The W G Hoskins Lecture 2015

‘The power of pits: New evidence for rural settlements from excavations in eastern England’ presented by Professor Carenza Lewis.

The twenty-sixth Hoskins lecture

27 June 2015

Prof. Lewis presented the results of more than 2000 test pit excavations in more than 50 rural settlements in eastern England, ranging widely in land use, settlement form and population level. She presented the results of excavations over her whole career, and mainly from East Anglia with some outlying settlements. The pits had been dug in fens, forests and river valleys, with variable population densities. The sites included nucleated and dispersed settlements, East Anglia representing a mixture of the two.

Contrasting with deserted mediaeval villages, the pits have been placed in small towns and villages still populated in present times. The results build on a body of work already published, including Interpreting the English Village and others. The survey began with Time Team’s ‘Big Dig’, which engaged the local communities and the public at large. The 2010 Kibworth project with Michael Wood’s Story of England was a highlight of the scheme. The same strategy has been employed in eastern England. Some 5000 young people have taken part, with strong community involvement. The test pits are dug one metre square, with a recording of data on a standard proforma. The pits are excavated in 10 cm ‘spits’, the spoil sieved from each spit, and the finds are kept separate from different levels and areas in the pit. All finds from the pits are kept, and analysed later. Pottery is the most useful evidence from test pits, notably because it doesn’t rot but it does change fashion over time.

These test pits have been excavated in as many different places and settlements as possible. The results of the survey are visible on the website, Access Cambridge Archaeology, and published as Mediaeval Settlement Research Group publications.

A summary report is published for each village. Prof. Lewis presented her findings from various settlements. Pirton in Hertfordshire is today a nucleated settlement in which 110 pits have now been dug. The pottery is plotted by distribution across the village. There was a Roman settlement clearly towards the north of the village, with a smaller Roman settlement to the south. There was less pottery from the early Anglo-Saxon period, and late Anglo-Saxon pottery was found in central and southern areas but very little in the Roman area. The high Anglo-Saxon period showed widespread pottery distribution, clearly extending as the village expanded. The mid-14th to the mid-16th century revealed fewer pottery sherds. The Black Death evidently depopulated the village, when its pottery diminished. The mid-16th to the early 18th century showed some increase.

Forty pits have been dug in Great Shelford in Cambridgeshire. Roman finds were plotted in the south west of the village, though not as extensive as in Pirton. The mid-9th to the mid-11th century finds showed a small cluster around the church, and the mid-11th to the late 14th century showed a significant increase in pottery. The mid-14th to the mid-16th century showed the post-Black Death contraction, followed by regrowth. Ashwell in Hertfordshire showed a scattering of Roman pottery and few finds from the middle and late Anglo-Saxon periods. The 12th to the 14th century showed the post- Black Death focus of pottery around the church, and then the post mediaeval growth. At Nayland in Suffolk, pottery exploded in the high Anglo-Saxon period with no decline in the late Anglo-Saxon period. Nayland was exceptional in that it did not show the Black Death decline. Sudbury, also in Suffolk, revealed no Roman pottery, but the steady growth of pottery finds in the Anglo-Saxon period. Walberswick in Suffolk reveals scattered Roman material but major changes in the late mediaeval times. Binham in Norfolk was an obvious Roman site. Brooches and other metalware were found here, suggesting a possible site of some significance. There was abundant pottery in the high Anglo-Saxon period but the Black Death hit the population hard with a collapse in the pottery distribution. Two dispersed settlements have also received attention. Carleton Rode in Norfolk has pottery from scattered farms that have no documented history before the modern period. This community was badly impacted by the Black Death and the settlement then started to concentrate around the church. Clavering in Essex, also a dispersed settlement, showed no pottery in outlying settlements from the post-Back Death period.

Prof. Lewis drew together all these findings into the bigger picture. The maps showed which settlements produced the most Roman finds and clearly central East Anglia was not a Roman stronghold. The overall picture of finds in settlements can be used to relate populations to watersheds, drainage patterns, geology, woodland, ditches and dykes, and the Domesday survey. The Roman and early Anglo-Saxon settlements often coincide. There is a correlation with lower populated villages in Domesday. The high mediaeval distribution shows a central belt of high density. The Black Death shows a central depopulated belt. It’s also possible to compare the settlements with deserted mediaeval villages. Most villages show the Black Death depletion, followed by regrowth, although with some exceptions particularly Nayland.

Prof. Lewis’ final message was the need to compare these findings with other counties and other areas of England. She plans to extend this work in her new Chair at Lincoln University. Her final point was that this work nicely ‘takes the pulse’ of communities in exploring population changes in English villages and towns. Pottery sherds uncovered and analysed in English fields and gardens are, of course, an infinite source of research material. Unlike evidence gleaned from documents and deserted mediaeval villages, the insights into English local history gained from simple pieces of pottery will never be exhausted.

As is customary, the lecture was followed by the consumption of tea and cake, accompanied by stimulating conversation and frenzied book buying.

From an original report by Phil Batman.