandy clay with grey (lOYR 5/1) clay and many chalk spec ks and bones (secondary silting with refuse).

5.

Yellowish -brown (10YR 5/ 4) clay and flints.

6.

Yellow ish-brown (10YR 5/ 4) c lay (primary silting).

A16 Feature 2612 A-A (Squares J39 a nd K39)

1.

Filling of medieval clay pit, feature 2920.

2.

Greyish-brown (2. 5Y 5/ 2) clay (upper clay loam filling).

3.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 4) clay with chalk specks and bones (secondary silting with refuse).

4.

Brown (10YR 5/ 3) c lay.

5.

Yellowish - brown (10YR 5/ 6) clay (primary silting).

B1 Feature 34 A - A (Square K56)

1.

Dark greyish-brown (10YR 4/ 2) sandy loam (upper loam filling).

2.

Yellow ish-brown (10YR 5/ 6) sandy clay with chalk specks (possibly clay bank backfilled into ditch).

3.

Dark greyish-brown (10YR 4/ 2) sandy loam with many bones (secondary silting with refuse) .

4.

Dark brown (10YR 3/ 3) sandy loam (primary silting).

B2 Feature 34 B-B (Square K55) 1.

Dark greyish-brown (10YR 4/ 2) sandy Loam (upper Loam filliQg).

2.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 6) sandy clay with chalk specks (possibly clay bank backfilled into ditch).

3.

Dark greyish-brown ( 10YR 4/ 2) sandy loam with many bones (secondary silting with refuse) .

4.

Dark brown (10YR 3/ 3) sandy Loam (primary silting).

B3 Feature 8 15 E - E (Square K53)

1.

Dark brown (10YR 3/ 3) loam (upper loam filling).

2.

Yellow ish-brown ( 10YR 5/ 6) sandy clay with chalk specks and flints (possibly clay bank backfilled into ditch).

3.

Olive brown (2. 5Y 4/ 4) sandy loam and bones (secondary silting with refuse) .

4.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 4) sandy loam (primary silting of ditch).

5.

Dark greyish- brown ( 10YR 4 / 2) sandy clay loam (silting of post hole, feature 1084, in bottom of ditch).

47

North Elmham Park

B4 Feature 815 A -A (Square L50) 1.

Dark greyish-brown ( lOYR 4 / 2) loam (upper loam filling).

2.

Brownish-yellow (lOYR 5/ 8) sandy loam with chalk specks (comb ination of layers 2 and 3 in section B3) .

3.

Yellowish-brown (lOYR 5/ 6) sandy clay (primary silting).

B5 Feature 815 B-B (Square L49) 1.

Olive brown (2. 5Y 4 / 4) clay with chalk specks (upper filling of sha llow pit, fe ature 995).

2.

Greyish-brown (lOYR 5/ 2) sandy clay (lower filling of feature 995).

3.

Yellowish-brown (lOYR 5/ 4) sandy clay and chalk specks (possibly clay ba nk bac kfilled into ditch).

4.

Light olive brown (2. 5Y 5/ 4) sandy clay loam (upper part is probably secondary silting with refuse, and the lower part primary silting).

B6 Feature 1789 B-B (Square L47)

1.

Yellowish-brown(lOYR 5/6) clay with areas of dark greyish-brown(lOYR 5/ 6) clay loam (combination of layers 1 and 2 in section B7).

2.

Olive brown (2.5Y 4 / 4) sandy loam (primary silting).

B7 Feature 1789 A-A (Square L47)

1.

Yellowish-brown (lOYR 5/ 4) clay with areas of dark greyish-brown (lOYR 4 / 2) sandy loam (upper loam filling) .

2.

Olive brown (2.5Y 4 / 4) sandy clay loam (secondary silting with refuse).

3.

Yellowish-brown(lOYR 5/6) silty clay (primary silting).

Cl Feature 358 A -A (Square 056) 1.

Filling of foundation trench, feature 470, removed.

2.

Yellowish-brown (lOYR 5/ 4) sandy clay (backfill of bank).

3.

Yellowish-brown (lOYR 5/ 4) sandy loam.

4.

Dark yellowish-brown (lOYR 4 / 4) sandy loam (primary silting).

C2

Feature 358 B-B (Square 055)

1.

Light olive brown (2. 5Y 5/ 6) clay with chalk specks (filling of foundation trench, feature 470).

2.

Dark gre yish-brown (lOYR 4/ 2) loam (filling of po st hole, feature 799). 48

The Middle Saxon Ditches 3.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/8) sandy clay with sandy loam pockets (backfill of bank).

4.

Yellowish -brown(10YR 5/ 8) sandy clay (as 3).

5.

Olive brown (2.5Y 4 / 4) silt (primary silting).

C3 Feature 358 C-C (Square 052) 1.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 6) sandy clay (backfill of bank).

2.

Yellowish-brown(10YR 5/ 4) sandy clay (secondary silting possibly w ith refuse).

3.

Yellowish-brown(10YR 5/ 8) sandy clay (primary silting).

C4

Feature 1222 A-A (Square 049) 1.

Mixed yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 6) and olive brown (2. 5Y 4 / 4) chalky clay (backfill of bank and refuse) .

2.

Greyish-brown (10YR 5/2) silty sand (primary silting).

C5 Feature 1861 A-A (&}uare 046)

1.

Dark greyish -brown (10YR 4/2) clay loam with charcoal specks.

2.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 4) clay and chalk specks (bank infill).

3.

Dark yellowish-brown (10YR 4/4) sandy clay (secondary silting with refuse).

4.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 6) silty clay (primary silting).

D1 Feature 1018 A - A (&}uare G50) 1.

Dark greyish-brown (10YR 4/ 2) clay loam with flints (upper loam filling).

2.

Brown (10YR 4/3) sandy clay loam with many thin layers of charcoal, bones and oyster shells (rich refuse deposits interleaved with secondary silting).

3.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 4) silty clay loam with areas of greyish-brown (2. 5Y 5/ 2) silt (primary silting).

D2 Feature 1018 B-B (&}uare F49-50) 1.

Yellowish-brown ( 10YR 5/ 6) sandy clay loam with flints (upper loam fill ing).

2.

Dark greyish-brown (2. 5Y 4/ 2) sandy clay loam with many layers of charcoal, bones and oyster shells (rich refuse deposit interleaved with lenses of secondary silting).

3.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 6) clay loam (primary silting).

D3 Feature 1018 C-C (&}uare F49-50) 1.

Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 8) sandy clay loam with flints (upper loam filling).

49

North Elmham Park 2.

Dark greyish -brown( 2.5Y 4 / 2) sandy c lay loam with many layers of charcoal , bones and oyster shells (rich refuse deposit interleaved with lenses of secondary silting) .

3.

Yellowish-brown(lOYR 5/6) clay loam (primary silting).

El Feature 1749 C -C (Square D49) showing the intersection between ditches E and F: upper part of ditch fill r emoved. 1.

Yellowish -brown(lOYR 5/ 6) sandy clay loam (homogenous fill of ditch 1790: ditch E) .

2.

Olive brown (2.5Y 4 / 4) sandy loam (darker fill of ditch 1790 at western end) .

3.

Yellowish-brown(lOYR 5/ 8) clay (lower fill of ditch 1749: ditch F). (the fill of ditch F was cut through by the western end of ditch E).

Fl Feature 1749 B-B (Square D48) 1.

Very dark greyish - brown (2. 5Y 3/ 2) sandy loam and much charcoal (secondary silting of ditch Fi) .

2.

Black (2.5Y N2/ ) loam with a very high charcoal content (organic refuse layer in ditch Fi).

3.

Yellowish-brown clay (lOYR 5/ 6) and some dark greyish -brown (lOYR 4 / 2) loam (primary silting in ditch Fi) .

F2 Feature 120 A - A (Square C46) 1.

Greyish-brown (2. 5Y 5/ 2) sandy clay loam with charcoal specks (upper loam and secondary silting of ditch Fiii) .

2.

Yellowish-brown (lOYR 5/ 6) clay (primary silting of ditch Fiii).

3.

Yellowish-brown (lOYR 5/ 6) clay loam with chalk and charcoal specks (primary silting of ditch Fii).

4.

Yellowish-brown (lOYR 5/ 6) sandy clay with charcoal specks (secondary silting of ditch Fi).

5.

Yellowish-brown ( lOYR 5/ 6) sandy clay (primary silting of ditch Fi).

F3 (Plate XVIII) Feature 120 B - B (Square C46) 1.

Filling of pit, feature 116 , removed .

2.

Dark greyish- brown ( lOYR 4 / 2) loam (upper loam filling of Fiii).

3.

As laye r 2, with chalk specks (lens of chalky clay in silting).

4.

Brownish-yellow ( lOYR 6/ 6) clay (as 2).

5.

Yellowish-brown ( lOYR 5/ 6 clay (prima ry silting of ditch Fiii).

6.

Yellowish-brown (lOYR 5/ 4 ) sandy c lay (ditch Fii).

7.

Yellowish- brown (lOYR 5/ 8) sandy clay (remains of ditch Fi).

50

The Middle Saxon Ditches

F4 Features 120 C-C and 119 (Squares B45 and B46) 1.

Dark grey (10YR 4 / 1) loam (upper loa m filling with much organic material).

2.

Dark grey (10YR 4 / 1) loam with many chalk and charcoal specks (as 2).

3.

Very dark grey (10YR 3/ 1) loam with lightol ive brown (2.5Y 5/ 6) specks (cess staining in lower organic fill ) .

4.

Yellow ish-brown clay - layers not defined (filling of ditches F)-Fiii; the l owest part is Fiii, and the two sleps in the side of the ditch are Fii and Fi at the top).

G1 Feature 3736 C-C (Squares M37 a nd M38) 1.

Filling of feature 3740 removed .

2.

Greyish-brown(2 .5Y 5/ 2) clay (upper loam filling).

3.

Olive brown (2.5Y 4 / 4) clay (secondary silting).

4.

Brown (lOYR 5/ 3) c la y with chalk specks (primary silting with chalky c lay from bank).

G2 Feature 3736 A -A (Squares K36 a nd K37) 1.

Greyish-brown (2. 5Y 5/ 2) clay w ith patches of yellow ish-brown (lOYR 5/ 8) sandy clay (upper loam fill ing).

2.

Yellowish-brown (lOYR 5/ 4) sand y clay (secondary silting).

3.

Light olive brown (2. 5Y 5/4 ) clay with chalk specks (primary silting with chalky clay from bank) .

G3 Feature 3736 B - B (Square J36) 1.

Olive brown (2. 5Y 4 /4) clay (upper loam filling).

2.

Yellowish-brown ( lOYR 4 / 4) sandy c lay (as section G2: layers 2 and 3: chalky specks absent).

H1

Feature 3745 A - A (Square J 36) 1.

Ye llow ish-brown(lOYR 4 / 4 ) sandy clay w ith chalk specks.

2.

As 1, with few chalk specks.

H2 Features 2903 a nd 3745 B-B (Square J36)

1.

Upper loam fill of ditch removed.

2.

Dark greyish-brown(10YR 4 / 2) loam with charcoal specks .

3.

Yellow ish-brown (lOYR 4 / 4) sandy clay.

4.

As 3, with patches of greyish-brow n(2.5YR 5/ 2) loam .

5.

As 3 . 51

North Elmham Park H3 Features 3612 and 3745 C-C (Square J36) 1.

Yellowish-brown (lOYR 4/ 4) sandy clay.

2.

Yellowish-brown (lOYR 4/ 4) sand (the south end of this layer in ditch 2612 is removed by ditch 3745).

DITCH C (Figs. 72, 73, 75 and 76) (Features 358, 1222 and 1861) Ditch C was wider than B at the north end, but further south it decreased in width considerably. It was not so neatly dug as A and B. The area between Ditches Band C tapered towards the south. Although there were animal bones in the layer above the primary silt, the refuse layer was not so obvious nor so rich as the deposits in the first two ditches. The upper part of the ditch was entirely filled with yellowish brown sandy clay, almost identical to the natural, and the ditch was located with great difficulty during the early stages of excavation. As this clay was so much like natural, it was probably thrown into the ditch when the bank was levelled out. Therefore, both Ditches Band C may have been deliberately infilled while Ditch A remained open. It is not clear on which side the bank was piled; sections Cl and 5 suggest it was to the east, while section C2 indicates that it was to the west. Ditch C was overlaid by a foundation trench of Building P of Period II.

DITCH D (Figs. 72, 73, 75 and 76) (Feature 1018) This short ditch ran east to west between Ditches A and Fi opposite the causeway in Ditch A. The main purpose of a boundary in this position was to separate the two house sites S and Z which lay close to the ditch on either side. The primary silting in the three sections (Dl-D3) shows that the bank was piled on the north side, close to the doorway of house S. Above this filling was a rubbish deposit containing many bone fragments with layers of shells and charcoal, probably derived from repeated dumping of small quantities of domestic waste and ash from the hearths. Such lenses of charcoal and shells were not so apparent in the rubbish layers of the other ditches. On top of the refuse was an upper loam filling similar to that found in the two north to south ditches A and B. The position, the orientation and the stratigraphy of Ditch D all suggest that this ditch was a part of the same system as Ditches A, B and F. The distinctive nature of the rubbish layer indicates that the ditch was open at the time houses S and Z were in use. Ditches D, E and F were all overlaid by Period Ill graves.

DITCH E (Figs. 72 , 73 and 76) (Feature 1790) This ditch was e xcavated only in part because it ran out of the excavated area. It lay

52

North Elmham Park Period I Phase 1 I

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53

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54

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55

North Elmham Park exactly in line with Ditch D, but it was apparently later, since it was cut into the filling of Ditch Fi (section El). If Ditch Fi was contemporary with Ditch D, then Ditch E was a later feature, dug after Ditch Fi had silted up. Ditch E, nevertheless , continued the alignment of Ditch D towards the east, and it was probably dug while Ditch D was still partly open. Ditch E was made about the time that Ditch Fii was cut. Together Ditches E and Fii formed the opposite sides of a property which may have fronted on to another Middle Saxon street to the east of the excavated area, possibly under the present High Street. No Middle Saxon building was found within the excavated part of this enclosure probably because it stood at the east end of the enclosure close to the present High Street. Ditch E is exactly in line with the north side of the churchyard. Similarly, the southern side of the medieval churchyard is in line with Ditch H. So at least the north and south sides of the churchyard may be surviving examples of Middle Saxon boundaries. It would, indeed, be extremely interesting if the parish church built by Bishop Losinga at about the end of the eleventh century was placed within a pre-existing enclosure of Middle Saxon date; this is discussed further in Chapter 24.

DITCHES Fi - Fiii (Figs. 72, 73, 75 and 76) (Features 120 and 1749) Ditch Fi was in two parts. One length ran southwards from opposite Ditch D; th e other part ran east to west from this first section almost parallel to Ditches D and E (Plate XVII). Fi was the smallest of the Middle Saxon ditches. It was filled with a primary layer of yellowish brown loam with a comparatively slight rubbish deposit between the primary and secondary silting (section Fl). The east to west arm of the ditch was subsequently recut twice. In these two recuts (Fii and Fiii) there was no refuse layer, only a sandy clay filling with chalky specks in the final ditch derived from the eroded secondary bank which was probably piled on top of the original ditch (Plate XVIII). Although the indications are not conclusive, the bank was probably piled on the south side of the east to west portion and to west of the northern arm; that would be on the outside of the property it was enclosing. The evidence for this is partly the slope of the lower layers in section Fl; more important, however, is the gap between the north end of the ditch and Ditch D which could in part have been filled with this banlc. Later when this bank and ditch had disappeared, the west end of Ditch E was cut into the filling of Ditch Fi. Similarly, when the southern arm of Ditch Fi was recut, the new line would be dug a little to the north of its original position, unimpeded by the original bank. The making of Ditch E and the recut Ditches Fii and Fiii were roughly contemporary improvements to the boundaries down opposite sides of the same property.

DITCH G (Figs. 72, 73 and 75) (Feature 3736) There were two Middle Saxon ditches running approximately east to west on either side of the Park drive. Ditch G lay on the south side. The sections showed a relatively uniform filling of clay without any signs of rubbish tipping, which was so obvious in the ditches in the northern part of the site. There was no evidence as to which side the bank was piled.

56

TV23 Plate XV. Ditch A: a general view of the ditch as dug in 1969, from the south.

AN13

Plate XVI. Ditch A: a close-up of sectionAl from the south showing the refuse layer full of animal bones and oyster shells overlying the primary silting. (See Fig. 73, Al)

AK18

Plate XVII. Ditch F: a general view from the east of the east to west length of Ditch F as discovered in the trial excavations of 1967. On the left is the original shallow ditch (Fi) and on the right are the re-cut ditches Fii and Fiii.

AG35

Plate XVIII.

Ditch F: a close-up view from the west of section F3 showing clearly the chalky clay in Fiii on the left (north) contrasting with ditches Fii and Fi to the right. (See Fig. 73, F3)

UJ59

Plate XIX. Building S: a view of BuildingS from the east after excavation.

UJ57

Plate XX. BuildingS: a close-up view of the north side of the building from the east.

BG17

Plate XXI. Building S: a view of BuildingS from the east during excavation with the skeletons still in situ in many of the Late Saxon graves.

Photo by Marius Cooke

TX2

Plate XXII. Buildings Z and AA from the south; several Late Saxon grave pits lie east to west across the building. (See Figs.81 and 82)

Photo by Marius Cooke Plate XXIII. A vertical view of Buildings Z and AA, taken from a photogrammetric tower. The excavated features include the foundation trenches of these buildings, the overlying Late Saxon graves and two medieval clay pits. (See Figs.81 and 82)

UH2

The Middle Saxon Ditches DITCH H (Fig. 76) (Feature 3745) Ditches A and H joined roughly at right angles to each other. Unfortunately, it was not possible to excavate fully the length of the ditch which was exposed beside the Park drive, because it lay exactly under some fencing. Nevetheless, enough was cleared to show that it was an exceptionally wide ditch, and that it was earlier than Ditch I. Ditch I was a narrow and rather irregular feature which ran into Ditch H from the adjacent well pit. Titis destroyed the relationship betwP-en Ditches A and II, but they were probably dug at the same time and both were largely silted up by the time Ditch I was dug.

m.

THE MIDDLE SAXON BUILDINGS

INTRODUCTION (Figs.77-90) There were four Middle Saxon building sites within the excavated area: Building H was the only house found on the west side of the central street. It was a small single-phase building at the north end of the site, close to Ditch B. Buildings s1 and s2 lay to the east of the central street on an east to west alignment. Building Shad two phases in which the house was first built and then modified by adding an extension at the east end. Buildings AA, z1 and z2 were just to the south of Building S, and at right angles to it. This site had a complex of three superimposed buildings. The earliest was Building AA, a small house rather similar to Building H. This was replaced first by zl, a much larger house similar to Building sl, and then almost entirely rebuilt and enlarged to form z2. Building AM was at the southern end of the excavation. It was possibly a bakehouse contemporary with Buildings sl and zl. It was possibly in use alongside the original Well I, and it was certainly demolished by the time that Well II was constructed on the same site. An earlier oven shows that there may have been a previous bakehouse of some sort on the site, although no other trace of this was found.

No outbuilding of Middle Saxon date (except AM) came to light during the excavations. No Middle Saxon rubbish pits or cess pits were identified, which is surprising as they do occur in Periods Il, Ill and IV. Because of the similarities between Buildings AA and H, between zl and sl and between z 2 and s2, we can establish a tentative chronology of three building phases. It is also possible to link these building phases with the well phases as follows: Phases

Tentative dating

Phase 1

(late seventh century)

Buildings H, AA and possible early bakehouse;

Phase 2

(eighth century)

Buildings sl, zl and AM (Well I);

Phase 3

(late eighth and early ninth centuries)

Buildings s2 and z2 (Well I refurbished and Well II).

Buildings and Wells

57

North Elmham Park NO RTH ELMHAM PARK

BUILDING H

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The houses were constructed in a similar way, with wall posts p laced in a continuo us foundation trench. They usually had doorways in one of the s ide wa lls , either facing to the east or to the south depending on the orientation of the building. Where the internal arrangements were clear the houses were divided into two rooms, with a larger living room opening to the outside and a small inner room separated from the main room by a partition. The roofs were apparently all hipped, and the ridges had ridge pieces supported at e ither end by ridge posts. Normall y there were intermed iate r idge posts, but in the case of Building s1 there was a lso a suggestion that the roof was held up partly by trusses which did not require internal posts. From the shape of the better preserved post shadows and a lso from the timbers preserved in the two we ll s, it seems that a lready by this period the building tin1ber was usually cut into square-shaped posts and planks w ith eithe r rounded or angular corners. The infilling between the wall posts was probably wattle and daub, although none was fotmd in situ in the wall trenches . In tl1e huge deposits of burnt daub found in the top of the two we ll pits (p. 483) some of the burnt wattles were still intact in the grooves they left in the daub. We can be fairly sure from the wood in the two we lls that oak was the us ual building timber, and from the charcoal wattles mixed with the

58

The Middle Saxon Buildings burnt daub in the well pits that the infilling was nearly all done with hazel. Roman tiles were found in enormous numbers in the same burnt deposits; these could have been used frequently in buildings at this early period when Roman ruins in the neighbourhood provided an easily accessible source of building material. The fragments were all too small to be used on roofs, and it seems much more likely that they were simply an alternative form of wall infilling (p.479), as they were sometimes used in churches in this period. These tiles were possibly also used for the reveals of windows and doors. The walls would have been plastered over with layers of clay daub to protect the timbers and the clay fillings. As tiles were apparently not used for roofing, thatch, straw or reeds or possibly wooden shingles were the only materials available. BUILDING H (Fig. 77)

DESCRIPTION The building consisted of two parallel foundation trenches and three post holes. The trenches were filled with yellowish brown sandy loam with flints, extremely similar to the surrounding natural subsoil. No trace of posts could be found in the filling of either trench. The west side was defined by a continuous steep-sided trench (252) about 25 cm deep, about 8. 5 m long and 70 cm wide. It was slightly restricted in width near the middle, and at the end there was a small projection in line with the north end. The east trench (151) was divided in two by a short break 40 cm wide. The two halves of this trench were exactly equal in length (2.3 m), and both were deeper towards the middle of the wall line (15 cm) and shallower at either end (8 cm). There was a wide projection off the side of this trench which extended into the area of the adjacent Ditch B. It was not possible to demonstrate a stratigraphical relationship between these two. However, the west trench was definitely overlaid by a trench of the Period II Building .P. Post hole depths: 5cm 93and150;

15cm 172.

(Note: these and all other post hole depths relate to the surface of the natural and not to the topsoil). INTERPRETATION The two trenches form the outline of a building with an internal width of about 4. 6 m and a length of 7. 5 m. There was no sign of either end wall, but these can be located with reasonable certainty from the positions of the two corner post holes on the east side (93 and 172) and by the terminals of the western trench. The narrow gap in the eastern trench, placed a little to the south of the middle of the wall, was almost certainly the doorway. There were no signs of roof posts, and the apparent absence of load-bearing timbers in the middle of the end walls suggests that this building, like all the others of this period, had a hipped roof. The length of the roof hips can be estimated as the distance between the corner post holes and the deeper proportions of the east trench, for this was exactly the same at each end (1. 7 m). Date The only datable find from the building was a small sherd of Thetford ware, which was almost certainly intrusive. It was overlaid by a foundation trench of Building P of Period II, which was associated with Thetford ware pottery groups. The position of the doorway in the east wall was extremely close to the side of Ditch B, and it is unlikely that the two were contemporary. They, therefore, belong to different

59

North Elmham Park phases. Because of the similarity of this building to AA it possibly preceded the ditch and belonged to the first phase of Period I, contemporary with AA. BUILDINGS (Figs. 78-80) DESCRIPTION (Figs. 78-9) Building S was discovered on the east side of the excavation under a n area of Late Saxon burials which formed the west side of the cathedral cemetery (Plates XIX-XX). The building stood east to west at right angles to Ditch A and parallel to Ditch D which ran close to the south side of the building (Figs. 75 - 6) . The site was disturbed by forty six Late Saxon burials; these burials were thinly scattered around the perimeter of the cemetery, but they were much more numerous nearer the cathedral. Fortunately, therefore, only the east end of the building was much disturbed by grave pits. The walls of the original building were defined by foundation trenches around three of the four sides; these trenches were deepest in the north east corner and shallowest at the west end, where the trench was not sufficiently deep to penetrate into the subsoil. The trenches along the side walls were Q_. 6. 2 m apart. In the first phase the interior of the building was 13 m long, but later this was extended to about 20 m. In the second phase the main east wall was replaced by another set in a shallower trench; to the east of this was an irregular extension about 4. 5 m long, built with separate post holes only joined together by a trench around the south east corner. The natural subsoil was sandy gravel which overlay the boulder clay in this part of the site. The trenches were filled with dark yellowish brown sandy loam with many animal bones, some Roman tiles and a few sherds of pottery. The trenches were between 70 cm and 90 cm wide and up to 60 cm deep. As with Building H, no trace of posts was found in the trench filling, but there were nineteen depressions along the bottom. Some of these were probably caused by the weight of the roof pressing the posts into the gravel, while others may have been dug deliberately for the larger wall posts. In addition, on the north side there were eleven shallow post holes around the edges of the trench, and a shallow feature (986 and 1300) 8 cm deep, which was apparently contemporary with the original construction. In the south wall there was a wide gap containing a group of five post holes representing at least two phases. Across the interior was a shallow trench (1306) for a partition wall, 8 cm deep in the northern part and 15 cm deep in the middle, ending in a group of post holes (1312). In addition, there were a further nineteen post holes within the interior which, because of their symmetrical layout, can be related to this building. Post holes depths: 3 cm 977; 5 cm 1402; 6 cm 1052; 7 cm 1025, 1091; 8 cm 964, 987, 997, 1002, 1566; 9 cm 1056; 10 cm 985, 1090, 1252 (1545); 12 cm 999; 13 cm 971, 976, 982, 1001, 1024, 1042, 1053, 1288, 1400, 1547; 14 cm 1000; 15 cm 981, 1305, 1312, 1317, 1541, 1542, 1546; 18 cm 904, 1054, 1579; 20 cm 963, 1055, 1318, 1540; 28 cm 1554; 45 cm 1320; 50 cm 966 . INTERPRETATION (Fig .80) This house was built on an ambitious scale and it was the largest Middle Saxon structure found in the excavatio n; the internal roof span was a little under 7 m wide.

60

BUILDING S

NORTH ELMHAM PARK

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The Middle Saxon Buildings BUilDING AM (Figs. 86 -90)

DESCRIPTION (Figs.86, 88 and 89) TI1is building stood on the same site as Well II. The first indication of it came to light in 1967 at the very beginning of the season, when trial trenches were dug mechanically across the site to establish the extent of the Anglo-Saxon settlement. One of these trenches unfo rtunately removed the eastern half of Oven B which stood within the building; except in this instance the damage caused by these trial trenches was not severe. Oven B is described as part of Building AM, but the evidence needed to establish a firm relationship between the two was destroyed in the Middle Ages when a clay pit cut away much of the wall trench along the eastern side. In more recent times another, much larger, clay pit took away more of this wall trench. The base of anothe r oven (Oven A) lay under the north west corner of the building. More damage was done in the ninth century when Well II (2957) was sunk on the site removing most of the west wall trench a nd the west end of the oven. Although there was little trace of the south wall, enough of the building still remained to be able to recon struct its outline. TI1e main part of the building was almost square; the interior measurements we re 5.4 m east to west and about 6 m north to south. All fo ur corners were preserved; in each of these there was a large post hole dug below the base of the trench and in the north west corner the post hole, which was much deeper than the others, contained the shadow of a corner post. Along the no rth side there were no other post holes, but down the east wall there we re two in the bottom of the trench. The considerable width of this trench, which could be measured in the one place where it was still intact, suggests that this east wall was replaced at some stage . Exactly midway along the north side there was an external post hole (2942), but it is not clear whether this was a part of the building . An extension, which may have been secondary to the original design, was found on the south side. This was a little smaller than the main part, being 3. 7 m east to west by 4 .4 m north to south . The wall between the two parts did not show in the excavation except near the corners. Either this wall was of a much slighter construction or the two parts had no division between them . Similarly, the south wall of this wing was not visible except at the corners. There was a post hole in the south west corner like those in the main part, but the opposite corner was too much covered by the edge of the e xcavation for this post hole to be seen. In the middle of the floor area was a double post hole (2800). Oven A (2922) (Fig. 87) The earliest feature on this spot was Oven A, which was cut through by the north west corner of Building AM . It was a shallow hollow in the boulder clay, 10 cm deep, w ith the bottom and sides fired to a brilliant red colour. In the filling were pieces of fired clay as well as fragments of Roman tile . The soil filling of the oven consisted of dark grey loam witl1 pieces of light brown cl::J.y and charcoal specks. The outline of this oven indicates that it was fired feom tl1e east end. There was no dateable material in the oven. Ovens Bl - B3 (2956) (Fig. 88) Oven B actually consisteu uf three superimposed ovens. Although the east half had

69

BUILDING AM

NO RTH E LMHAM PARK

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()

;::!

308 6

3.9-4.6 m

West

3088

4.6-5.3m

AL,AM,AN, East AO,AP, AQ, AR,AS,AT, AU,AV,AW, AX

Oak ?Birch ?Hazel Prunus sp.

AL, AM, AK, West AO,AP , AQ, AR,AS , AT, AU , AV,AW

Oak Hazel

3089

...... ......

~

t::!

4.6-5.3 m

;:...

:S~ 0 !1.

1-j

I?

0 @ 0..0..

P!' () .,.,.

m

3113

5.1-5.3 m

5.3-5 . 5 m

AX

BB

West

East

Oak Hazel ?Sweet chestnut Unidentifiable Oak Hazel

5 . 3-5.5 m

BB

East

Oa k

3096

5.3-5.5 m

BB

East

Oak

:g...... ~m

b:l

1-j

~

;::!

()

::r

CD

~......

aq

m

~

s

CD

~ 1-j

;>;""

m

m

Axed from branch. Bark present in places. 15 17 8

!

I

2

'

1

26 4

6 dowel portions (D7,D8 , D9)

11

D7, complete - two pieces. D8+D9, dowel heads only. Also two shaft fragments.

33 1

Branch axed off; bark in places.

11

36 6

1 dowel (D1)

1

1 18 8

3 dowel portions of (D2)

9

Chippings possibly formed in making dowel.

z0

1

?Hawthorn (Crataegus sp.) 3092

::r ......

1 wedge (W1: no.17)

Oak

Unidentifiable 3112

0

1-j

g.

1 shaped plank

M

§" ~

s

wedge with hole (W2: no .18)

~

1-j

-

;>;""

I-' I-' I-'

3097

5.3 - 5 . 5 m

BB

East

Oak

dowe l (D10)

3098

5 3- 5.5 m

BB

E a st

Oak

3099

5 . 3 -5.5 m

BB

East

Oak

wedges (W3+ 4 : nos . 19 +20 )

3114

5. 3- 5 . 5 m

BB

East

Oak

dowe l (D 12)

3115

5 . 3-5 . 5 m

BB

East

Ha ze l

dowe l (D3)

3090

5 . 3-5.5 m

BB

West

Ha ze l

dowe l (D6)

3091

5 . 3- 5 . 5 m

BB

West

Hazel

dowe l (D5)

3093

5 . 3-5 . 5 m

BB

West

Haze l

d owe l (D4 )

309 4

5 . 3- 5.5 m

BB

West

Oak

309 5

5 . 3- 5 . 5 m

BB

Both

Oak ? Birch Unidentifia b le

2 ad zed pieces

Split dowel p robab ly used with wedge .

2. 5x2 . 5 cm fr ag . 1

78 4 19

3100

5 . 3- 5 .5 m

BB

West

?Birch

4

3101

5 . 3- 5 . 5 m

BB

West

Oak

1

310 2

5 . 3 - 5 .5 m

BB

We st

Oak

7

3103

5 . 3 - 5.5 m

BB

West

Oak

1

3104

5. 3-5 . 5 m

BB

West

?Sweet c he s tnut

3105

5 . 3- 5.5 m

BB

Oak ? Beech Scots pine (Pinus s,yl vest r is L. )

14

1 5 3

1

TABLE 7 .

Depth

THE DISTRIBUTION OF WOOD WITHIN THE SHAFT OF WELL II (F. 2957)

Oak (guercus sp .)

Hazel (Corylus avellana L.)

Scots pine (Pinus s_ylvestris L.)

WC T

WC T

WC T

Prunus sp.

?Birch (Betula sp.)

WC T

WC T

?Beech (Fag us silvatica L.)

?Elm (Ulmus sp.)

?Sweet ?Hawthorn Chestnut ?Walnut Unidenti (Crataeg(Castanea (Juglans fiable us sp.) sativa regia L.) Gaertn.)

Total

'

3-3.9 m

W C T

W C T

WC T

WC T

WCT

WC T

6

WC T 6

3.9-4.6 m

3 155 46

4.6-5.3 m

77

5.3-5.5 m

10 110

144

3

14

7 10

53

2

17

7 8

9

1

14 18 206

1

5

1

1 5

1

7

3 168 214

t-' t-'

!'..?

Total

1

13 348 47

5

C = Chippings W =Worked wood (identified and unidentifiable) T = Twigs and Branches

8 14

3

8 45

3 5

1

1

12

7 101

72

1

1

19

17 149

25

1

1 7

38

762

1

z0

~

E} M

§'

~

'd Ill

~

;>;"

TABLE 8.

Hazel Oak (Corylus (Quercus avellana sp.) L.) A rtefacts

..... .....

Worked frag s . of uncertain use or fur1ction

6

Scots pine (~

T YPES OF WOOD F OUND IN THE SHA FT OF WELL II (F . 2957)

P r unus sp.

s ylvestris L .)

?Birch (Betula sp.)

? Bee ch (Fagus silva t ica L.)

?Elm (Ulmus sp . )

? Swe et ?Hawthorn Che stnut (Crataeg (C astanea us sp . ) s ativa Gae r tn.)

?Wa lnut Unide ntiTotal (Jug lans fiable r egia L .

14

I

20 I

7

7

i I !

c.v

Chipping s

348

18

B ranche s

14

5

Twig s

33

201

T ota l

408

238

1

5

8

3

1

1

1

38

424 19

1

5

45

5

53

8

1

1

7

1

8

292 1

38

762

'

I

I I

North Elmham Park Conclusions The lower fills of the well contained a mixture of wood fr agments , the majority of which appear to be wood-working debris. This report should be seen as a list of records of various woods fr om the lower fills of an oak-lined s t ructure. In this light it is regre ttable tha t many of the mo re inte resting wood fragments were not available for re-examination and confirmation; re cords of walnut and sweet chestnut are not common for the Saxon period. In summary, the well contained a la rge amount of oak wood in the form of chippings, twigs, branches and worked fragments . Hazel was the next most numerous species being represented by an unusual collection of dowels in addition to twigs and chippings. Scots pine was also determined a nd se veral other wood types are provi siona lly identified.

THE PLANT REMAINS FROM WELL U by Heather Jarman The author received samples of deposits and of sieved material from the excavation of Well II. The deposits were processed by froth flotation, and a list of the plant species represented and the numbers of each is shown in Table 9 . No cultural remains were recovered from the levels of the well which yielded the plant remains. The excavator's interpretation of the origin of the deposits (p. 92-3) makes it unlikely that the well was in use at the time the seeds entered it, and it seems probable that they were carried there by the wind rather than by human agency. The proportions of the species represented are, thus, probably more indicative of their suitability for wind transport and their proximity to the well than of their actual r epresentation in the North Elmham flora or of their usefulness to the village inhabitants . In addition to the plant remains listed in Table 9 , there were fragments of mosses , Daphnia ephibia , and other insect remains which were not identified by the author . As can be seen f r om the approximate flowering dates given in Table 10 , allowing time for the setting of seed afte r the onset of flowering, all the seeds would have been available to be deposited during the months of August and September. However , one can see in Table 9 two peaks in the numbers of seeds present, one in layer AJ and the other in layer AX. It is possible that these accumulations occurred in two separate years . Since samples we r e not taken from every level in the well, one does not know whether any sterile levels were present, which may have corresponded to the winter months. Alte r natively, both the seeds and the deposits may have accumulated gradually over seve r al years. The only deposit which must have built up quite rapidly is layer AQ with a huge concentration of elder seeds and virtually nothing else. The most likely explana tion of this is that it originated in late September , when e lderberr ie s are fully ripe, a nd that bunches of the fruit fell into the well from a bush growing by its side (Butche r 1961; Dandy 1958; Long 1938). Although several of the species from the well a r e known to have been use d as food b y man or his livestock, it is impossible to say whether any of these were actually utilised by the Saxon inhabitants of Nor th Elmham. Almost all the plants pr esent may occur natur ally as weeds in waste places a round human settlements, and evidence from cultura l deposits would be necessary in or der to establish human utilisation. Many of the seeds represent plants which may occur as weeds of cultivated crops , but they do not form associations of weeds typica l of any pa rticular crop, and it seems more likely that most were present in waste places within the village , particularly in the case of the abundant fat hen, dock , nettle, and elder. Here we have an instance whe r e, in spite of the efforts made to collect e conomic data , the mate r ial fails to tell us anything of great interest about the economy of the site. 114

The Two Wells In future it may be possible to sec u re more useful data from sites by using the froth flota tion technique for on-site processing of deposit (Jar man, Legge & Charles 1972), thus sampling a far greater variety of contexts. Another profitable line of enquiry is site territorial analysis (Higgs & Vita -Finzi 1972; Jarman 1972). The fact that the area has been inhabited since at least Neolithic times is good evidence of its desirability as a home. TABLE 9.

REPRESENTATION OF PLANT SPECIES FROM WELL II

Species (after Dandy 1958) PaEaver rhoeas (field poppy) SinaEis arvensis (charlock) CaEsella bursa-Eastoris (shepherd's purse) Viola sp. Hypericum Eerforatum (common St.John's wort) Caryophyllaceae Cerastium holosteoides (common mouse -ear chickweed) Stellaria graminea (lesser stitchwort) Arenaria leEtoclados (lesser thyme-leaved sandwort) ChenoEodium album (fat hen) ChenoEodium urbicum (upright goosefoot) AtriElex hastata (hastate orache) Rubus fruticosus s .l. (blackberry) Umbe llife rae Aethusa cynaEium (fool's parsley) Polygonum sp. Polygonum a viculare s .1. (knotgrass) Polygonum Eersicaria (willow weed) Polygonum laEathifolium (pale persicaria) Polygonum convolvulus (black bindweed) Rumex sp. Rumex acetosella s .1 . (sheep's sorrel)

Layer AJ

AP

AQ

AV

AW

AX

AZ

BC

1 1

1

2 1 1 2 3

1

1 1

46

1

2 1

19

1

1

19

1

1

51

4

1 1

cf.l 1 10 1 4

1 2

12

1

1 1 5 7

1 8

1

1 3

2 3

4+ cf.l

1

115

1

1

3

8

1

4

2

North E lmham Park

Species (after Dandy 1958) Rumex obtusifolius perianths (broad-leaved dock) Rumex cf. obtusifolius nuts Urtica urens (small nettle) Urtica dioica (stinging nettle) Corylus a vellana (hazel) Solanum n~rum (black nightshade) Labiatae Stachys cf. sylvatica (hedge woundwort) Lamium Euq~ureum (red dead-nettle) GaleoEsis tetrahit s .1. (common hemp-nettle) Sambucus nigra (elder) Compositae EuEatorium cannabinum (hemp agrimony) Anthemis cotula (stinking mayweed) Cirsium arvense (creeping thistle) Eleocharis Ealustris (common spike-rush) Carex spp. (sedges) Hordeum sativum (cultivated barley) Avena sp.

Layer AJ

AQ

AV

2

9

8

2

2

4

74

8

9

32

AP

294

204

AW

AX

AZ

BC

12

1

1

274

30

14

1 559 1 5

4

1

1 1 15

41

1

cf.1

24

2

1

1

2

1 278

2

1

16

4

1

1 1 1

1 2

1

1

5

1

1 1

2+ cf.1 1 cf.1

base, and the map in Fig. 5 shows that the location of the village is ideal for people practising a mixed farming economy . A circle with a one-mile radius and its centre at the cathedral encloses a high proportion of arable land with some grazing, including heathland , which would probably be most suitable for sheep, and alluvial water meadows, which could be used for cattle. A circle of two mile radius includes considerably more grazing land, including woodland which may well have been used for pig pannage. The topsoil, although underlain by heavy boulder clay, is quite sandy and would have been easy to work even with fairly primitive farm implements. The presence of a single grain of culti vated barley in the well deposits shows that arable agriculture made at least some contribution to the Saxon economy. The large areas of good grazing land in the area suggest, however, that perhaps livestock was more important than arable crops in the economy. This supports the conclusions drawn from the study of the animal bones that the major agricultural enterprise was wool production (Chapter 14).

116

TABLE 10.

MONTHS OF FLOWE RING (OR F RUITING) FOR SPECIES FROM T HE WELL II DEPOSITS Data from Butcher (196 1); m onths in brackets from Long (1938)

Specie s (arranged acco:rding to first month of flowering) Ca2 sella bursa - 2astoris Lamium ]2Ur 12ureum

Month s of Flowering Jan

Feb X

X

Mar Apr

......

Ele ocharis 12a lust r i s Hypericum 2erforatum Rumex obtus ifolius

Dec AJ

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

x)

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

(x

X

X

X

X

X

x)

X

X

X

X

(x

X

x)

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

x)

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

x)

X

X

·x

X

(x

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Anthemis cotula Che no2odium album Cheno2odium urbicum Atri:Qlex hastata Aethus a c yna2ium

X

Pol ygonum aviculare s . 1. (x

X

AJ , AP , AV, AW, AX AP

X

AJ ,AX AJ ,AX A P ,AX, BC AJ ,AX AX AJ ,A P ,AX AP AJ , AP, AQ, AV, AW, AX, AZ, BC

X

(x

Polygonum persicaria

Nov

X

(x Stellaria gr a m inea Arenaria le12toc lados Cirs ium a r vens e

Oct

X

SinaJ2i S arvensis Cerastium h olosteoides ......

Aug Sept

(x

Pap aver r hoeas

-..;)

May J une J ul y

Level s in which species occur

x)

X X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X X

X

X

(x

X

x)

X

X

X

X

X

X

X )

X

X

X

X

AJ,A P AJ , AP , AQ, AV, AW, AX, AZ , BC AV,AW AJ AJ ,AX,AZ AJ ,AP ,AX AJ,A P ,AW

Species (arranged according to first month of flowering)

Months of Flowering Jan

Feb

Mar Apr

May June July

Pol:ygonum lapathifolium

X

(x Polygonum convolvulus Rumex acetosella s.l. (x Urtica urens Urtica dioica (x

...... ...... 00

Solanum nigrum Stach;ys s;ylvatica GaleoEsis tetrahit s .1 . Eu_Qatorium cannabinum Rubus fruticosus s .1. (months of fruiting) Cor;ylus avellana (months of fruiting) Sambucus nigra (months of fruiting)

Aug X

Sept Oct

Nov

Levels in which species occur

Dec

X

X

AJ,AV,AW,AX

X

AJ,AP,AW

x)

X

X

X

(x

X

x)

X

X

X

x)

AJ,AP,AW,AX

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

x)

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

AJ AJ, AP, AQ, AV, AW, AX, AZ

X

X

AJ,AP,AX AJ AJ,AP,AW AX AJ,AX

X

X

AJ

X

X

AJ, AP, AQ, AV, AW, AX, AZ, BC

X

X

z0

s: '1

trj

§' ~

s

"d p:l

'1

;;;-

The Dating of the Middle Saxon Features

V.

THE DATING OF THE MIDDLE SAXON FEATURES

THE POTTERY EVIOENCE (Tables 11 and 12) The following table , compiled by Keith Wade, summarises the pottery evidence from all the features described in the previous parts of this chapter. A discussion of the var ious Anglo-Saxon pottery types can be found in Chapter 15.

TABLE 11.

POTTERY FROM THE PERIOD I FEATURES

Feature

Roman

Handmade

Ipswich Ware

Buildings AM H

1

1+1?

4

s

2

z

Ditches (Lower levels) A B

c

D E F

4 2 2 (none)

1

Import

1* (Feature 151) 1 1+1* (Features 1752 and 1562)

2* 1

3 8 1

2 1 1

G

1

(none) (none)

H I Wells I

4 (layer J) 1 (layer P / Q) 1 (layer AV)

II

Totals Note:

2 2

1

Thetford Ware

10

29

6

5

3

An asterisk denotes a very small sherd; some of the sherds in feature 902 (see Table 86) were certainly intrusive and have not been included in this table.

The total number of Middle Saxon sherds from these Period I features is only thirty two. This is an incredibly small number in comparison with the extent of the excavated area of Middle Saxon occupation, the substantial nature of building remains and the number of bones in the refuse layers in the ditches. The ditches produced in total only thirteen Middle Saxon sherds in contrast with the thousands of bone fragments and oyster shells from these deposits. One of these sherds is a handle of an imported Tating Ware jug (p.425-6). Inadditioneleven Roman sherds were found, mostly in the ditches.

119

North E lmham Park This great scarcity of pottery in the pre-Danish period can only be explained by an almost aceramic phase during the Middle Saxon period. The phase, which may have been limited to those parts of Norfolk away from the pottery-producing centres, corresponded to the time of Phases 2 and 3, when the ditches were being filled up with rubbish and when houses S and Z were in use. In the previous sections of this chapter these phases were dated to the eighth and early ninth centuries. Certainly this apparent shortage of Middle Saxon pottery will have to be considered when other Middle Saxon sites in the area are excavated. The only datable artefact from this phase is the Tating ware handle fr om the rubbish layer at the very north end of Ditch B. As Tating ware is usually dated between 750 and 850, the ditches could not have been filled up with rubbish finally before the latter part of the eighth century. How long the ditches were regularly cleaned out before that period is difficult to say. Except for this one sherd, the Middle Saxon pottery is of no help for accurately dating features between the late seventh and early ninth centuries. There is much uncertainty about the date of the many features which contained no pottery at all. Some of these may well have been Middle Saxon, but they could easily well have been much later, unless there was something significant about the colour or texture of their fill. During the excavation it was found that those features which were most difficult to identify and define often proved to be of Middle Saxon date. The older the feature the less was the organic content of its fill, but this rule was never sufficiently precise for soil colour alone to be used as a criterion for dating. Some of the Middle Saxon features must, therefore, remain undated if they contained no pottery and do not fit into identifiable patterns on the excavation plan. It is also difficult to know how many of the features which did contain single sherds of Ipswich ware or handmade fabrics, but which again do not belong to recognisable patterns, should be dated to the Middle Saxon period. Table 12 contains all those features which fall into one of the two following categories:

1. 2.

features containing only Middle Saxon sherds; features considered to be of Middle Saxon date by virtue of their structural associations. Some of these (151, 270, 1562, 1752, 1785, 2132, and 3736) contained sherds of possibly later date, but most of these are very small fragments which could well be intrusive.

Of those features shown underlined in Table 12, the following have been dated to

Period II because of structural associations or the presence of other associated finds: 270; 532; 534; 536. One has been dated to Period Ill: 225. There are, therefore, nine pits which, on pottery evidence, may be assigned to the Middle Saxon period: 286; 399; 514; 672; 709; 943; 1109; 2069; 2132. The other five features shown underlined in the table are post holes which are really undatable on these grounds. The grand total of Middle Saxon pottery from all the buildings, ditches, pits and wells is, therefore, 114, although additional sherds were found as residual material in later features. The figure is greatly exaggerated by fifty handmade sherds from feature 286, which could conceivably be of Iron Age origin. Just over fifty Middle Saxon sherds which have been positively identified is a remarkably small number to come from the presumed site of the Norfolk bishopric at a time when Ipswich ware was being mass produced at Ipswich and no doubt elsewhere. This figures is

120

TABLE 12.

POTTERY CATALOGUE FOR MIDDLE SAXON FEATURES

Note: An asterisk denotes a very small sherd; those features shown underlined are in addition to those included in the buildings and ditches.

Feature

34 (lower fill) 44 (lower fill) 151 225 270 286 302 399 514 532 534 536 607 (lower fill) 672 709 815 (lower fill) 903 943 1003 1035 1109 1196 1222 (lower fill) 1314 1315 1562 1610 1623 1749 (lower fill) 1752 1785 (lower fill) 1789 (lower fill) 1790 (lower fill) 2022 (lower fill) 2069 2132 2508 2612 (lower fill) 2654 2921 2955 2957 (lower fill) 2960 3159 3594 3596 (lower fill) 3736

Roman

Handmade

Continental Imported Sherds

Ipswichtype Ware

Thetfordtype Ware

1 1

1 1* 1 1

1*

50 1? 1 3 3 1 1 2

1?

1

1 1 1 1

1?

1

4 1 1 3

1 1 1 1

2

1 1

1 1*

1 1? 1 5 2

2 2 1?

1 2*

1 1

1?

1 2

1 1 3

1 1+1? 1 1

1 1?

4 1

1

121

North E lmham Park

Pre-Danish Elm ham

\

\

I

""' ""'

- ,'

\

\ \ I

·-

\

-. I I

I

'

\

'

I

l

I /

/

/

\ FcHJf MafrtJS

Fig .109.

I

\

'

/

r= 0

e------3

I

TOO

500 Ed

1000 I

200

I

300

Pre-Danish Elmham: a conjectural reconstruction of the street patterns and boundaries laid out in the late seventh or early eighth centuries. It is based on the excavated boundary ditches in the park excavation, the pattern of boundary features visible on the parish map of 1829 and soil marks in the field to the east of the cathedral ruins (compare with Figs. 10, 71 and 160) .

122

\

\I

(

•'

I

I '·

I

I !

I

''I !· r I

j

~

lli

I

4

1'

123

North Elmham Park also surprising when Ipswich ware is relatively plentiful on the surface of nearby early village sites like Mileham (Wade-Martins 1971). One must conclude, from the present state of knowledge, that there was a lull in the distribution of this pottery in the latter part of the Middle Saxon period when more use was made of wooden vessels. THE SMALL FINDS

There are four objects of special interest from this period. One is the Tating ware sherd (p.425), the second is the bone comb; the other two are coins. The comb is described on p .48 5. It is thought to be typologically earlier than the combs found in Period II features. The almost complete absence of small finds in the refuse deposits in the ditches is even more surprising than the shortage of pottery . Even the Middle Saxon village at Wicken Bonhunt in Essex has a relatively rich collection of small finds 2. This dearth of objects on an occupation site so close to the cathedral may eventually be explained by the same factors which produced the shortage of pottery in the late eighth and early ninth centuries. But only further excavations on Middle Saxon settlements, both in central Norfolk and in coastal areas, will solve this problem. The coins Coin 27 is from a post hole (feature 27 in square J 57) which unfortunately cannot be related to any Middle Saxon structures. Coin 28 was found on the very edge of Grave 187, which was cut into the top of Ditch E. If it was not actually in situ in the upper filling of the ditch, it was probably derived from this layer. These are dated to about the second quarter of the eighth century. While both coins are evidence of eighth century occupation, they cannot be used to date particular structures. In the case of coin 28, it is in the upper filling of a ditch thought to be of ninth-century date. No other pre-Conquest coins were found in the excavation. THE RADIOCARBON DATING

The results of all the 14C measurements are set out in Table 1 on p. 32. Animal bones from Ditches A and D are dated to the mid seventh and eighth centuries respectively. These deposits have been dated in this chapter to the eighth and possibly early ninth centuries. Drs.Fletcher and Switsur have argued (p. 95-104) that the combined use of dendrachronological and 14C techniques has produced an unusually reliable date for the construction of Well II, which was anyway dated to the early ninth century before the results of their work were available. The conclusion is that Well II was built in 832+30 A .D. It seems probable, therefore, that this cistern was built between£.· 800 and the time the bishopric was abandoned soon after 8 54. The twigs from layers in the fill of Well II are dated to the late tenth and to the first half of the eleventh centuries. This is a century or more later than other evidence suggests.

REFERENCES 1.

Fragments of timber lining in four or five Late Saxon wells were found by Addyman at Little Paxton (Addyman 1969, 74 and pl.II).

2.

Unpublished: information from Keith Wade.

3.

Richard Darrah is currently working on the reconstruction of the early Anglo-Saxon buildings at West Stow, Suffolk. 124

6. PERIOD II. THE LATE NINTH AND TENTH CENTURIES I.

INTRODUCTION

The main structures described in this chapter were stratigraphically later than the Period I ditches, and one structure (Building P) was overlaid by a Period Ill house (Building K). The first phase was represented by a group of cess pits and latrines, and the second a nd third phases by a group of four buildings arranged around a courtyard; these buildings are recognisable as a group by the use of foundation trenches and by the way they appear to relate one with another. The three phases were contemporary with the use of Thetford ware, and apparently span the late ninth and tenth centuries. The structures have been phased as follows: PHASE 1

(late ninth century): Buildings W and X and pits 44b and 1036 (Fig. 112);

PHASE 2

(early to mid tenth century): Building U (Fig .119);

PHASE 3

(late tenth century): Buildings P, 0 and Y (Fig .122).

The southern part of the site contained no buildings dateable to this period.

ll.

PHASE 1: THE LATE NINTH CENTURY

BUILDING W (Figs .113-4 and 118)

DESCRIPTION (Figs .113 and 118) Buildings W and X were two latrines; both contained large cess pits filled with s imilar layers; both were situated over infilled Middle Saxon ditches, and both had some form of 'sunken floor' . Building W consisted of an almost rectangular cess pit (829) and a sunken area (828) on the east side, with four post holes near the corners of the cess pit. The eastern pair of post holes were exceptionally deep because they were cut into the soft filling of the Middle Saxon Ditch B. In contrast, the western pair were very shallow. The lower 50 cm of the pit was filled with a thick layer of an almost pure dark brown cess deposit, a very lightweight material with a 'corky' texture, containing traces of vegetation. At the time the pit was being used as a latrine, feature 828 became filled with a dark grey brown loam. How long the cess pit was used is uncertain, but it was long enough for the loam to accumulate in feature 828. One would presume that the latrine pit had been cleaned out on a number of occasions, and layer 6 in section C-C (Fig .118) may well have been the remains of an earlier fill. When the building was abandoned as a latrine, a layer of yellowish brown clay was thrown into the pit above the cess layer, sealing the grey br own loam in 828.

125

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Building 0 pit sections. Scale 1:100.

Key to Fig.125 1. Feature 522 1. Greyish-brown (2.5Y 5/2) loam with lumps of charcoal, burnt clay and chalk flecks. 2. Greyish-brown (2.5Y 5/2) loam. 3. Olive brown (2.5Y 4 / 4) loam (cess stained clay fill). 4. Greyish-brown (2.5Y 5/2) silt with chalk flecks. 5. Light olive brown (2.5Y 5/ 6) sandy clay. 6. Olive brown (2.5Y 4 / 4) sandy clay (cess stained primary silt). 2. Feature 601 1. Greyish-brown (2.5Y 5/2) loam with lumps of charcoal and chalk specks. 2. Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/6) sandy clay with loam pockets. 3. Olive brown (2.5Y 4 / 4) sandy clay (cess stained primary silt). 3. Feature 528

1. Greyish-brown (2.5Y 5/ 2) loam with lumps of charcoal and chalk specks. 2. Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/6) clay with loam pockets. 3. Olive brown (2.5Y 4 / 4) sandy clay with chalk lumps. 4. Greyish-brown (10YR 5/ 2) sandy clay. 5. Dark yellowish-brown (10YR 3/4) sandy clay (?cess layer). 6. Olive brown (2. 5Y 4 / 4) sandy clay with loam pockets (cess stained primary silt).

144

Phases 2 and 3: The Tenth Century 4. Feature 536 1. Light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) clay loam with chalk specks. 2. Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 8) sandy loam. 3 . Olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) sandy clay (cess stained primary silt). 5. Feature 535 1. Very dark greyish -brown (10YR 3/ 2) loam. 6.

Feature 529 1. Light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) clay loam. 2. Olive brown (2.5Y 4/ 4) clay loam. 3. Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/ 6) sandy clay.

7. Feature 532 1. Dark greyish-brown (10YR 4/ 2) loam with chalk flecks. 2. Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/4) sandy clay. 3. Dark greyish-brown (2.5Y 4/2) clay loam. 4. Greyish-brown (10YR 5/ 2) silt with charcoal specks. 5. Yellowish-brown (10YR 5/6) sandy clay. 6. Olive brown (2.5Y 4/ 4) sandy silt (cess stained primary silt). 7. Olive brown (2. 5Y 4/ 4) sand with loamy pockets (cess stained primary silt).

INTERPRETATION The original building was 12 m long. It was 3. 6 m wide at its west end and 3 m wide at the east end. In this first stage it was in two parts, with the cess pits at·the west end near the door. Little survives of the plan of the eastern half except for the post holes at the corners. The west end was made in the traditional style by digging post trenches. In the second phase the original east end was found to be unsuitable or possibly unstable, and it was demolished and replaced by a shorter version using individual post holes. In the middle of the new east wall there was a door in the widest gap between the four post holes. Outside this was a line of three posts which could have formed a screen in front of the latrine door. One cess pit (535) was certainly contemporary with this shortened building, and it is possible that some of those in the western group were as well. No e vidence for the roof survived, except for the one central post hole (603). The emphasis on large post holes for the original corners of the eastern end suggests that this building had a hipped roof. (It is possible that the post hole structure entirely replaced the Phase 1 building, and that 603 was a central post in a new west wall).

145

North Elmham Park Date Building 0 is dated to Period II Phase 3 by its position, its orientation and its relationship to Building P. The following structural features in the building contained pottery: Feature

Ipswich Ware

513 515 520 523 538 541 545 549 560

Thetford Ware

Early Medieval Ware

Medieval Wares

1 1 9 17 3 1 1 2

3

1

Totals

3

35

0

1

(The single sherd from feature 560 may well have been intrusive) . The following cess pits also contained pottery: 1 1

522 529 532 535 536 Totals

3 1 1 5

26

5

28

5

These figures support a Period II Phase 3 date for the building which, as the fill of 535 suggests, was demolished just as Early Medieval ware was replacing Thetford ware.

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146

Phases 2 and 3: The Tenth Century BUILDING Y

DESCRIPTION (Fig .127) This structure was built in two parts and stability was provided by a central spine wall which ran east to west (trench 940). To the north of this wall was a rectangular arrangement of post holes (867, 896 and 1124) and a trench (926). Two post holes (940a and b) in the side of the central trench were apparently also a part of this structure, as was post hole 1125 in the south east corner. To the south of the central wall were two side walls (1160/ 1163 and 1012/ 1021) which were curved inwards towards each other leaving the fourth side open. Within this area were four post holes (927, 925 and two parts of 928) in a row parallel to 940. To the south was a further row of three post holes (1037, 1020 and 1133) which can also be tentatively assigned to this building. The evidence for the west end of this part was removed by a Period VI pit, and the east end was indistinguishable from the dark soil in the upper fill of the underlying Period I Ditch B. BU ILDI NG Y

NORT H E LMH A M PARK

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Building Y plan. Scale 1:100. 147

North Elmham Park Depth of post holes etc.: 3-8 cm 926; 5 cm 940; 7 cm 927; 8 cm 925, 1012, 1163; 10 cm 928 , 1021, 1125; 15 cm 867, 1160; 18 cm 1020, 1124; 20 cm 896, 1037. INTERPRETATION The open-sided part to the south was a stoutly built structure. The roof must have been simple, possibly a single roof with the upper side resting on the central spine wall. The part on the north side was apparently a more sophisticated structure. The post holes at the corners and midway down the longer sides were spaced at similar intervals . It would have been quite possible to roof this over, and the emphasis on strong corne r posts argues for a hipped roof over this part. The roof slope of the southern part may have been continuous with the side of the northern structure. The more elegantly built part faced towards the courtyard during Phase 3, and behind this facing away from the halls was the cruder shelter, perhaps for animals. Date It has been dated to the latter part of Period II by the combined use of the foundation trench technique and post holes. Further evidence is provided by the pottery in the foundation trenches and post holes: Features 928 940 1021 1037 1160

Thetford Ware

Early Medieval Ware

1

6 6

1

4 1

Totals

18

1

The predominence of Thetford ware suggests a tenth century date possibly contemporary with Buildings P and 0 of Phase 3.

OTHER FEATURES In addition to the structures described in the previous section of this chapter, there were a number of features which contained Thetford ware pottery groups or Thetford ware groups with only small quantities of Early Medieval ware. However, some of these smaller pottery groups may be residual and were not of Period II date; this problem applies especially to the post holes which are not, therefore, included in the following lists. These contain features which on pottery evidence, or on the evidence of their associations with other features, appear to have had a Period II origin.

Pits ?22, 26, 30, ?33, ?508, ?534, 552, 1452, 1455, 1691, 2103, 2119, 2125, 2899, 2963, 2982, 3737, 3755.

?48, 258, 259, 269, ?270, 294, 319, 331, 362, ?364, 504, 574, 599, 654, 655, 836, 852, 869, ?881, 906, 1106, 1107, ?1668, 1698, 1714, 1718, 1721, 1723, 1848, 1856, 2096, 2133, ?2205, 2375, 2523, 2542, ?2563, 2605, 2732, 2739, 2984, 2987, 3101, 3163, 3184, 3509, 3529, 3575, 3598,

Boundary Trenches 122, 485, 499, 1448, 1784, 1809, 1889, 2130, 2733, 3145, ?3543. Area of Flint Cobbles 487

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7. PERIOD Ill. THE EARLY ELEVENTH CENTURY I.

INTRODUCTION

At about the end of the tenth century there was a change in use of the Park site which has provided a clear distinction between Periods II and Ill. The beginning of Period m was marked by the colonisation of the site by Late Saxon villagers who moved onto the area wh ich during the tenth century seems to have been reserved exclusively for the use of the large halls and their outbuildings . The site now took on quite a different character, with peasant dwellings with their outbuildings, sheds and animal pens set within fenced e nclosures. Five of these house sites were excavated; and there may have been as many mo r e a longside the main street, but evidence for these was later destroyed by clay digging in the Middle Ages. The str atigraphical relationship between Periods II and m was best seen at the north e nd of the site where post holes of Building K were cut through a foundation trench of the Pe r iod II Building P. The use of small closely-spaced post holes distinguished the Period Ill buildings quite clearly from the buildings with foundation trenches of Period II and the buildings with larger post holes set further apart in Period IV. The relative dating is a lso suppor ted by the potte r y evidence (p.191-4). Another change which took place at this time was the enlargement of the cathedral cem etery . This new extension, which was surrounded by a substantial fence, partly covere d the spot wher e Building U of Period II hatl once stood. This enlarged cemetery was used during Pe r iod Ill and much of Period IV. The date for the final use of the cemetery is uncertain, but it may well have continued as a place of burial until after the ope ning of the new parish church on the south side of the old cemetery at the beginning of the twe lfth century. The inte r pretation of the Period Ill structures requires explanation. This was the only period from which a significant number of outbuilding plans survived, but there is tmfor tunately little e xcavated e vidence which can be used to identify their particular functions. Identification depends largely on the quality of the construction and the arr a ngement of the buildings. For Phase 1 there was not such a clear distinction betv,reen the houses and outbuildings, and their interpretation is based very much on the status of the buildings which succeeded them in Phase 2. In almost every case a Phase 2 house had a prede ce s sor on the same site, and these Phase 1 structures are, therefore, interpreted as house s . It is arguable that some of the structures were not strong enough to carry roofs. This is certainl y true of G and F, which are interpreted as animal pens , although these we re apparently covered over at one end. The fence lines as shown in Fig .140 represent the most likely arrangement, but the interpretation of these boundaries in the central part of the excavated area is somewhat speculative.

Again the dating of this period is not precise. It corresponds to the transitional stage when Thetford ware and Early Medieval ware were in use together. The length of P e r iod Ill is best de termined by an assessment of the probable life span of two successive building phases. This is unlikely to have been more than seventy five years, and it

151

North Elmham Park may have been less. House AD was probably the last to be built, and this may well have continued in use during the early part of Period IV. The structures have been phased as follows: PHASE 1 (early eleventh century): Buildings L, E, B, AR, AS, Nand AI (Fig. 130); PHASE 2 (m id eleventh century) : Buildings K, D, C, AE, AD, M, J , I, R , AC, AN, AT, AO, AH, G and F (Fig . 140) . The stratigraphical evidence for this sequence depends on the observed relationship between post holes in Buildings AS and AD. This is supported by the pottery in the two groups of features (p.192 and 194).

North Elmham Park Pe riod Ill

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Period Ill, the features in the Park excavations, 1967-1972. Scale 1:1,000. 152

Phase 1: The Early Eleventh Century ll.

PHASE 1:

THE EARLY ELEVENTH CENTURY

INTRODUCTION THE LAYOUT OF HOUSE SITES AT THE BEGINNING OF PERIOD III

(Figs .130-1 and 136) At the beginning of Period Ill there was very little in the new layout which was determined by the location of Period II structures, but on the other hand the orientation of the new buildings and boundaries was apparently influenced by the street pattern which had dominated the layout in both preceding periods. The Period Ill buildings were located in three separate groups. One group was at the north end of the site where there was a row of three houses in Phase 1 (L, E and B).

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Scale 1:1, 000.

North Elmham Park House L occupied the corner plot where the earlier hall, Building P, had once stood. Houses E and B stood close together parallel to the east to west street which ran along the north side of the excavated area. These two houses stood we ll back (£.. 40 m) fro m this street in two very long and narrow properties between the corner plot of h ouse Land the enlarged cathedral cemetery. The post hole lines of the property divisions between these two plots probably date from Phase 2, although there is reason to believe that most of these boundaries were already in use during Phase 1. The house s ites differed very little between Phase 1 and 2. The greatest shift was between the position of house E and its successor, house D. Here the line of the west wall of house E became the east wall of house D. The second group is represented only by Phase 2 building AC (Fig .129). This was probably part of a row of buildings which ran along the side of the main street, but nothing else remained because clay digging destroyed most of the subsoil surface along the side of the street during the Middle Ages. Then further south there was a third group of two properties, parallel to the first, consisting in Phase 1 of houses AR and AS; these stood beside the southern east to west street, which ran across the site roughly under the Park drive. The positions of these houses suggest that this street changed its alignment a little between Periods II and Ill (compare plans in Figs .122 and 130), although no trace of street surface was found in the excavation. Both these houses were replaced by Phase 2 examples which were built on the same sites. Here again, the post holes for the property boundaries are thought to date mostly from Phase 2.

Houses L,E and B and

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Period Ill, Phase 1 buildings: houses L, E and Band outbuilding N. Scale 1:400. 154

BU ILDI NGS L & N

NORTH ELMHAM PARK

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Building AS plan. Scale 1:100.

Post hole depths: 4 cm 2686, 2832; 5 cm 2687, 2705, 2835; 6 cm 2841, 2938; 7 cm 2789; 8 cm 2684, 2693, 2777; 9 cm 2906; 10 cm 2795; 13 cm 2872; 23 cm 2790. INTERPRETATION This building was some form of open-ended barn or cart shed. The large central post at the north end supported the roof in the middle of the end wall and this provided a wide opening for carts or farm animals. Unfortunately, the plan of the wall posts was not complete and several post holes were missing. However, one interesting feature remained; near the middle of each long wall was a post hole which was considerably deeper than the rest; on the west side this was 2894 and on the east side it was 2790. Both these were 23 cm deep below the surface of the natural clay. These two posts probably supported a truss across the middle of the barn which contained the outward thrust of the side walls.

m.

PHASE 2:

THE MID ELEVENTH CENTURY

BUILDING K

(Fig .141) DESCRIPTION Building K is an especially interesting house because it was apparently laid out and constructed with care with a good supply of strong timbers. It embodied all the characteristics of house construction used in Phase 2, while representing, in a well developed form, the middle stage betweentheearlierPeriodihouses, with continuous post trenches, and the later twelfth-centuryhouses of Period IV with roof trusses supported on widely spaced wall posts jointed at ground level by interrupted sills (see Chapter 8). 162

Phase 2: The Mid Eleventh Century BU ILDI NG AI

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Fig .139 .

Building AI plan. Scale 1: 100.

The building was 4. 6 m wide; and it was 6. 2 m long at either side, but 6. 5 m long in the middle where the east end was curved outwards by 30 cm. The wall posts were spaced at fairly regular intervals along the two sides in straight lines. At the west end there were post holes at the corners (409 and 414); there were two adjacent to them (411 and 416) and two to either side of a central opening (554 and 412). At the curved east end there were five posts, two at the corners (335 and 351) a central post (350) and two intermediate posts much closer to the corners than to the centre (337 and 349). Close to the corners on the north side were two small external post holes (385 and 339) and inside there were two pairs of posts opposite each other at the west end of the building (400, 374, 401 and 422). Down an off-centre line there was a cluster of four holes at the east end (444, 441, 443 and 352), a deep post near the middle (383) and another near the west end (433) which was joined on to wall post 412 by a shallow trench. Extending westwards from the south wall were two additional posts (419 and 563), the purpose of which is not clear. The post holes at the east end cut through the foundation trench of Period II Building P. Post hole depths: 2 cm 554; 3 cm 335, 338; 4 cm 407; 5 cm 350, 385, 421; 6 cm 352, 374; 8 cm 339, 365, 388, 400, 419; 10 cm 372, 373, 428, 553: 13 cm 371, 411,

163

North Elmham Park

North Elmham Park Period Ill Phase 2

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Phase 2: The Mid Eleventh Century The original plan was modified when the house was later extended two metres by building a new south wall. This new wall was of a rather different character with wall posts spaced about 80 cm apart. Such a change was very significant for the development of timber framing on this site, and it will be discussed in more detail in the section which follows (p. 182 ) . In the interior was a hearth, a type of feature which rarely survives on this site. It was a hollow cut out of the boulder clay, scorched red around the sides and filled with reddish burnt clay and charcoal specks. Running obliquely ac r oss the house were two rows of post holes. They were probably for partition walls made at different dates, both built subsequent to the original construction. They demonstrate that at least for the latter part of its history this house had a two-roomed plan, with a division to one side of the external door opening. It was cut by a post hole of the Period IV Building AK, and it cut post holes of Building AS of Phase 1.

Post hole depths: Original building 2 cm 2653; 5 cm 2519; 6 cm 2211; 3-8 cm 2149; 7 cm 2113; 8 cm 2517, 2518, 2720; 9 cm 2515, 2516, 2520, 2574; 10 cm 2148, 2210, 2214, 2724; 13 cm 2212, 2512; 14 cm 2554, 2717, 2754; 15 cm 2215, 2578, 2753; 15-23 cm 2123; 17 cm 2752; 18 cm 2226, 2561; 22 cm 2514, 2721; 30 cm 2783, 3506; 38 cm 2150. Extension at south end 3 cm 2549, 2551; 8 cm 2718; 2679; 19 cm 2547.

9 cm 2546, 2560, 2722;

12 cm 2723;

14 cm

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5 cm 2556;

6 cm 2526;

12 cm 2524; 14 cm

Hearth 18 cm 2254 / 2566. INTERPRETATION Only a prosperous man could have built a house of this size, which had over twice the floor area of house K. The removal of the roof posts from the house interior represented a major breakthrough in house design and this roof was undoubtedly of a more advanced type than those in the other Period Ill houses found in the excavation. It was probably supported by several tie beams, with a king post on each beam sharing the weight of the ridge piece. This would be a natural transition from the use of internal roof posts pegged on to tie beams (as in houses K and D) to well-developed trusses first seen in house T of Period IV. The convex gable wall had by now become a decorative relic without any real structural purpose. The curvature was too great for the tie beam between the corners to be pegged on to the side of the central ridge post. Placing the door near the middle of the side wall was also an important innovation. The doorway now remained in the side wall in all the later houses, and this door position strongly influenced the arrangement of rooms in houses built during the Middle Ages. In house AD it contributed to the formation of a two-roomed plan with a larger room with a hearth to one end and a small room to the other.

181

North Elmham Park NORTH ELMHAM PARK

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The Archaeological Evidence Key to Fig .186. Feature 525 (Square P52) 1. Very dark greyish -brown (2. 5Y 3/ 3) clay loam with lumps of yellowish -brown (10YR 5/ 6) clay. 2.

Yellowish-brown(10YR 5/ 6) sandy clay.

Feature 957 (Square G53) 1. Very dark greyish-brown(10YR 3/ 2) loam with patches of yellowish clay. 2.

Dark brown (10YR 3/ 3) clay loam.

3.

Yellowish-brown(10YR 5/ 8) clay loam.

Feature 1433 (Square H46) 1. Very dark greyish - brown(2.5Y 3/2) loam. 2.

Yellowish-brown(10YR 5/ 8) clay.

Feature 384 (Squares P55-6) 1. Very dark grey (10YR 3/ 1) loam. 2.

As 1, with more flints.

3.

Light olive brown (2. 5Y 5/4) clay patches.

Feature 1431 (Square G48) 1. Light olive brown (2. 5Y 5/ 4) clay and patches of reddened fired clay. 2.

Dark brown (7. 5YR 3/ 2) sandy ash.

3.

Very dark greyish-brown(2.5Y 3/ 2) loam with pockets of yellowish-brownclay.

4.

Very dark greyish-brown (2. 5Y 3/ 2) loam (fill of clay pit 1552).

5.

Very dark grey (10YR 3/ 1) loam.

6.

Yellowish-brown(10YR 5/ 8) clay.

7.

As 3.

8.

Very dark greyish -brown ( 10YR 3/ 2) loam.

Feature 1414 (Squares E48-9 and F48-9) 1. Very dark greyish-brown(2.5Y 3/ 2) loam. 2.

Very dark greyish-brown(2.5Y 3/ 2) silty clay.

3.

Dark greyish-brown(2.5Y 4/ 2) silty clay.

4.

Greyish-brown(10YR 5/ 2) sandy silt.

5.

Light olive brown (2.5Y 5/ 6) loamy sand; the shaded lines represent layers of charcoal.

6.

Yellowish-brown(10YR 5/ 6) sandy.

229

North Elmham Park earlier than the clay pits. Ditch N replaced Ditch J of Period IV which blocked off the west end of the green from Walsingham Way. But later, when the clay digging was in progress, there was no such obstruction and the green was open to the street. This gap in the Walsingham Way frontage does not appear in the 1454-5 survey. At the north end of the site, there was a complex of ditches, labelled collectively Ditch L. Their purpose is obscure, but it is possible that they were themselves clay quarries which were dug to define the dividing line between the street and the property to the east which contained the Bell Inn. In the southern part of the excavated area were two toft boundary trenches running east to west. The line of one along the southern edge of the excavation (3181 and 3117) was perpetuated by a post-medieval fence and it also corresponded to a surface earthwork. But the other (3047) was abandoned when two tofts were amalgamated in the fifteenth century to form a single corner property numbered 176 by David Yaxley in his synopsis of the 1454-5 survey (shown as a cross opposite Gilberdstile in Fig .9).

m.

THE DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE

THE PARK SITE

The detailed picture of this area of the medieval village which is r evea led by the documentary evidence can be found in David Yaxley' s account. The following is simply a summary of those parts of his description which refer to the excavated site and to the cathedral, which by the fourteenth century had become a part of the Bishop's Manor. The frontage all the way along the west side of Walsingham Way from Town Beck up to Nelson House was still fairly heavily settled in 1454. But by the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries there were few references to the area and this frontage was probably deserted long before Richard Warner created the New Park with Walsingham Way as its eastern boundary in the 1720s. Between the street and the church there was a market probably on this green by 1326 -7 , but it had decayedbythe beginning of the fifteenth century(p. 535). When the market began is not !mown, but, as we have seen in the pr evious chapter, the g r een was created during the early twelfth century partly out of the south western corner of the cathedral cemetery and partly out of an area which had previously been settled since Middle Saxon times. There is no mention of a market in the Domesday Survey; it was probably started during the twelfth century. On the south side of this green David Yaxley has positioned the vicarage house where the large twelfth -century hall of Period IV phase 3 was located by excavation (p. 230). Although no later buildings were found on the site, the vicarage to the west of the church was mentioned in £.· 1244, then later in the 1454-5 survey and again in the sixteenth century (p. 536). In the north west corner of the site was the Bell Inn. Unfortunately, both frontages of this property were largely outside the excavated area. By 1681 it may have disappeared, although the plot was still referred to as 'le Bell yard' (p. 536). The market place was known as Bell Green in 1572. The 1454-5 survey shows that the eastern frontage of Walsingham Way, between the street and the market place, was settled with a messuage and eight cottages. At first sight there is a peculiar conflict between this documentary evidence and the results of the excavation. The medieval clay pits were thickest within the triangular green, beside Walsingham Way and to either side of the east to west street which lay to the south of the

230

The Documentary Evidence

Elmham in the 14th century

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The late medieval street plan of the northern part of the village, as suggested by archaeological and documentary evidence.

vicarage . But the fact that the pits were thickest where settlement was heaviest alongside these two streets suggests that the cottagers were digging clay from the tofts they occupied. This c la y was probably converted into clay lump blocks and daub for building. The supp ly of c lay from the tofts was supplemented by further digging on the market place. THE BISHOP'S MANOR

The history of the cathedral after the transfer of the see in 1071 is fraught with uncertainties . The assumption that the building remained in use as a chapel for the bishop's manor best explains its survivial until the time it was converted into the manor house in the fourteenth century. But whether the transition took place in the early part of the century prior to Despenser' s major works is uncertain. However, David Yaxley s uggests that there was already a substantial manor complex on or near the site prior

231

North Elmham Park to 1387. And the early manor buildings may have been surrounded by an enclosure earthwork (p. 597-8). But it is to Bishop Despenser' s activities about 138 7 that the main earth wo r ks can be assigned. The consequent desecration of the old cathedral cemetery caused by all the earthmoving was obvious for all to see. The bones of hundreds, if not thousands, of AngloSaxon dead must lie heaped in the bishop's ramparts. At this time the western entrance of the manor site from Walsingham Way was blocked, and the street diverted around the southern perimeter of the bailey ditch to join the King's Road where the old George and Dragon later stood. The problem of whether there was an entrance opening onto the market place from Despenser' s house has been discussed by Da vid Yaxley . Certainly there was an entrance across the middle of the eastern bailey ditch and then through the outer bailey which lay to the east. The ditch of this outer bailey shows well on the air photograph on Plate VIII. This cropmark reveals that there was no causeway across the eastern side of these outer defences, so access to the outer bailey was either provided by a bridge or alternatively by an entrance on the southern side, perhaps in the south east corner where the lane still turns a sharp corner (Figs.9, 10 and 187). The manor apparently fell into disuse during the early part of the fifteenth century and there is no description of the house and yards in the 1454-5 survey . As a meeting place it was still in use in 1537, but by 1561 the building was being robbed of its stone to repair the parish church (p. 600 ) . David Yaxley suggests that the Cromwell family in the sixteenth century removed the manor and built a new house on the Park site. The excavation of a group of buildings which may be the new manor house is described in the next chapter.

232

(238)

10. PERIOD VI. THE POST- MEDIEVAL PERIOD I.

INTRODUCTION

For the next three hundred years our knowledge of the site is still very meagre. This is due partly to the method of excavation which involved sacrificing the later structures in the topsoil in order to expose an extensive area of Anglo-Saxon and early medieval occupation beneath. The documents are also relatively uninformative . It is only with the Road Diversion Order map of 1829 that we have a map which provides us with a clear plan of the village 1.

n.

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE

(Figs.ll, 12, 188-191)

Further clay pits were dug in various parts of the site, including a particularly large one just to the north of the Park entrance (Fig. 12). Two north to south boundary ditches (1437 and 1924) were dug at a time when the limits of the triangular green of Period V were, apparently, still visible. A boundary trench and a row of post holes along the north side of the green (1223, 1221, 1216, 1215, 1197 and 1069) also seem to be of this date, as does a long dog-legged trench across the eastern part of the green (1323, 1413, 1892 and 1788). There are four flint-and-mortar wells in the excavated area; they are probably postmedieval, but their dates are unknown. One (1335) was excavated to a depth of 4 m and produced eighteenth-century material, including a dated seal from a wine bottle (Fig. 262, No.ll). The upper filling of this well contained many other wine bottle fragments which are not illustrated. In the north east corner of the excavation was one other well covered with a brick dome with a square opening to one side (1333); this well was not investigated, but all the pottery from the fill around the dome appeared to be medieval. A number of wells are mentioned in the 1454-5 survey, but none specifically for the excavated area. A brick-floored cellar in square M41 is dated to about the sixteenth century by the br icks.

Over the northern part of the site was a series of earthworks which covered possible farm buildings arranged inanE-shaped plan. These were largely removed mechanically and without record as the excavation proceeded. The earthworks can be seen on the site plan (Fig. 11) and on the air photograph (Plate IX). The buildings were built of flint and mortar, and some of the detail was of brick. The bricks from these features are datable possibly to the seventeenth century. Wheel ruts leading from the old street into these yards can be identified as features 1181, 1228, 1218 and 1205 in squares N, 0 and P51 and P50. No documentary reference to these buildings has been found. BUILDINGSAU AND AV

(Figs .188-190) A group of two partly timber-framed buildings, AU and AV, was found at the south

233

North Ehnham Park end of the excavated area, fronting onto Walsingham Way. The south perimeter of this property was enclosed by a timber fence (Fig .188), and this line was also traceable as a very slight earthwork on the surface prior to excavation (Fig .11). Building AU (Fig.189 and Plate LXXII), which was surrounded by flint cobbled yards, may have been a dwelling; there was, apparently, a porch at one stage on the north side, but no trace of a hearth was found in the interior. The plan of the surviving post holes is too incomplete to make it possible to suggest any form of timber frame. In the north east corner there was a line of chalky clay along the north wall which appeared to be the base of a clay lump construction. At the west end of the south side there was a single course of bricks supporting the outer skin of a similar clay wall. Post hole depths: 10 cm 3112; 13 cm 3095; 15 cm 3029, 3030, 3088, 3093; 18 cm 3170; 20 cm 3053, 3033; 23 cm 3082; 30 cm 3173; 33 cm 3069, 3096, 3098; 35 cm 3081 , 3127; 50 cm 3092. Building AV (Fig .190) was rather larger, and it may have been a barn. At least four trusses can be identified from the {"lairs of posts along the side walls (3039 and 3063, 3032 and 3058, 3176 and 3066, and 3191 and 3099). Within the building was a semicircular arrangement of post holes from an internal fitting. Building AV was abandoned before AU, for the flint cobbled yard which surrounded AU was spread over the area occupied by AV. Post hole depths: 13 cm 3032, 3039; 15 cm 3066, 3103, 3174; 20 cm 3058, 3063, 3099, 3189; 23 cm 3191; 30 cm 3067, 3192; 33 cm 3187; 38 cm 3176. David Yaxley has suggested that these two buildings formed the Cromwell family's manor house of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. This would certainly be in line with the date of the bricks and the other very meagre dating evidence from the site . But it might be wise to keep an open mind about the identify of this site until further documentary evidence comes to light which would pin-point the location of the manor house more precisely. BUILDINGAW (Fig .191)

Further south, outside the main area of excavation, an isolated structure was excavated at the beginning of the first season. This showed clearly as an earthwork which was recorded on the original site survey and also on the aerial photograph (Fig .11 and Plate IX). It turned out to be a stable with flint, conglomerate and mortar walls and a carefully

laid flint cobbled floor with a V -shaped drain or gulley (Plate LXXni). Two trenches dug down the length of the building had, at some stage, destroyed a large area of this original floor surface. Other walls, which were not investigated, abutted the stable at three of its four corners, and at the south west corner there was a pair of supporting buttresses. The dating of this was also difficult, but a pair of brick drains which ran across the floor would again appear to date the structure to the seventeenth or possibly eighteenth centuries.

234

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UJ86

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UJ14

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237

North Elmham Park

m.

THE DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE

The vicarage house had, apparently, disappeared by the seve nteenth century, tor there is no mention of it in the earliest surviving glebe terrier of 1678. This terrier describes a part of the Park site, presumably including at least some of the old market green and the site of the old vicarage, as an area of glebe of one acre, without mentioning either by name. So, probably by this date the green had been enclosed and the vicar age house demolished. As there is no mention of buildings on the eighteenth-century glebe terriers, either, the large E-shaped arrangement of buildings described in thi s chapter had also disappeared by 1678 . Cromwell' s manor house to the south of the vicarage is not mentioned in the manor records after the mid seventeenth century. So most of the Park site was deserted by the latter part of the seventeenth century. In the 1720s, Richard Warner began to lay out the New Park over areas known as 'Burgrave' and 'Westfield'. At this stage Walsingham Way formed the eastern boundary of the New Park. The piece of glebe land between Walsingham Way and the church was not acquired by the estate until sometime between 1770 and 1776, when it was apparently swapped for some land to the south of the Great Heath (p. 535). Then in 1829 Walsingham Way was stopped up with a Road Diversion Order. The Enclosure Award map of 1831 shows the New Park entrance was then under construction, but only later was the Park drive extended across the Old Walsingham Way to join up with the New Park gates and lodge. The brick and flint wall was built around the eastern side to prevent the deer leaping over the wall into the new main street. After this, the site remained undisturbed until the excavations began in 1967 prior to the planting of the vineyard which commenced in 1971.

REFERENCES 1.

A map of the site seen by Townsend and described by him in North Elmham Parish

Magazine for August 1945 as the 'Sketch Plan contained in a bundle of ancient documents once preserved in the Muniment Room of Elmham Hall' does not seem to have survived.

238

(245) PART IV:

DISCUSSION OF TIMBER BUILDINGS SEQUENCE

11. THE BUILDING SEQUENCE I.

INTRODUCTION

1\vo studies of Anglo - Saxon secular buildings have recently been written (Addyman 1972; Rahtz 1976). And with so many more building plans coming to light following the advent of large scale area excavation (e.g. Champion 1977; Losco-Bradley 1977), this is not the time to embark on a detailed discussion of how the North Elmham sequence fits into a national framework. It is best to confine comparison mainly to the local examples, bearing in mind that building fashions were probably at least as variable from one region to another in the Anglo-Saxon period as they were in later times.

The local sites which have been excavated on a sufficient scale to provide comparative plans are: (a) the early Saxon settlement at West Stow in Suffolk, excavated by Stanley West between 1965 and 1972. This site on the south edge of Breckland produced some post hole houses in addition to many sunken huts (West 1969; C.B.A. 1972, 17). (b) the Middle and Late Saxon and early medieval village at Wicken Bonhunt excavated by Keith Wade between 1971 and 1973. This site in north Essex has provided a remarkable succession of houses dating between the eighth and twelfth centuries 1 . (c) the Late Saxon town of Thetford was extensively excavated by Brian Davison between 1964 and 1966. This produced both early Saxon sunken huts and Late Saxon post-hole houses (Davison 1967). (d) the medieval moated site at Brome in north Suffolk also excavated by Stanley West in 1967. This had a sequence of medieval a isled halls (West 1970a). Other sites in Norfolk have provided some evidence of Middle-Late Saxon or early medieval buildings, but on these the scale of the work was too small or the method not suited to produce any complete or coherent building plans. In this category are: (a)

the 1948-9 excavations at Thetford 2.

(b)

the 1960 excavations at Burgh Castle 3.

(c)

the 1958 excavations at Sedgford 4.

(d)

the 1963 work at Gr imston 5.

Further afield in the Bedfordshire/ Cambridgeshire area, isolated Late Saxon buildings or groups of buildings have been recorded at Buckden (Tebbutt 1962), Easton Socon (Addyman 1965) , St . Neots (Addyman 1973) and Little Paxton (Addyman 1969). A group of Middle Saxon houses has been found at Maxey in Northamptonshire (Addyman 1964). The Park excavations have produced a sequence of forty five buildings (A to AT) dating from the seventh to the twelfth centuries, with a further three post-medieval examples (AUto AW). These forty five represent an important corpus of building plans, not just because of the number of buildings they represent, but because styles changed and evo lved considerably, and it is this sequence of building styles which will be considered in this chapter.

239

North Elmham Park It has been possible to interpret a high proportion of foundation trenches and post holes as representing parts of recognisable structures, such as halls, houses, outbuildings, animal pens and fences. The plans of most of the major buildings erected before the thirteenth century in the excavated area have probably been recovered, except for those which stood along the old street frontage down the western edge of the excavation which was heavily disturbed by clay digging in the Middle Ages. But no doubt many minor outbuildings, including the latrines built over the isolated cess pits, have gone unrecorded. Nevertheless, the numbers of houses and outbuildings which have been recovered are sufficient to provide a fairly complete picture of building development during these centuries.

The numbers of buildings recorded from Periods I-VI are as follows:Period I (seventh to ninth centuries)

5

Period II (ninth to tenth centuries)

6

Period Ill (eleventh century)

24

Period IV (late eleventh to twelfth centuries)

10

,I

Period V (late twelfth to sixteenth centuries) Period VI (late sixteenth to eighteenth centuries)

3

48 It is usually the houses which reveal the fashionable trends in building design, and it is, therefore, with these that this discussion will mainly be concerned; methods of erecting outbuildings and fences usually lagged behind those employed in house building. It is interesting that no plans of Middle Saxon outbuildings were found, while there was a comparative wealth of these structures recorded for Periods Ill and IV.

n.

PERIOD I

The Middle Saxon houses were all constructed the same way, with foundation trenches holding wall posts spaced fairly close together. The earliest houses (H and AA; Figs. 77 and 81) were small rectangular structures with trenches along the side walls only. Then in Phase 2 the houses (81 and z1; Figs. 78 and 82) were larger and it seems they were built to a similar pattern, with continuous foundation trenches broken only at the doorways which were placed off-centre in one side wall. This external opening led into a large room which certainly in one case had a central hearth; off this room there was another smaller one. The roofs were hipped and the ridge pieces were supported on a central row of ridge posts. At this stage roof trusses were not properly developed, although there is some evidence of trussing in Building s 1, which had an internal span of 7 m. The absence of developed roof trusses suggests that during this time joints were still simple, probably of the half-lapped type. Joints of this type were found in Well II. The outlines of the posts visible in the foundation trenches suggest that the main timbers were usually adzed into square shapes, and that round or half round logs were not normally used in house building.

240

. '

(245)

Period I

The spaces between the main wall timbers were filled with hazel wattles and sometimes with broken fragments of Roman tile, all covered over with daub. Burnt hazel twigs, pieces of daub and Roman tiles were found in large numbers in the upper fillings of the two well pits. The impressions in the burnt daub also revealed the use of carefully squared-off main timbers (Figs.257-8). The small sizes of the tile fragments demonstrate that these tiles were not used for roofing in the Middle Saxon period. It is just possible that the tiles were for the reveals of window and door openings, as they were in Saxon churches, but there seems no way this suggestion can be substantiated. It is unlikely that the timber framing was exposed deliberately and the walls were probably covered up to eaves level with layers of clay plaster, and repaired at frequent intervals as the pla ster was eroded by the weather. The thatched eaves were probably fairly wide, which kept the drips well away from the wall footings. At the time of writing, the plans of no other group of Middle Saxon buildings in East Anglia have been fully published. The group of monastic buildings at Burgh Castle , with their oval outlines and their associations with the Celtic West, were probably exceptional in East Anglia. It will, however, be possible to make detailed comparisons with the group found at Wicken Bonhunt when this excavation is published. There, foundation trenches were used in a similar fashion, and the outlines of the post shapes were visible particularly in the well-preserved plans of Structures D and F. Further afield, the seventh-century Saxon houses at Chalton in Hampshire also had foundation trenches and hipped roofs (Addyman, Leigh and Hughes 1972; Addyman and Leigh 1973), so this technique was apparently fairly widespread in the south and east of England in the seventh, eighth and ninth centuries 6. But this was not the only method used during the period, as the buildings with separate post holes at Maxey, in Northamptonshire, demonstrate . Foundation trenches were not used on the earlier West Stow houses, so a discussion of the origins of this technique will have to be set aside until further early and Middle Saxon villages have been excavated in the region. Sunken huts, so ubiquitous in the early Saxon period, were not found at North Elmham, which is surprising considering their popularity in the preceding centuries. It may have been the nature of the Middle Saxon community at North Elmham which precluded the use of this type of dwelling, but this is another matter which requires further investigation on other settlements of Middle Saxon date.

m.

PERIOD

n

The only sunken buildings at all similar to the sunken huts of the early Saxon period were the two latrines erected in the late ninth century (Figs .113 and 115). They were not associated with any houses in the excavated area, so their significance is obscure. They, like some of the grubenhauser at West Stow, have been tentatively reconstructed with wooden floors at ground level. The tenth-centur y houses demonstrate that the foundation trench tradition survived the period of Danish control. Building U, the first of the Period II halls (Fig. 120) , was quite similar to the larger Middle Saxon hollses. The narrowness of the foundation trenches of Building P (Fig. 123) may possibly indicate the use of a stave technique with closely spaced planks around the walls although the spacing of the wall posts of this building could not be determined. The shallowness of these trenches may in part be explained by the introduction of more adequate bracing so that the timber frame was largely self-supporting.

241

(245)

North E lmham Park

The two outbuildings 0 and Y (Figs .124 and 127) are interesting because they represent the re-introduction of the post-hole technique, and in both buildings the two methods were used side by side. The widths of Buildings U and P (7 m and 8. 5 m respectively) show that considerable areas could be spanned successfully over non-masonry structures 7. Ripped roofs apparently persisted until the eleventh century.

IV.

PERIOD ill

There are dangers in comparing too closely the buildings of Periods II and III because they were built for people at opposite ends of the social spectrum in the Saxon village. The Period II buildings have been interpreted as the halls and outbuildings of the tenth -century bishop's palace. The houses of Period Ill were the dwellings of peasants, perhaps with smallholdings, and cottagers. The uniformity of three of the Period III Phase 2 houses is striking. Much greater diversity is exhibited by the five Phase 1 dwellings which have little in common except the use of the post-hole technique. The odd one out is Building B, which is so like the Middle Saxon buildings (especially AM) that one is tempted to date it earlier than the eleventh century. Unfortunately, the only pottery from the foundation trenches of Building B and its successor C was one sherd of Ipswich ware. Nevertheless, the author prefers to place it in Period Ill because of its position in relation to fence lines and to houses E and D 8 . The Phase 1 houses L, B, AR and AS were all rather irregular structures, exceedingly difficult to interpret. Whether they had hipped or gabled roofs is unclear, but we do know that by Phase 2 gabled roofs had become fashionable. The best of the Phase 2 houses were K, D and AD. Gabled roofs were used in all three. Buildings K and D were rectangles of post holes (Figs .142 and 145). The door was in one gable wall which was straight, while the other end wall was curved. Both gable ends had strong central ridge posts to support a r idge piece. The patterns of the posts along the side walls show that these two buildings both had trusses at each end and in the middle. A component of the central truss was a ridge post pegged on to the tie beam. The outcurved gable was apparently the result of placing the ridge post on the outside of the tie beam. House AD was a stage further developed with the door near the middle of a side wall - the position favoured in the Period IV houses (Fig .154). This doorway was also particularly interesting because it was made with a recessed entrance. The absence of interior roof posts marked an important step forward in roof carpentry; the ridge piece was presumably, held up on a series of shorter ridge posts or king posts resting on the beams. Today, roofs of this type are only found in Westmorland (Smith 1958). The convex gable had by now become a relic. The curvature was actually too great for the gable posts to be in contact with the tie beam, and this end of the ridge could easily have been held up with another truss in the end wall. There is a striking resemblance between the curved gable ends of the three North Elmham buildings and two other excavated examples of Late Saxon houses in the region. Building C at Thetford had a curved end with a central ridge post (Da vison 1967, fig. 44). The eleventh-century timber building at Eaton Socon, Bedfordshire, can be seen to have

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a similar plan if the pattern of post holes at the eastern end is interpreted in a slightly different manner (Addyman 1965, fig .4) 9.

V.

PERIOD IV

There was no clear division between Periods Ill and IV, and Phase 1 saw the continuation of house AD at the southern end of the site and the replacement of the three northern houses by a single building, house A (Fig .163) . Closely related in some ways to A was the Phase 2 house , Building T (Fig .165). In both buildings the wall posts were widely spaced and this made the introduction of wall studs between them essential if the wattle and daub walls were to be at all durable. No intermediate post holes were found in these buildings and it appears that it was a new feature, the interrupted ground sill, which made the wider spacing possible. Wall studs could then be set into the ground sills and wall plates. Interrupted ground sills had already been used at Husterlmupp in Germany, although there they were for holding a continuous filling of wooden planks (Herrnbrodt 1958). The same difference in wall framing which distinguishes the Periods III and IV Buildings at Elmham was also demonstrated at Thetford where the earlier 'Building C' complex was superseded by 'Building E'. 'Building E' consisted of a row of wall-spaced trussed couples, probably with a doorway in the centre of a long wall (Davison 1967, fig.47). The timber slots which joined some of the post holes along the south wall may well have been for interrupted sills set partly into the subsoil. More usually, however, they were placed either in the topsoil or on the ground surface. None of the Period IV houses had internal roof posts, and it is, therefore, safe to assume that the transition to the king post-tie beam arrangement was complete. Building T was the last house to be excavated with a ridge post in the gable wall. We do not know when the ridge piece became unfashionable, but it is not normally found in medieval houses in the region.

.·

The final stage in the evolution of the wall framing would be the use of the uninterrupted or continuous ground sill, into which both wall posts and studs were fitted . In a discussion of the types of timber framing which can still be found in England, J. T .Smith has already outlined a similar evolution for the continuous ground sill (Smith 1965, 154). In his definition of his 'Northern School' of carpentry he listed its chief elements. These e lements are - (a) principal wall posts standing directly on stone plinths, (b) interrupted ground sills tenoned into the wall posts eighteen inches above their feet , (c) frequent use of close-studding, and (d) use of ridge pieces in Westmorland. It would theoretically be easy to lower such a frame the eighteen inches to make it comply with the Period IV reconstructions . It may be that we now have in East Anglia evidence to substantiate the hypothesis that in the Northern School of carpentry we can see a survival of some of the elements of La te Saxon and early medieval wall framing superseded in the Lowland Zone. As Smith pointed out, that the interrupted ground sill may once have been more widespread during the Middle Ages is demonstrated by the thirteenth-century kitchen building at Weoley Castle , Birmingham (Oswald 1962-3). A similar example was found at Eynsford Castle, Kent (Rigold 1971).

Close-studding is a common factor in both Northern and Eastern Schools. It is possible that this close-studding was derived from the close spacing of wall posts in post-hole buildings before the interrupted sill was introduced.

243

North Elmham Park Another feature characteristic only of Period IV is the bow-sided plan. This can be seen in Buildings T and AJ/AL and possibly in the later Building AK. The other excavated houses with curved sides found in the region are also of this date. These include the well-known example at Buckden (Tebbutt 1962, fig .1) and 'Building E' at Thetford which had at either end slightly incurved side walls. There was an unpublished bow-sided building found at Thetford in 1948-9 (Dunning 1949, 72). Smith and Stell have demonstrated that Baguley Hall near Manchester may be a rare survival of this plan (Smith and Stell 1960). The origin of this plan remains obscure, and clearly it will only be with the excavation of many more examples that this extraordinary feature can be put into perspective. This house type is represented on tombstones of the period (Schmidt 1973). At the moment ninth, tenth and eleventh-century influences from Scandinavia seem the most probable cause . The final houses in the North Elmham sequence were Buildings AJ/AL followed by AK. In the first pair the new fashion of building with heavier timbers with wall posts spaced still further apart continued (Figs .168 and 170). But the evidence for part of AJ is confusing because on the east side the post holes of the two northern bays were missing, and on the other side there was a timber slot or foundation trench for a bow-sided wall. Whether this trench was a timber slot for an early attempt to use a continuous sill is not clear. The Elmham evidence does much to support Brian Hope-Taylor's thesis that ground sills were a Late Saxon feature (Hope-Taylor 1962, 22). The revival of the continuous sill, above or below ground level, was probably an eleventh-century innovation. The early twelfth-century Building AK is the closest the sequence comes to surviving examples of medieval houses in the region (Fig .175). Except for the centre pair the post holes were not actually as large as those in AJ/AL. It is this central truss which is the most interesting feature of the building. The double post holes to either side of the central hearth have been interpreted as an aisled truss, with the inner posts holding the tie beam so that it could be raised up away from the hearth. Further excavations of early medieval buildings might reveal whether this was a one-off piece of inspired ingenuity to solve a particular problem or whether it was an early use of the aisled truss in Norfolk. 'Building G' at Thetford has been interpreted by the excavator as an extremely large aisled hall of Late Saxon date (Davison 1967, fig .43). The medieval halls in the excavated moated site at Brome in Suffolk were also, apparently, aisled (West 1970b, 95-6). A recent survey of aisled halls shows that the main area of these buildings is South East England (Sandall 1975, 19-27). Except for the excavated example at Thetford, there is an absence of recorded examples in Norfolk. This is possibly the result of one style superseding another, and further examples may be found by excavation in the county. The other feature of interest in Building AK is the arrangement of opposing doorways, possibly for a cross passage, another example of this house providing a link with surviving buildings.

VI.

DISCUSSION

It is clear that we now need the excavation of further early, Middle and Late Saxon settlements in different parts of the region. These should show how the North Elmham and Thetford building plans fit into a regional framework. Such excavations should also reveal the differences in detail which reflect the very local traditions of carpentry. There are still very few published examples of Norfolk vernacular buildings and if an interest in this subject could be encouraged, then the discovery of early examples comparable with some of the surviving thirteenth and fourteenth-century timber-framed buildings in Suffolk and Essex would do much to bridge the gap between early medieval and later housetypes. The alternative study of excavated medieval timber-framed houses resting on sills

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Discussion

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at ground level or on low plinths will be fraught with difficulties because they can leave such little trace (for instance, there was no trace of the walls of the aisled halls at Brome). It is no coincidence that the end of the North Elmham building sequence probably corresponded to the introduction of the continuous ground sill. The method of excavation was not designed to pick up such slight traces in the topsoil which was , anyway, heavily disturbed by medieval clay pits and post-medieval flint and mortar buildings. The search for early surviving timber-framed houses in Norfolk away from the more forested heavy clays of south east Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex will, anyway, be difficult because examples of all date~:~ are relatively scarce. It was probably during the Middle Ages that clay as a building material, in the form of clay lump blocks, took over from timber, at least at peasant level in the Norfolk villages 10. Timber framing may well have become restricted to the manors and the wealthier peasantry on the lighter and medium soils. The excavation of further moated manors and medieval villages will continue the story . Sadly, at the moment, the rural landscape of Anglo-Saxon and medieval times is still largely a closed book. There is much to be done, and the evidence, particularly for the medieval levels of rural settlements, is being eroded away at an unprecidented rate.

REFERENCES 1.

Unpublished; the author is grateful to Keith Wade for copies of the building plans and for a duplicated interim report dated September 1973.

2.

Unpublished, except for Dunning 1949, and Archaeological News Letter Vol.III, No.3 (1950), 41-6.

3.

Unpublished, except for plans in Cramp 1973, 106-7.

4.

Unpublished , except for a note in Medieval Archaeol. Ill (1959), 298.

5.

Unpublished, except for a note in Medieval Archaeol. VIII (1964), 286.

6.

The post-in-trench construction of the pre-tenth century 'Long Hall' of the Saxon palace at Cheddar, Somerset is reminiscent of the Periods I and II buildings (Rahtz 1962-3, fig. 20).

7.

Compare with a width of 30 ft (9 m) at Brixworth church.

8.

Building B is also similar to the Cheddar Building P (Rahtz 1962-3, fig. 23).

9.

Plan also appears in Medieval Archaeol. VIII, fig. 89.

10. Unpub lished excavations by the author at Thuxton and Grenstein deserted villages in Norfolk revealed medieval farmsteads with clay-built structures.

245

North Elmham Park

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246

Pnnled by F Crewe & Son• L!d , 11 Concorde Rold, Norwleh NR6 66J