Life before the minster: the social dynamics of monastic foundation at Anglo-Saxon Lyminge, Kent

Anglo-Saxon monastic archaeology has been constrained by the limited scale of past investigations and their overriding emphasis on core buildings. This paper draws upon the results of an ongoing campaign of archaeological research that is redressing the balance through an ambitious programme of open-area excavation at Lyminge, Kent, the site of a royal double monastery founded in the seventh century ad. The results of five completed fieldwork seasons are assessed and contextualised in a narrative sequence emphasising the dynamic character of Lyminge as an Anglo-Saxon monastic settlement. In so doing, the study brings into sharp focus how early medieval monasteries were emplaced in the landscape, with specific reference to Anglo-Saxon Kent, a regional context offering key insights into how the process of monastic foundation redefined antecedent central places of long-standing politico-religious significance and social action.

Where are Yorkshire’s terps? Wetland exploitation in the early medieval period

Where are the terps in Yorkshire, or for that matter where is any other evidence of exploitation of the wetlands in the early medieval period? Archaeological evidence remains largely elusive for the period between the early fifth and the late ninth century. Among the very few sites in wetland landscapes dated to this period are the settlement of York and the middle Anglo-Saxon bridge at Skerne in the Hull valley. Sites from the free-draining soils adjacent to wetlands are more frequent, and include a monastery (Beverley), settlements (e.g. Nafferton and North Frodingham), cemeteries (e.g. Hornsea, Burton Pidsea, Hessle, North Frodingham, Swine and Stamford Bridge) and various isolated finds (recently summarised in Van de Noort and Davies 1993).