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

• 232 • Roberta Gilchrist
multiple churches might result, such
as at Beechamwell, Norfolk, where
the convergence of three settlements
resulted in the co-existence of three
parish churches in a single village. In
eastern England, cases of multiple
lordship occasionally resulted in the
sharing of a single churchyard by two
to three parish churches, such as at
Reepham, Norfolk. In regions of
dispersed settlement, churches may
have been founded in relative
isolation, although this appearance
may sometimes be deceptive.
Agricultural shifts, such as a
transition from arable to pastoral
farming, could cause the movement
of settlement to areas of free
grazing, such as greens and parish
boundaries. In such cases, early
village sites were deserted and
churches that now appear to be
isolated in the landscape were once
in close proximity to their
communities. Churches in towns
were placed in order to encourage
easy access: on street corners, on
main thoroughfares, at markets,
bridges and at gates in town walls,
so that travellers and pilgrims could
visit them easily when beginning or
completing a journey.
Figure 13.1 Sequence of church constructions at Raunds, Northamptonshire, Between 1050–1150, there was a
late ninth to thirteenth centuries.
massive rebuilding of churches,
Source: Boddington 1996, Fig. 5
translating timber-built, local
churches to the more substantial
parish churches constructed in stone. Excavations have shown that these early stone churches
were of fairly simple form, consisting of one or two cells, often incorporating an apsed eastern
end: examples include All Saints, Barton Bendish, Norfolk; Barrow, Lincolnshire; St Paul-in-the-
Bail, Lincoln; and St Benedict, Norwich. A small number of three-cell early churches are known,
incorporating an axial, or central, tower, while others had towers attached to the western end of
the church. It has been suggested that such towers may have been reserved for the use of the lord
who had built and owned the church, with the nave left open for public use (Morris 1989, 252–
255). Moreover, the manorial residence of the lord seems to have been closely associated with
the church. Excavations at Barton-on-Humber, Humberside, which retains a highly embellished
Anglo-Saxon tower, revealed that the church of c.970–1030 was erected just west of a large bank
and ditch, which defined a sub-circular enclosure that may have been the manor or residence of
the lord (Figure 13.2) (Rodwell and Rodwell 1982).