Table Of ContentB urial evidence provides the richest record we IB BURIAL, L ANDSCAPE
N
possess for the centuries following the retreat of U
Roman authority. The locations and manner in which
ER
communities chose to bury their dead, within the constraints
AI AND IDENTIT Y
of the environmental and social milieu, reveal much about this A
R
transformational era. L
L
,
Y
This book offers a pioneering exploration of the ways in which L IN EARLY MEDIEVAL WESSEX
the cultural and physical environment influenced funerary MA
traditions during the period c. ad 450–850, in the region N
E
which came to form the leading Anglo-Saxon kingdom of
DD
Wessex. This was a diverse landscape rich in ancient remains,
IS
in the form of imposing earthworks, enigmatic megaliths and
EC
Kate Mees
vestiges of Roman occupation. Employing archaeological V
A
evidence, complemented by toponymic and documentary A
P
sources and elucidated through landscape analysis, the author L
E
argues that particular man-made and natural features were
W
consciously selected as foci for funerary events and ritual A
practice, becoming integral to manifestations of identity and EN
power in early medieval society. This volume also includes SD
S
an important new gazetteer of over 200 burial sites dating
EI
from the Early to Middle Anglo-Saxon period in the historic
XD
counties of Wiltshire, Hampshire, Dorset and Somerset.
E
N
kate mees is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the T
Department of Archaeology, Durham University. I
T
Y
K
a
t
e
M
Cover image: Grave Group from a Surface Interment at Winterslow, Wiltshire,
by Thomas Robert Guest, 1814. The Salisbury Museum / Bridgeman Images. e
e
s
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BURIAL, LANDSCAPE AND IDENTITY
IN EARLY MEDIEVAL WESSEX
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Anglo-Saxon Studies
ISSN 1475-2468
GENERAL EDITORS
John Hines
Catherine Cubitt
‘Anglo-Saxon Studies’ aims to provide a forum for the best scholarship on the
Anglo-Saxon peoples in the period from the end of Roman Britain to the Norman
Conquest, including comparative studies involving adjacent populations and
periods; both new research and major reassessments of central topics are welcomed.
Books in the series may be based in any one of the principal disciplines of archae-
ology, art history, history, language and literature, and inter- or multi-disciplinary
studies are encouraged.
Proposals or enquiries may be sent directly to the editors or the publisher at
the addresses given below; all submissions will receive prompt and informed
consideration.
Professor John Hines, School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Cardiff
University, John Percival Building, Colum Drive, Cardiff, Wales, CF10 3EU, UK
Professor Catherine Cubitt, School of History, Faculty of Arts and Humanities,
University of East Anglia, Norwich, England, NR4 7TJ, UK
Boydell & Brewer, PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, IP12 3DF, UK
Previously published volumes in the series are listed at the back of this book
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BURIAL, LANDSCAPE AND IDENTITY
IN EARLY MEDIEVAL WESSEX
Kate Mees
THE BOYDELL PRESS
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© Kate Mees 2019
All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation
no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast,
transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission of the copyright owner
The right of Kate Mees to be identified as
the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
First published 2019
The Boydell Press, Woodbridge
ISBN 978-1-78327-417-8
The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd
PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK
and of Boydell & Brewer Inc.
668 Mt Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620–2731, USA
website: www.boydellandbrewer.com
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
The publisher has no responsibility for the continued existence or accuracy of URLs for
external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee
that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate
This publication is printed on acid-free paper
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For Mum, Dad and Thomas
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Contents
List of Illustrations viii
Acknowledgements x
List of Abbreviations xi
Note on Period Terminology and Other Definitions xii
Introduction: Perspectives, Approaches and Context 1
1 Monument Reuse and the Inherited Landscape 17
2 Topography and Ritual Life 55
3 ‘Britons and Saxons’? 99
4 Land Use, Territoriality and Social Change 147
5 The Church and the Funerary Landscape 179
Conclusions 200
Appendix: Gazetteer of burial sites in the study area, c. AD 450–850 205
Bibliography 266
Index 304
vii
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Illustrations
Figures
1 The topography of the study area 5
2 The pays of the study area 6
3 Chalk geology and the distribution of Early–Middle Anglo-Saxon burial
sites 19
4 Early–Middle Anglo-Saxon burial sites and distance from floodplains in
Hampshire 21
5 Kernel density analysis of modern archaeological investigations in
Hampshire 21
6 Early–Middle Anglo-Saxon settlements and cemeteries in the Charlton
valley, Hampshire 22
7 Prehistoric and Roman features associated with Early–Middle Anglo-
Saxon burial sites 25
8 Schematic profiles of different types of round barrow 28
9 Excavated bowl barrows in Wiltshire and Early–Middle Anglo-Saxon
burial sites 29
10 Excavated bell barrows in Wiltshire and Early–Middle Anglo-Saxon
burial sites 30
11 Barrow Clump, Wiltshire: setting and routeways 32
12 Plan of features on Overton Hill 34
13 Excavated long barrows in Wiltshire and Early–Middle Anglo-Saxon
burial sites 40
14 Early–Middle Anglo-Saxon burial sites and other features near
Wanborough, Wiltshire 52
15 Early–Middle Anglo-Saxon burial sites and hillforts in the study area 66
16 Winkelbury Hill, Wiltshire 68
17 Swallowcliffe Down, Wiltshire 71
18 Roundway Hill, Wiltshire 72
19 Early–Middle Anglo-Saxon burial sites and settlements in south-east
Hampshire 74
20 Snell’s Corner, Hampshire 76
21 Portsdown Hill and Hayling Island, Hampshire 78
22 Plan of Monkton Deverill cemetery, Wiltshire 79
23 Sites along the northern escarpment of the Marlborough Downs 81
24 Manor Farm, Portesham, Dorset 88
25 Salisbury Avon valley sites 91
26 Map of the postulated civitates 112
27 Plan of Cannington cemetery, Somerset 118
28 Sites in the Hampshire Downs pays 121
29 Sites in the Itchen valley, Hampshire 124
viii
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Illustrations
30 Plan of Portway East and West, Hampshire 128
31 Sites in the ‘cheese’ country of Wiltshire 131
32 Sites in the South Wiltshire Downs and Cranborne Chase pays 133
33 Bokerley Dyke with Woodyates, Pentridge 34 and Martin 28 136
34 Long Crichel, Dorset 137
35 Domesday hundred boundaries in Wiltshire 152
36 Strip parishes in the Salisbury Avon valley 156
37 Early–Middle Anglo-Saxon burial sites within 100m of a parish
boundary in Wiltshire 157
38 Early–Middle Anglo-Saxon burial sites within 100m of a parish
boundary in Hampshire 158
39 Early–Middle Anglo-Saxon burial sites within 100m of a parish
boundary in Dorset 160
40 Early–Middle Anglo-Saxon burial sites within 100m of a parish
boundary in Somerset 160
41 Plan of Storey’s Meadow cemetery, Hampshire 166
42 Breamore, Hampshire, in the context of the Salisbury Avon valley 174
43 Plan of burial sites and possible churches in Hamwic 183
44 Map of Sherborne, showing Tinney’s Lane and the postulated extent of
Lanprobi 187
45 Plan of Winnall II cemetery, Hampshire 190
Plates
1 The Ridgeway on Overton Hill, Wiltshire, looking north 37
2 Hinton Downs barrow, Wiltshire, viewed from the south-east 53
3 View from the northern Marlborough Downs escarpment, near Thornhill
Lane 83
4 Photo of excavations at High Lea Farm, Dorset 141
Tables
1 Pays in the study area 7
2 Burial sites and geology 18
3 Categories and sub-categories of reused prehistoric or Roman feature 24
The author and publisher are grateful to all the institutions and individuals listed for
permission to reproduce the materials in which they hold copyright. Every effort has
been made to trace the copyright holders; apologies are offered for any omission, and
the publisher will be pleased to add any necessary acknowledgement in subsequent
editions.
ix
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