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B 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 Anglo-Saxon Studies 35 Burial Landscape TJ 22mm press01.indd 1 25/03/2019 13:48 Anglo-Saxon Studies 35 BURIAL, LANDSCAPE AND IDENTITY IN EARLY MEDIEVAL WESSEX MEES 9781783274178 PRINT.indd 1 15/03/2019 14:04 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 archaeology, 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 MEES 9781783274178 PRINT.indd 2 15/03/2019 14:04 BURIAL, LANDSCAPE AND IDENTITY IN EARLY MEDIEVAL WESSEX Kate Mees THE BOYDELL PRESS MEES 9781783274178 PRINT.indd 3 15/03/2019 14:04 © 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 MEES 9781783274178 PRINT.indd 4 15/03/2019 14:04 For Mum, Dad and Thomas MEES 9781783274178 PRINT.indd 5 15/03/2019 14:04 MEES 9781783274178 PRINT.indd 6 15/03/2019 14:04 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 MEES 9781783274178 PRINT.indd 7 15/03/2019 14:04 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 MEES 9781783274178 PRINT.indd 8 15/03/2019 14:04 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 MEES 9781783274178 PRINT.indd 9 15/03/2019 14:04