Showing posts with label Time Team. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Time Team. Show all posts

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Castle Howard before Castle Howard: medieval Hinderskelf

Castle Howard before Castle Howard: medieval Hinderskelf

Niall C.E.J. O’Brien

On 23rd April 1692 Edward Howard, 2nd Earl of Carlisle, died and was succeed by his son Charles Howard. In 1689 Charles Howard was M.P. for Morpeth and from 1693 to 1738 he was governor of Carlisle. From 1701 to 1706 Charles Howard was Deputy Earl Marshal and in December 1701 was made First Lord of the Treasury. His position at the top of the political establishment was a brief six months. 

But before his rise to power the 3rd Earl of Carlisle decided to build a large country house for himself in Yorkshire. After losing his political power the building of the house, by architect Sir John Vanbrugh, took on an importance of personal standing. This house is today known by the name of Castle Howard, one of the largest country houses in the land. To build the house the medieval castle and village of Hinderskelf was removed.[1] This article sets out to capture some information on medieval Hinderskelf.  

Domesday and early accounts

The Hinderskelf appears to be a Viking place-name meaning a woman’s seat or settlement. Other sources say that Hinderskelf means meeting place of the hundred on a hill. In the time of King Edward the Confessor Hinderskelf was held by Torbrant. In 1070 King Malcolm of Scotland invaded England by way of Cumberland. At Hinderskelf he killed some English nobles and after returned to Scotland.[2]

It is briefly mentioned in the Domesday Book but was possibly a rural farm settlement at the time. In 1086 Hinderskelf was in the hands of Berengar de Toni, who had a 'manor'. The manor consisted of 4 carucates and three rent payers. Berengar de Toni died without issue, and his lands it seems passed to his sister Adeliza and her husband Roger Bigod, the ancestor of the Earls of Norfolk. The Earls of Norfolk were the chief lords of Hinderskelf until 1306 when the manor became directly held of the king.[3]

From 1087 to 1102 Sir Humphrey de Lascelles is said to have held the castle and manor of Hinderskelf. He is reportedly to have died there in 1102.[4] This assertion has not been confirmed by other sources.

In about 1160 the priory of Kirkham was founded and the lord of Hinderskelf gave a site to the priory for a church at Hinderskelf. According to Time Team the village of Hinderskelf was possibly founded around that time.[5] The church at Hinderskelf was a chapel rather than a parish church as Hinderskelf was only one part of the large parish of Bulmer of which the church of St. Martin at Bulmer was the head church. In 1219 Simon son of William quitclaimed two ox-gangs of land in Hinderskelf to William, Prior of Kirkham.[6]

In 1166–7 Peter Basset held Hinderskelf from the Bigod family and in 1207 Walter Basset granted 2 ox-gangs at Hinderskelf to Reginald Basset.[7] In about 1234 William Mauleverer held lands at Hinderskelf and Scoreby in Yorkshire. At some unknown date William Mauleverer had granted some land there to Brian de Lisle for a certain time which by 1234 had not yet expired. The lands were taken into the King’s hand by the death of Brian de Lisle. On 17th September 1234 the sheriff of Yorkshire was instructed to deliver full seisin to William Mauleverer.[8] In about 1251 Margarey, widow of William Mauleverer conveyed the lands of Hinderskelf to William son of Ralph.[9]

Fitz William family of Hinderskelf

In about 1269 Sir William Fitz Ralph was described as lord of Grimthorpe and Hinderskelf in Yorkshire. He was the son and heir of Ralph Fitz William, lord of Grimthorpe, who in turn was the son of William Fitz Ralph (died 1218) and grandson of Ralph Fitz Ralph, lord of Grimthorpe (living 1189). Sir William Fitz Ralph married Joan, daughter of Sir Thomas Fitz William of Greystokes in Cumberland. In 1296 Sir William Fitz Ralph was succeeded by his son and heir Sir Ralph FitzWilliam as lord of Grimthorpe and Hinderskelf and was known since 1295 as Lord FitzWilliam. In 1306 Sir Ralph FitzWilliam succeeded to the estate of Greystoke and died in 1317.[10]

Sir Ralph Fitz William was succeeded for two months by his second son Robert Fitz Ralph who died before 15th April 1317. Robert’s widow, Elizabeth, took seisin of the manors of Hinderskelf and Butterwick as her dower and died in November 1346.[11]

In April 1317 Ralph de Greystoke succeeded his father Robert Fitz Ralph as lord of Greystoke in Cumberland and took the place-name as his surname. Ralph de Greystoke married Alice, daughter of Hugh, Lord Audley by Iseude, daughter of Sir Edmund de Mortimer of Wigmore. Ralph de Greystoke was poisoned at Gateshead in 1323 and so never succeeded to Hinderskelf.[12]

In 1323 Sir William de Greystoke succeeded his father as Lord Greystokes and FitzWilliam. On 20th August 1347 the King took the homage of Sir William de Greystoke for Hinderskelf. Sir William de Greystoke fought in the wars in Scotland and France before dying on 10th July 1359 at Brancepeth.[13]

A native of Hinderskelf

In this time of great lords and great plagues we often don’t get to see the common folk but in 1346 a native of Hinderskelf appeared briefly in the records. In 1346 Simon Wavel of Hinderskelf along with John Dalby of Brompton and John and Robert Geffray of Yolvirtoft in Yorkshire received a pardon for their good service in the war in France as long as they stayed at peace in England.[14]

Greystoke coat of arms

William, Baron of Greystoke

William, Baron of Greystoke, died in 1359 while overseas and was succeeded by his son, Ralph, a minor. The Greystoke estate was taken into the King’s hand and was granted during the minority to Roger de Mortimer, Earl of March. But Roger de Mortimer didn’t enjoy the estate for long as he died in February 1360 to be succeeded by his son, Edmund de Mortimer, a minor.

Because of this minority the escheator of Yorkshire and Greystoke took the Greystoke lands back into the king’s hand due to the minority of Edmund de Mortimer. In November 1363 the escheator of Yorkshire and Cumberland was ordered to deliver parts of the Greystoke estate to the executors of Roger de Mortimer. As part of the transfer there was a messuage and five bovates of land at Hinderskelf held for life by William Cook, deceased.[15]  

In same month of November 1363 Joan, the widow of William, Baron of Greystoke, received knight’s fees and part of fees as part of her dower estate. At Hinderskelf she received the eight part of one fee held by Roger Brett (worth 34s), the twenty-sixth part of one fee held by Roger son of Nicholas (worth 14s), and the fifty second part of one fee held by John Jackson (worth 9s).[16]  
An inquisition into the Greystoke estate (taken in June 1376) at the coming of age of Ralph found that the family held a messuage and six bovates of land at Hinderskelf. This property was held from Greystoke by the heirs of Roger Brett by the service of a fourteenth part of a knight’s fee. Also at Hinderskelf the Greystokes had a messuage and one bovate of land held by John Jackson by the service of a fiftieth part of a knight’s fee.[17]

Roger of Hinderskelf
On 2nd June 1363 Roger son of Nicholas Hinderskelf died. Roger held land at Hinderskelf from William, Baron of Greystoke. Normally Baron Greystoke would collect the death dues and approve of the heir and we would never see the affairs of Roger. But at that time the Greystoke estate was in the hands of the King because William’s heir was a minor. At an inquisition at Malton on 14th March 1364 found that Roger held a messuage and two bovates of land. Roger was succeeded by his kinswoman, Christiana (aged about 40 years), daughter of Robert of Hinderskelf.[18]

Ralph de Greystoke

William de Greystoke was succeeded by his son, Ralph de Greystoke, by his second wife, Joan, daughter of Sir Henry Fitz Henry of Ravensworth. On 19th May 1374 Ralph de Greystoke took livery of his father’s lands. Ralph de Greystoke served in the army of Richard II and held numerous government appointments. In 1399 he agreed to the imprisonment of Richard II and died on 6th April 1418.[19] On 27th April 1418 it was found by inquisition post mortem that Ralph de Greystoke held the manor of Hinderskelf in Yorkshire of the king of the honour of Chester by the service of carrying a sword in the presence of the Earl of Chester. The manor was then valued at fifteen pounds.[20]

Sir John de Greystoke

Sir Ralph de Greystoke was succeeded by his son, Sir John de Greystoke, by his wife Katherine, daughter of Roger de Clifford by Maud, daughter of Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. Sir John de Greystoke, Lord Greystoke and Lord FitzWilliam, served four years as constable of Roxborough Castle and was on a commission to make a truce with Scotland. He married Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of Sir Robert de Ferrers by Joan de Beaufort, daughter of John, Duke of Lancaster. On 8th August 1436 John de Greystoke died leaving four sons and one daughter.[21] 

Hinderskelf in 1436

In the earlier records of Hinderskelf we don’t get a clear picture of the place and its landscape. The inquisition post mortem following the death of John de Greystoke gives us therefore a rare view into medieval Hinderskelf. In 1436 there was a hall with four chambers at Hinderskelf along with a cook house, four granges, a brew house and two stables which were worth nothing. It seems from this that the manor house was in ruins or in poor repair. The dovecot and orchard were worth 6s 8d each. The common oven was worth 3s 4d while the watermill for corn was worth 12s 4d. There was 12 messages worth 24s yearly, and 4 cottages worth 3s 8d. Around Hinderskelf there was 27 bovates of land (worth 66s 8d), a park of 60 acres and 40 acres of wood (worth 20s), with another wood of 80 acres (worth 33s 4d). The manor also had 2 acres of meadow at Fryton (worth 2s) along with a messuage and some bovates of land at Ampleforth (worth 5s).

Among the rents and services at Hinderskelf there was 5s service rent from John Wyuell for 2 messuages and 5 bovates of land at Slingsby and a fixed rosary from William Hollthorp for a messuage and lands in the same place. A person called Hastings, a knight, paid 14d service rent for a messuage and 2 bovates at Colton.[22] This could be a descendent of Sir Nicholas de Hastings who in the time of King Edward III received a grant of Thorp Bassett from Lord Greystoke of Hinderskelf.[23]

Sir Ralph de Greystoke

In November 1436 Sir Ralph de Greystoke succeeded to the Greystoke estate including Hinderskelf. He supported the Lancastrian cause in the War of the Roses but was sometimes suspect in his loyalties. Sir Ralph married firstly, be papal dispensation, Elizabeth or Isabel, daughter of William FitzHugh by Margery, daughter of Sir William de Willoughby. Shortly after 20th September 1483 Sir Ralph married secondly, in the chapel at Hinderskelf by the parish chapel, Beatrice, sister of Richard Hawclyf.

The marriage licence of the Archbishop of York described the chapel as within the manor house at Hinderskelf.[24] When Time Team did their excavations at Hinderskelf (Castle Howard) in 2003 they made strong efforts to locate the church at Hinderskelf. They examined a number of old maps which seemed to show the church as a separate building to the manor house. Possibly there could have been a private chapel within the manor house and a public church nearby – another possibly to add to the many possibilities and probabilities which Sir Tony Robinson listed in the programme for the location of Hinderskelf.[25]   

On 1st June 1487 Sir Ralph de Greystoke died and was buried at Kirkham priory,[26] Sir Ralph de Greystoke was predeceased by his son Sir Robert de Greystoke (died June 1483) and was thus succeeded at Hinderskelf by Elizabeth (born 1471). Elizabeth married Thomas Dacre, 2nd Baron Dacre of Gilsland. In August 1516 Elizabeth died when Hinderskelf and the Baronies of Greystoke and FitzWilliam devolved to her son William Dacre.[27]

Dacre family inheritance of Hinderskelf

William Dacre was the only son and heir. He held a number of government positions in the north until accused of treason in 1534 and spent sometime in the Tower until acquitted. In January 1539 William Dacre wrote to Thomas Cromwell enclosing the money his owed the King and that he was staying at Hinderskelf if needed.[28] While at Hinderskelf William Dacre may have rebuilt the castle as a square structure with four towers as described by the antiquarian John Leland.[29]

In 1544 William Dacre maintained one hundred men for the king’s army at Hinderskelf.[30] In time William Dacre was restored to standing and was one of the twelve mourners at the funeral of Henry VIII. William Dacre went on to serve under the three children of Henry VIII until his death in 1563.[31]
William Dacre was succeeded by his son Thomas Dacre who became Lord Dacre of Gilsland and Greystoke. Thomas Dacre married firstly Elizabeth, daughter of Ralph Neville, 4th Earl of Westmoreland, and secondly married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir James Leyburne and died in July 1566 leaving one son and three daughters.

George Dacre succeeded his father but only enjoyed his inheritance for three years as he died in May 1569 leaving his sisters as his heirs. Meanwhile in 1566 the second wife of Thomas Dacre married as his third wife Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk. In June 1569 Thomas Howard contracted the three sisters of George Dacre to his three sons which speed was good as the Duke was beheaded in 1572.[32]  

The eldest sister, Anne married in 1571 Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel, and brought the manor of Greystoke to her husband. The second sister, Mary, was contracted to Thomas Howard, later Earl of Suffolk, but died before the wedding. The youngest sister, Elizabeth married Lord William Howard and took the manors of Naworth and Hinderskelf to her husband.[33]

Castle Howard with medieval Hinderskelf to the right

The Howard inheritance of Hinderskelf

William Howard was youngest son of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, and was known as ‘Belted Will’. He became lord of Naworth castle in Cumberland and inherited the manor of Hinderskelf from his wife. William Howard was succeeded by his son Sir Philip Howard who was the father of Sir William Howard of Naworth. This Sir William Howard married Mary, daughter of William Evers, Baron Evers, and was the father of his second son, Charles Howard, who in 1661 was created Baron Dacre of Gillesland, Viscount Howard of Morpeth and 1st Earl of Carlisle. The 1st Earl died on 24th February 1685 at Hinderskelf, where the castle was recently rebuilt (1363) and was buried at York Minster. Like in previous generations Hinderskelf was assigned a dower land to Anne, Countess Dowager of Carlisle.[34] 

Within twenty years his grandson removed medieval Hinderskelf to make way for Castle Howard. Some writers say the ancient castle of Hinderskelf was burnt down by accident in 1693 or maybe it was arranged for it to be destroyed beyond repair. On 31st October 1698 the third Earl took a life lease on Hinderskelf from his grandmother.[35] The excavations by Time Team have showed that the destruction of the village, church and old castle of Hinderskelf was not immediate. Some villagers lived at Hinderskelf up to about 1720 although maybe not exactly on the site of the old village. There was about twenty small houses at Hinderskelf in its last days.[36]

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See the Time Team excavations at Castle Howard in 2003 in a search for Hinderskelf at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-P4PqTK5Ss

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End of post

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[1] George E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage (Alan Sutton, 1987), vol. III, p. 35
[2] Rev. W. Eastmead, Historia rievallensis: containing the history of Kirby Moorside (London, 1824), p. 365
[8] Paul Dryburgh & Beth Hartland (eds.), Calendar of the Fine Rolls of the reign of Henry III, Volume II, 9 to 18 Henry III, 1224-1234 (Boydell Press & National Archives, 2008), no. 18/353
[10] George E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, vol. V, p. 513, 515, 516
[11] George E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, vol. V, p. 517
[12] George E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, vol. VI, p. 190
[13] George E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, vol. VI, p. 192
[14] Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, 1345-1348, p. 499
[15] Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward III, 1360-1364, p. 505
[16] Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward III, 1360-1364, p. 500
[17] A.E. Stamp (ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Vol. XIV (Stationery Office, London, 1952), no. 32
[18] M.C.B. Dawes (ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Vol. XI (Stationery Office, London, 1935), no. 465
[19] George E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, vol. VI, pp. 195, 196
[20] J.L. Kirby & Janet H. Stevenson (eds.), Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Vol. XXI, 6 to 10 Henry V, 1418-1422 (Boydell Press & National Archives, 2002), no. 112
[21] George E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, vol. VI, pp. 196, 197
[22] M.L. Holford, S.A. Mileson, C.V. Noble & Kate Parkin (eds.), Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Vol. XXIV, 11 to 15 Henry VI, 1432-1437 (Boydell Press & National Archives, 2010), no. 499
[23] Rev. W. Eastmead, Historia rievallensis: containing the history of Kirby Moorside, p. 242
[24] George E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, vol. VI, pp. 197, 198
[26] George E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, vol. VI, p. 198
[27] George E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, vol. VI, pp. 199, 200
[31] George E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, vol. IV, pp. 21, 22
[32] George E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, vol. IV, pp. 23
[33] George E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, vol. IV, p. 24, note (e)
[34] George E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, vol. III, pp. 33, 34; http://www.gatehouse-gazetteer.info/English%20sites/2090.html accessed on 20 August 2016; Charles S. Smith, The Building of Castle Howard (Pimlico, London, 1997), p. 8
[35] Rev. W. Eastmead, Historia rievallensis: containing the history of Kirby Moorside, p. 366; http://www.gatehouse-gazetteer.info/English%20sites/2090.html accessed on 20 August 2016; Charles S. Smith, The Building of Castle Howard, p. 8
[36] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-P4PqTK5Ss accessed on 20 August 2016; Charles S. Smith, The Building of Castle Howard, p. 8
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Monday, March 21, 2016

St. Athelwin, Wessex and Athelney before Alfred’s Abbey

St. Athelwin, Wessex and Athelney before Alfred’s Abbey

Niall C.E.J. O’Brien

In the winter of 878 the Kingdom of Wessex, and Anglo-Saxon England, was reduced to a small island in the Somerset levels known as the Isle of Athelney. Here King Alfred of Wessex tried to work out the future as the Danes held most of the rest of England. On the seventh week after Easter 878 King Alfred went forth from Athelney and met the Danish army of King Guthrum at Ethandun and won a great victory. Thereafter England was divided in two between Danish north-east and Saxon south-west. Two centuries before Alfred’s time Athelney was famous as the home of St. Athelwin the hermit, otherwise known as St. Athelwin the Confessor.

The Isle of Athelney

The Isle of Athelney, according to the Abbey records, contained about ten acres of arable land and twenty acres of meadow along with part of moor situated on the south side.[1] The Isle is a low lying hill, in two parts, on the north side of the River Tone and is the only point of elevation on that side of the river of any consequence.[2] But that elevation, according to Professor Mike Aston, is only about thirty feet above the water level.[3] Before the drainage of the Somerset levels, the Isle was surrounded by lakes such as Horlake, Eastlake, Saltmoor and Southlake. Asser, the biographer of King Alfred, described Athelney in Alfred’s time as “a spot so surrounded in all directions by waters that save for one bridge there was no access to it except by boat”.[4]

Athelney in the Iron Age

The first documentary history of Athelney comes in the seventh century. Archaeology is the only opener on the pre-seventh century history of the island. The Time Team archaeology programme dug at Athelney and discovered an Iron Age fort on the east side of the Isle opposite the causeway from East Lyng. East Lyng is to the west of Athelney. The bank around this Iron Age fort was visible in the time of King Alfred and was reused by him. Iron Age pottery was also discovered on the Isle.[5]

Athelney around Alfred's time

 The Iron Age fort was gone out of use by the seventh century otherwise St. Athelwin who not have enjoyed a hermits life on Athelney with all those Iron Age people singing songs, baking cakes and making noise. 

The Kingdom of Dyvnaint

At the end of the Roman Empire in Britain the country broke up into a great number of different kingdoms. The area of modern Somerset formed part of the Kingdom of Dyvnaint and this included the Isle of Athelney.

The growth of the Kingdom of Wessex

After the Saxon invasion, or colonisation, in the fifth century the British were pushed westwards into Wales and the south-west of England. Much of modern-day England was divided into a number of Saxon kingdoms. Eventually three great kingdoms emerged; Northumbria in the north-east, Mercia in the Midlands and Wessex in the south.

Wessex, kingdom of the West Saxons, was originally centred on the counties of Berkshire and Hampshire but over time it expanded eastwards to Kent and westwards to Cornwall. In 568 the Kingdom of Wessex acquired Surrey after defeating King Aethelberht of Kent. In 571 King Cuthwulf crossed the River Thames and after defeated the British-Welsh army took the Vale of Aylesbury. In 574 the Kingdom of Wessex reached the River Severn on the eastern edge of modern Somerset.[6]

King Cyneglis (also spelt as Kynegilsus) of Wessex came to the throne about 611 and early in his reign extended the kingdom frontier by defeating the British at Beandun, said to be Bindon in east Devon. In 626 a failed assassination attempt by Cyneglis’s son Cwichelm on the Northumbrian king resulted in a vengeful attack on Wessex in which five royal princes were killed. Wessex expansion was curtailed further by attacks by Mercia. After the battle of Cirencester in 628 Wessex lost much of its territory gained in the lower Severn valley. In 635 King Cyneglis was converted to Christianity by St. Birinus “the Roman” on the recommendation of the powerful Northumberland King Oswald.[7]

St. Athelwin the Confessor

King Cyneglis had a number of children like Cwichelm mentioned above and another son, Kenwealth who succeeded his father as King of Wessex. St. Athelwin of Athelney was another son of King Cyneglis of Wessex.[8] The name of Athelwin translates as “noble friend”.

In the early days of Christianity, particularly in places like Ireland, you often get a son or daughter of a royal family becoming a Christian preacher, bishop, abbot or in the case of St. Athelwin, a hermit in an isolate place. It is not known when St. Athelwin took up the religious life but the succession of his brother to the Wessex throne may have been the impious for Athelwin to go into Somerset and Athelney.  

When his son, Kenwealth, also spelt as Coenwalch, succeeded to the throne of Wessex in 643 the kingdom reverted to the old religion from Christianity. For this, but more so because King Kenwealth repudiated his wife, who was the sister of the Mercian king, in 645 King Penda of Mercia drove Kenwealth from the throne.[9] It may be possible that about the same time that the king’s brother, Athelwin, left Wessex and settled on the Isle of Athelney as a hermit. If Wessex was Christian no more it would be no place for a Christian like Athelwin and thus King Alfred was not the first of the royal House of Wessex who sought refuge in the Isle of Athelney.

The Athelney which Athelwin saw was described by Roger of Wendover as “girded in with fen on every side, and not to be come at, save by boat. Thereon is all dense alder brake, full of stags and goats and such creatures, and in the midst one bit of open ground, scare two acres.[10] In this isolated place Athelwin found peace and had time for prayer. Over time the hermit became well respected among the people of the Somerset levels and became known as St. Athelwin the Confessor. The term confessor is usually means a saintly person with unworldly ambitions who didn’t suffer a martyr’s death. Dr. Sam Newton said that a confessor was a saintly priest or monk. King Edward the Confessor would be a more famous person to hold the title.

In the early centuries of Christianity many religious people went off to isolated places to be away from the world and closer to God. In the Middle East the hermits went out into the desert. Ireland and Britain had no desert but as two island nations surrounded by water there were plenty of off shore islands where hermits could go. Islands such as Iona, Lindisfarne, Skellig Michael come to mind as examples. Athelney was also an island, cut off from the world, and so place apart like the offshore islands.

Wessex become Christian again

Meanwhile King Kenwealth spent about three years in East Anglia before his restoration as an under king to Penda of Mercia. While in exile King Kenwealth re-embraced Christianity and in 646 was baptised. King Kenwealth became a zealous champion of the new religion and upon his restoration founded an abbey at Winchester and established a bishopric, the first in the kingdom.[11]

But it was war and the restoration of Wessex power and ambitions of expansion which truly governed the heart of King Kenwealth. Early in the 650s Wessex made war on the British kingdom of Dyvnaint and in 652 won an important victory at Bradford-on-Avon. This success pushed the boundary of the two kingdoms westward to the Mendip Hills.[12] By 658 King Kenwealth had pushed the boundaries of Wessex as far west as South Petherton on the River Parret in Somerset.[13] This followed the Wessex victory in the battle of Poenna. Athelney was still in British held Somerset – a foreign country – or was it Wessex that was the foreign country.

The fall and rise of Wessex expansion

But the expansion of Wessex was not left happen without the watchful eye of its northern neighbour. In 661 King Wulfhere of Mercia defeated Wessex in Shropshire and severely punished Wessex taking Surrey, Sussex and the Isle of Wight from the latter kingdom. After a rest the westward expansion of Wessex continued and by 670 King Kenwealth had brought the area around Glastonbury within Wessex.[14]

King Kenwealth died in 672 and was succeeded by his queen, Seaxburh. She held the throne for a year when Aescwine became king. He died in 676 after a poor reign which included another defeat by Mercia. Kentwine, brother of Kenwealth then became king and in 682 renewed the war against the British of Somerset. The latter were driven west “to the sea” and the Wessex kingdom took in the land around Watchet.[15]

For a time, it is said, King Kentwine advanced the Kingdom of Wessex as far as Taunton but he did not hold that place for long. Instead King Kenwealth held the west bank of the River Parret and the north side of the River Tone up to the Quantock Hills and west as far as West Monkton.[16] If this be true it was the first time that the Isle of Athelney came within the Kingdom of Wessex.

King Kenwealth was succeeded by King Ceodwalla in 686 who in his short reign recovered the Isle of Wight and twice ravaged Kent. It is said that Ceodwalla grew tired of wars and bloodshed and went on a pilgrimage to Rome. There he was baptised and died shortly after.[17] He was buried in St. Peter’s with a noble Latin epitaph.[18] In 689 he was succeeded by King Ine who continued to consolidate Wessex power south of the Thames. In 710 the war was resumed between Wessex and Dyvnaint. It seems that King Gerent of Dyvnaint was determined to recover the territory around Glastonbury and the great abbey of that place. King Ine had to procure levies from Sussex to hold back the Britons and with the larger force pushed the boundary of Wessex to Taunton where a fort was built. King Ine permitted the British living in Wessex controlled Somerset to enjoy the same laws as their Wessex neighbours. At this point the power of Dyvnaint was kept in check and open warfare between the two kingdoms did not resume until about 755.[19]

The Isle of Athelney was now most certainly within the Kingdom of Wessex and formed part of the vast royal domain of the Wessex kings in Somerset. In fact the only significant land not part of the royal domain was the property held by Glastonbury Abbey. If St. Athelwin had founded a religious community on the Isle it did not have any major impact beyond perhaps contributing to the name of Athelney. Robin Bush, of Time Team fame and former deputy county archivist for Somerset, said that Athelney was known in King Alfred’s day as Athelinsey or the Isle of the Athelings or Island of the Princes/Nobles.[20] May be St. Athelwin had gathered around him some princes of the royal House of Wessex.

An image of Athelney in Alfred's time

But the community didn’t survive for long. When King Alfred came to Athelney in 878 only a swine-herd or cow-herd, called Denewolf and his family appeared to be living there.[21] Yet the memory of St. Athelwin continued to form part of veneration by the local people. The lost Athelney cartulary said that King Alfred lodged in an old cottage that once belonged to St. Athelwin the hermit.[22] King Alfred stayed in Athelney in the winter of 877-8 and for seven weeks after Easter in 878 when he went forth and defeated the Danes and divided England between Wessex and the Danes. For more see http://thefreelancehistorywriter.com/2013/10/26/alfred-the-great-anglo-saxon-king-of-wessex/

Athelney Abbey

After King Alfred recovered Wessex, he sent Denewolf the cow-herd to the University and advanced him to become Bishop of Winchester.[23] In about 888 King Alfred founded a Benedictine abbey on the Isle of Athelney in thanks for his own deliverance and that of Wessex. A person called John the Old Saxon was appointed first abbot.[24] Another source says John of Aeldex was first abbot and that for want of religious people in Wessex, monks were hired in France to come to Athelney. These French monks didn’t enjoy their stay in Somerset and conspired to kill Abbot John before the church altar but their plan was discovered and the abbey continued to operate. For more see http://thefreelancehistorywriter.com/2013/02/06/memorial-to-athelney-island-home-of-alfred-the-great/

The first church was a square building with circular apes on each side and this was seen in 1125 by William of Malmesbury. In later times the abbey was rebuilt with a large church and a cloister on the south side. There was extensive rebuilding in the fourteenth century. After the dissolution of the monasteries the site of Athelney Abbey was left fall into ruin. In about 1674, workmen of John Hocker came and took down all the buildings and dug up the foundations.[25] Today nothing is to be seen of the abbey above ground and robber trenches mean little is left underground.

Monument on site of Athelney Abbey

Athelney Abbey dedication – St. Peter

It appears that for the first two hundred years of Athelney Abbey that the abbey was dedicated to St. Peter with no mention of the ancient local saint of the Island, St. Athelwin. A later charter of King Alfred described Athelney as “the church of St. Saviour of Athelney”.[26] In 937 King Athelstane granted the manor of Lenge (Lyng) to the church of S. Peter of Athelney. In this charter King Athelstane refers to the founding of the abbey by his grandfather, King Alfred.[27]

In 1007 King Athelred gave Athelney Abbey a small piece of ground in Hamme and described the Abbey dedication as “the monastery of the most holy and chief of the Apostles which is called Athelney”.[28] In about 1020-1025 King Cnut gave to Abbot Athelwin and Athelney the manor of Sevenhampton. In this charter Athelney was described as dedicated to God and to St. Peter, prince of the Apostles.[29]

Athelwin begins to appear

On some rare occasions between about 888 and the 1130s St. Athelwin appears as a patron saint of Athelney Abbey. In the reign of King Athelstane (about 937), Maenchi the count, son of Pretignor, gave the land of Lanlovern to St. Heldenus (Athelwin) forever. This charter was made in the land of the Saxons on the island of Adelne (Athelney) on the feast of All Saints before the altar of SS Peter and Paul in the presence of Seigna the abbot.[30] Sometime before 1242 a monk of Athelney produced a grant giving the abbey fuel rights in Stanmore in a court case. The document described Athelney as founded by King Alfred and dedicated to St. Saviour, the Apostles Peter and Paul and to the holy Athelwin the confessor.[31] 

Change of dedication

The twelfth century saw a change in the dedication of Athelney Abbey. When William of Malmesbury visited Athelney about 1125, he observed that the small, poor community of monks living there sang well the praises of their patron saint, St. Athelwin, who they said was a brother of King Coenwalch of Wessex.[32]

From about the 1130s St. Athelwin appears alongside St. Peter as the patron saints of the abbey. The charter of John de Erleigh, made between 1136 and 1165, in which he granted land at Cantock to the abbey, was made on the feast of St. Athelwin in the abbey church. The grant of the land was made in perpetuity to “God and St. Peter and the blessed Athelwin and to the monks of the church of Athelney”.[33]

The appearance of St. Athelwin among the patron saints of Athelney in the 1130s may have something to do with the civil war of that time. The Norman King Henry I left only a daughter called Matilda as his heir and swore the barons to accept her as their Queen. But shortly after the old king died, his nephew, Stephen of Blois seized the throne of England and became king. Civil War erupted between the two claimants which sent the country into a period of anarchy. As neither Stephen nor Matilda were English, the monks of Athelney Abbey may have wished to assert their English and Wessex heritage by including St. Athelwin the Confessor among their patrons. Between c.1135 and c.1159 a person called Simon was abbot of Athelney.

In charters from the 1140s onwards St. Athelwin appears more often than heretofore. A charter of Roger de Mandeville, made between 1147 and 1166, granted the island of Andresia to the church of St. Peter and St. Athelwin of Athelney.[34] In about 1186 Matilda de Chandos gave a man servant to the church of St. Athelwin of Athelney.[35] Towards the end of the twelfth century the full dedication of Athelney Abbey appears in the charters. In about 1174-1191 Alexander de Piroa gave to God and the monastery of St. Saviour, St. Peter and St. Athelwin of Athelney, his serf, Thomas de Bosco and some land.[36]

Athelwin remembered

As noted, Athelwin gained recognition over time as one of the patron saints of Athelney. He was noted in the abbey records and was remembered in the abbey prayers. Most churches and abbeys kept a record book, a calendar, in which they recorded the feast day throughout the year. The calendar of Athelney does not survive but that for the neighbouring abbey of Muchelney does survive. In it the feast of St. Athelwin of Athelney was remembered on 14th September. The main feast celebrated on that date was the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and the declining feast of the martyrs Cornelius and Cyprian. It seems that Athelney Abbey considered that its ancient patron saint was being overshadowed by the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and so more their feast day to 18th September. The Muchelney calendar later noted this change of date.[37]

Conclusion

William of Malmesbury said that St. Athelwin had a chronic disease but whether this was the cause of his death or made take up the hermit life is unclear.[38] It may be noted somewhere in what year Athelwin died but I have not found that source yet – a job for another day.

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End of post

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[1] Rev. E.H. Bates (ed.), Two cartularies of the Benedictine Abbeys of Muchelney and Athelney in the County of Somerset (Somerset Record Society, Vol. XIV, 1899), p. 191
[2] Albany Major, Early Wars of Wessex (Blandford Press, Pole, Dorset, 1978), p. 45
[4] Albany Major, Early Wars of Wessex, p. 47
[6] Albany Major, Early Wars of Wessex, p. 33
[7] Audrey MacDonald, ‘Cyneglis’, in John Cannon (ed.), The Oxford companion to British History (Oxford University Press, 1997), p. 271
[8] B. Schofield (ed.), Muchelney Memoranda (Somerset Record Society, Vol. XLII, 1927), p. 157
[9] Audrey MacDonald, ‘Cenwalh’, in John Cannon (ed.), The Oxford companion to British History, p. 183
[10] Albany Major, Early Wars of Wessex, p. 49
[11] Albany Major, Early Wars of Wessex, p. 36
[12] Albany Major, Early Wars of Wessex, p. 54
[13] B. Schofield (ed.), Muchelney Memoranda, p. 157
[14] Albany Major, Early Wars of Wessex, p. 58
[15] Albany Major, Early Wars of Wessex, p. 64
[16] Albany Major, Early Wars of Wessex, pp. 64, 70
[17] David Hume, History of England (London, 1871), p. 30
[18] James Campbell, ‘Caedwalla’, in John Cannon (ed.), The Oxford companion to British History, p. 151
[19] Albany Major, Early Wars of Wessex, pp. 77, 78
[20] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urtO2Jh1n5I&t=1547s accessed on 20 March 2016; Rev. E.H. Bates (ed.), The particular description of the County of Somerset by Thomas Gerard of Trent (Somerset Record Society, Vol. XV, 1900), p. 216
[21] Rev. E.H. Bates (ed.), The particular description of the County of Somerset by Thomas Gerard of Trent, p. 216
[22] B. Schofield (ed.), Muchelney Memoranda, p. 157
[23] Rev. E.H. Bates (ed.), The particular description of the County of Somerset by Thomas Gerard of Trent, p. 217
[24] Rev. E.H. Bates (ed.), Two cartularies of Muchelney and Athelney in the County of Somerset, pp. 115, 116
[26] Rev. E.H. Bates (ed.), Two cartularies of Muchelney and Athelney in the County of Somerset, pp. 126-8
[27] Rev. E.H. Bates (ed.), Two cartularies of Muchelney and Athelney in the County of Somerset, pp. 155, 156
[28] Rev. E.H. Bates (ed.), Two cartularies of Muchelney and Athelney in the County of Somerset, pp. 146, 147
[29] Rev. E.H. Bates (ed.), Two cartularies of Muchelney and Athelney in the County of Somerset, pp. 141, 142
[30] Rev. E.H. Bates (ed.), Two cartularies of Muchelney and Athelney in the County of Somerset, p. 156
[31] Rev. E.H. Bates (ed.), Two cartularies of Muchelney and Athelney in the County of Somerset, pp. 190, 191
[32] B. Schofield (ed.), Muchelney Memoranda, pp. 156, 157
[33] Rev. E.H. Bates (ed.), Two cartularies of Muchelney and Athelney in the County of Somerset, p. 172
[34] Rev. E.H. Bates (ed.), Two cartularies of Muchelney and Athelney in the County of Somerset, p. 166
[35] Rev. E.H. Bates (ed.), Two cartularies of Muchelney and Athelney in the County of Somerset, p. 150
[36] Rev. E.H. Bates (ed.), Two cartularies of Muchelney and Athelney in the County of Somerset, pp. 135, 136
[37] B. Schofield (ed.), Muchelney Memoranda, p. 156
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