Reproduced with permission of the publisher. Journal home page http://www.britarch.ac.uk/msrg/publications.ht

Christie, N

Creighton, O.H

Hamerow, H

O'Sullivan, D

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The Wallingford Burgh to Borough Research Projectby Oliver Creighton, Neil Christie, Deirdre O'Sullivan and Helena HamerowWallingford, t)xfordshireIn August 2002 the first full f ield season of a newarchaeological research project was underlaken in andaround the town of Wallingford, located alongside theThames in south Oxfordshire. Tit led The WallingfordBurh to Borough Research Project, the proposed five-year programme aims to bridge the traditional gapbetween the late Anglo-Saxon and Norman per iodsthrough detai led archaeological  study of  a highlysignificant historic townscape and its hinterland. Thetown is justly renowned for its surviving Saxon burhdefences and the complex and extensive earthworks of aNorman and later castle imposed into the north-eastquarter of  the urban space. I ts r iverside posi t ion,overseeing a ford across the Thames, gave Wallingford astrategic role at the Wessex-Mcrcia border; the river andlocal communications routes also allowed Wallingfordto prosper as a royal centre after the late eleventh century.Decline was only consequent to the growth of Readingabbey and town to the south and of Oxford to the northand due also to changes in the role and navigabil ity of theriver.The preservation of town rampart and castle earthworksin association with a substantially rnedieval street patternmakes Wallingford of central importance in examiningthe nature of late Saxon town planning and Norman urbancastle building, and yet there are minimal archaeologicaldataavatlable with which to investigate this. Excavationshave been undertaken previously in the 1960s on thetown's west gate ramparts, across the former north gate(later buried by extensions to the castle earthworks), andwithin the cast le inner bai ley.  These excavat ionsident i f ied excel lent  preservat ion of  archaeologicaldeposits, revealing tenth-century and later buildings anddeposits and cob-built structures. Unfortunately, of theseexcavat ions,  only those at  the west gate have beenpublished. Fufther, no detailed archaeological assessmentor mapping of the defences and castle site has previouslybeen conducted. To these previous excavations can beadded a series of watching briefs and other evaluationsthat provide tantal is ing gl impses of  the town'sdevelopment and material culture. However, no attempthas so far been made to synthesise and contextualise thiswork. Similarly, there are many questions relating toWallingford's origins and context yet to be clarified oreven examined: the presence of  ear ly Anglo-Saxoninhumation and cremation burials immediately outsidethe south-west defences of the town (discovered in the1940s) raises the question of site status prior to the burh;the nature of the scattered Roman finds in and around thetown remains to be addressed; and the environs ofWallingford before and after the burh foundation remainslargely obscure.Wallingford offers an unique opportunity to understandan evolving townscape and its rural setting in a crucialperiod of European historical transition. Late and post-medieval shrinkage of the urban area has resulted in theoutstanding preservation of the burh/borough defencesand castle earthworks; in addition, substantial areas ofopen intramural urban space (c. 0.8 sq.krn) survive(Bul lcrof t /Kinecrof t ) ,  including the area of  the lostNorman priory of Holy Trinity. These spaces particularlyoffer scope for tackling questions of later Saxon andear l ier  Norman town planning, whi lst  the cast leearthworks enable fresh questions to be raised concerningthe impact ofNorman castle-building on the urban space,economy and population. The unsurveyed town rampartsfurther offer a near unique opportunity to observe thefonnat, role and evolution of urban defence. Finally, thesurrounding landscape offers much potential for analysisthrough detailed field walking and geophysical surveycombined with air photo study and re-examination offindspots (notably Anglo-Saxon and Roman materials).The Wallingford Burh to Borough Research Project willcomprise an integrated research programme, cornbiningacademic and professional expertise with comrnunityarchaeology, and accessing a wide var iety ofarchaeological, topographical and documentary sources.The project has been designed in conjunction with severallocal partners. These include: The Wallingford Historicaland Archaeological Society and Wallingford Museum;The Northmoor Trust  ( the environmental  agencyresponsible for  the management of  the cast le s i te) ;Wallingford Town Council; South Oxfordshire DistrictCouncil; and the County Archaeology Service. Theproject management team is headed by academics fromthree universit ies with specialisms in early medievalurbanism (N. Chr ist ie,  Leicester) ;  Anglo-Saxonsett lements (H. Hamerow, Oxford);  cast les (O.Creighton, Exeter); and medieval material culture (D.O'Sul l ivan, Leicester) .  I t  is  a lso fu l ly  supported byprevious excavators at Wallingford, Prof. N. Brooks, R.Carr and T. Rowley, including access to their archives.Collation of archival data (NMR, SMR, watching briefdata, etc.) and liaison with local groups and preliminaryanalysis of the castle zone were undertaken in 2001 .A pilot f ield season of geophysical and topographicsurvey of the Anglo-Saxon burh fortif ications andNorman castle at Wallingford was undertaken in August2002. As noted, systematic study of these well-preservedand well-known monuments has hitherto been lacking.ln the public park known as the Bullcroft, which occupiesmost of the north-western sector of the Anglo-Saxonburh, resistivity and gradiometer suryey were carried outto locate primarily the 'lost' site of the Norman priory ofHoly Trinity - this significantly twinned with the castlein the northern half of Wallingford and these two unitssuggesting the relative availability of open or less built-up urban space there. Systematically demolished in 1522,no above-ground features exist of the priory, andtwentieth-century recreational landscaping has furthermodified the zone. Nonetheless, resistivity coverage has43Figttre l7: Wallingford Costle Meadows area, showingthe l{orman and later castle superimposed into the north-eastquarter of the Saxor' burh.44E l i i  i== ^\ ' r  \  l  ,  \ .U l  = i  _ - - - . - - -  \ . \ \ l l , \-r :' ,i i= >\\tJ t /t)= l l  * i i *  , \ll :i i--)- : S i ^ .-, ri,i,ifss-S.*u113/d:l jf ss-s- litfz@ 2 +!:l i\sssj su$,s.r\\\,,,.'if'^s),SS   S "t'i,,r r',i,,,.^-\t -S S S S Ss syH$sJss !ZZIS=SJS*,..,g HQrr,,'!(!: S S.= : -Si'-,: B' r / /h rr \,,,,'F= ] N,as"#r z= '+z'i'.,.t')^- - - - - < = 7 / i ' : . . , ' , . / ^ ? . F-----. 2, "l -/ i":'{  /  ' 2 ,  /  l ' >  ' J '= ?1, , ''1r( l"l -''"-- . . . - . ,  ' , / / / r , , r / /  I I \ la >l l l l lFigure IB" Preliminary topographical survey of part of the Ca,stle Meadows area, showing tlte trortl bailel,cle1bnc'sand assoc iated landscaping.45produced valuable indications of the l ikely priory site,suggesting a putative building complex re-using theformer burh as part of an associated precinct. Intensivesurvey will be required in 2003 to determine both formand extent more precisely. Interestingly, topographicsurvey also suggested residual traces of ridge and furrowacross part of thc Bullcroft zone, suggesting agriculturalexploitation in association with, or more l ikely post-dating the monastic site.The open area of  the Bul lcrof t  extends ful ly to theramparts of the burh and rnedieval town (these in partterraced and rnodified internally and on the summit, butwi th di tch and bank except ional ly wel l  preservedotherwisc,  part icular ly on the town's north f lank),sect ions were surveyed using a Total  Stat iondemonstrating a maximum extant depth of 7m from banktop  to  v is ib le  d i tch  bo t tom.  Res is t i v i t y  survey  wasdirected also at seeking traces of possible later Saxontown planning previous to the imposition of the priory.Here too valuable results were achieved, with potentialtraces of N-S and W-E lanes and possible intramuraltracks; house plots can also be suggested, although thesezones likewise require more detailed scrutiny in 2003.Interpretations are of course tentative, since the extentand nature of works and buildings associated with thepriory are unknown. Most importantly, however, thesurveys indicate the Bullcroft to be a zone of muchfruitful archaeological potential.The second principal area of study in2002 comprised theCastle Meadows - the complex and extensive earthworkspreserved north of the damaged and truncated motte (theareas south-west are heavi ly damaged throughlandscaping and to the south-east by the intrusion ofbuildings). Detailed Total Station topographic survey ofthe earthworks in Castle Meadows was designed toclarify the structure and configuration of the Nomran andlater castle, and to re-assess the traditional view of a triplerampart/wall defensive organisation with Civil Warreinforcement. In brief, the cornplexity of landscapingcan be seen to reflect an extended history of site usageextending from late Saxon (burh rampart) to castleimposition and castle growth to Victorian ornamentallandscaping. Reuse, rnanipulation and redcsigning havein places confused the rnedieval earthworks, although amajor f inding was the ident i f icat ion of  earthworkev idence fo r  med ieva l  landscap ing  inc lud ing  theextensive use of water features and managed access l ines.The topographical  analysis was complemented byresistivity and magnetotnetry survey of a 200 x 20m N-Soriented transect through the inner bailey and castledefences, to test the visibil i ty and ciarity of sub-surfacefeatures and to check on the disposition of the possibletriple defensive works.Work planned for the 2003 season wil l includc furthergeophysical  and topographical  survey of  the cast lecomplex within its urban setting, the open space andditch-and-rampart defences of the Kinecroft in the town'ssouth-west zone, and the site of a suggested Anarchy-period siege-work on the east bank of the Thames. Morcdetailed geophysical investigation wil l be made of keyzones of the Bullcroft to clarify the presumed priory zoneand Saxon units. In addition, a first phase of landscapestudy wil l commence, l inked to the re-analysis of Anglo-Saxon findspots (e.g. cemeteries at Long Wittcnham andAbingdon).46

The Wallingford Burh to Borough Research Project

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