Bruce Eagles - From Roman Civitas to Anglo-Saxon Shire: Topographical Studies on the Formation of Wessex

Oxford & Philadelphia

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Front cover: Prospect of the Roman road and East Wansdyke just above Calston, May 20, 1724. [W. Stukeley, London, 1743, Abury, a Temple of the British Druids, with Some Others, Described , TAB. X, facing p. 18]

Figure 1 The Wessex region

Figure 2 A relief map of Wessex

Figure 3 Ancient, Brittonic and Old English and other place-names which relate to the presence of the Britons in Wessex

Figure 4 The boundaries of the Roman civitates

Figure 5 Fifth-century sites in Wessex

Figure 6 British and Anglo-Saxon sites in Wessex in the fifth century as definable through material culture

Figure 7 Fifth-century sites in and around Winchester and on the Isle of Wight

Figure 8 British and Anglo-Saxon sites in and around Winchester and on the Isle of Wight in the fifth century as definable through material culture

Figure 9 Hod Hill hill-fort and its environs

Figure 10 The south-western limit of Anglo-Saxon material culture AD 500570

Figure 11 The south-western limit of Anglo-Saxon material culture AD 570700

Figure 12 Bridle-fitting from Breamore, Hampshire

Figure 13 Sites of the post-Roman and early Anglo-Saxon periods in and near the southern part of the valley of the Salisbury Avon

Figure 14 Plan of the course of Mid- to East Wansdyke and the area of Shepherds Shore to Milk Hill

Figure 15 Wansdyke near Shepherds Shore looking west

Figure 16 Pitt Rivers sections of Wansdyke

Figure 17 Plan of Wansdyke on Tan Hill

Figure 18 Ancient and Brittonic place-names and Old English place-names which refer to the Britons in Wiltshire, set against the archaeological data

Figure 19 The Avebury area

Figure 20 Saxon burials at East Kennett long barrow

Figure 21 The province of the Jutes

Figure 22 Sites of the fifth century in Dorset and Somerset

Figure 23 Dorset and Somerset in the sixth century

Figure 24 Dorset and Somerset in the seventh century

Figure 25 The spread of Anglo-Saxon material culture in Dorset in the sixth and seventh centuries

Figure 26 The location of Augustines Oak

Figure 27 The possible extent of the royal estate at Bedwyn in AD 778

Figure 28 Small shires and regiones in Hampshire

Figure 29 Small shires in Hampshire: scr names, significant places, physical relief and surface water

Figure 30 Small shires in Hampshire: Roman roads and main Roman centres

Figure 31 Small shires in Hampshire and the Domesday hundreds

Plate 1 Bokerley Dyke, where it traverses Martin and Bokerley Downs

Plate 2 Upper Holt, Teffont, Wiltshire, site of the Romano-British temple

Plate 3 Poundbury hill-fort, Dorset, from the north-west

Plate 4 Hod Hill hill-fort, Dorset, viewed from the south

Plate 5 Badbury Rings hill-fort, Dorset, seen from the north-west

Plate 6 South Cadbury hill-fort, Somerset, from the south-east

Plate 7 The excavation of the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Harnham

Plate 8 The excavation of the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Harnham

Plate 9 Oldbury Castle hill-fort, Wiltshire, viewed from the north

Plate 10 Maiden Castle hill-fort, from the north-west

Plate 11 Spetisbury Rings hill-fort, Dorset, from the north-east

Table 1 The distribution of brooch types in Berkshire, Dorset, Hampshire, Somerset and Wiltshire

Table 2 Wansdyke: key Romano-British items recorded from Browns Barn

Table 3 The hundred hides of Chilcomb

The studies presented here have been made possible only through the stimulating advice and encouragement of very many friends and colleagues over a large number of years. My understanding of the historic landscape has been developed through a career in the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments. This began as a student in their York office, where I benefited greatly from the inspirational encouragement of the late Herman Ramm. My subsequent move to Salisbury, where I still live, more than 50 years later, has allowed me not only to gain familiarity with the Wessex countryside, but also to enjoy its great diversity and enviable beauty. I have learned greatly from all my colleagues here and in particular from the late Collin Bowen, whose analysis of the ancient landscape was without equal.

The paper on the bridle-fitting from Breamore (Paper 4) is jointly authored with Barry Ager and that on Wansdyke (Paper 5) with Dr Michael Allen. The one on the small shires (Paper 12) would not have been possible without the significant input of Dr Rosamond Faith. To all of them I extend my thanks for their agreement to include these papers in this volume. The help and advice that I have so readily been given by others for specific Studies are acknowledged with each one of them. I have benefited greatly over many years from the inspirational encouragement of the late Professor James Campbell, who also read several of the papers in draft. The late Dr Paul Robinson gave generously of his time to keep me abreast of new finds in Wiltshire; and I am grateful, too, for the help I have also received from David Dawson, Lisa Brown and Bill Perry and their colleagues at the Wiltshire Museum, Devizes. Barry Ager and Susan Youngs, both formerly at the British Museum, have willingly shared their formidable knowledge of, respectively, early Anglo-Saxon and Celtic artefacts and have also read and commented upon a number of the papers. My debt to Rosamond Faith for sharing her extensive knowledge of Anglo-Saxon farming practices and their impact upon the countryside is evident in many places in this book. Professors Barbara Yorke and Andrew Reynolds, whose comprehension of the history and archaeology of Anglo-Saxon Wessex is so far-reaching, have been a constant source of stimulation and advice, and Barbara Yorke has also provided valuable comment on a number of the individual studies. Dr Charlotte Behr kindly commented upon Paper 8 in draft, as did Dr Paul Barnwell and Dr Sam Moorhead upon Paper 2. David Algar and Peter Saunders are my coauthors of several articles cited in the bibliography, and of others published elsewhere, and it has been a great pleasure to work closely with them over many years and to benefit from their wide knowledge of the archaeology of Wiltshire.