The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca

• 190 • Catherine Hills
grave appears to have become the
focus of a shrine, later incorporated
into a small building and
subsequently, when the
Northumbrians took over this
region in the early eighth century,
into a church. Other small,
rectangular buildings were arranged
in parallel rows. Similar buildings
were found at Hartlepool and
thought to be associated with
Abbess Hild. The best known of
early Anglo-Saxon monasteries is
Bede’s Jarrow (Cramp 1981), where
excavations showed long, narrow,
rectangular buildings arranged in
something that approximates to a
cloister. Similar features were seen
at the sister monastery at nearby
Monkwearmouth.
Other sites are less securely
identified. Features that might be
thought to rule out monasticism
Figure 10.7 Model of the Anglo-Saxon monastery of St Paul, Jarrow, in the need not necessarily have done so.
early eighth century. The appearance of the monastery is based on the results Cemeteries with men, women and
of excavation.
children could be explained as
Source: South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council
belonging to double houses, with
both monks and nuns, and very young oblates or schoolchildren, and the graves of the sick, cared
for in the monastery. Animal bones, evidence of meat eating, might reflect a less than complete
observance of dietary rules. At Brandon in Suffolk, a settlement of Middle Saxon date consisted
of rectangular buildings, one associated with burials and interpreted as a church. Finds included
imported pottery, ornamented pins, precious metal, and glass, both from vessels and windows.
Flixborough in Lincolnshire also produced rectangular buildings, possibly including a church,
burials, and a range of similar artefacts as well as a great quantity of animal bones. This is all
consistent with secular high status. Both these sites have also produced evidence for literacy,
which is normally associated with the church, in the form of writing implements, styli, and also
an inscribed lead plaque and ring at Flixborough and a gold plaque, probably from a book cover,
with the symbol of St John at Brandon.
It is in manuscript art that we can see most clearly the great achievement of the early Church
in Britain in the fusion of three traditions: Mediterranean, Germanic and Celtic. The illuminated
pages of the Lindisfarne Gospels or the Book of Durrow show a dynamic combination of
Classical figures, Germanic interlaced animals and Celtic patterns. The skills that had previously
been devoted to the creation of jewellery were now deployed in the service of the Church (Wilson
1984). This art cannot be attributed to any one of the peoples of Britain: it is neither Anglo-
Saxon nor Celtic, and is often called ‘Hiberno-Saxon’, although that name does not allow for a
Pictish contribution. The mobility of missionaries and craftsmen allowed the transmission of
ideas from one secular or religious centre to another, so that it is often difficult to decide exactly
where any one manuscript or artefact was created. The Lindisfarne Gospels are located by a