One of the conclusions which can be drawn from the detailed analysis of the historical evidence for the conversion of East Anglia is the important role played by the bishops and missionaries in the establishment and maintenance of the region's episcopal structure, a pattern repeated in the conversions of other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Building on the framework presented by the historical evidence, this chapter examines the archaeological evidence from a series of East Anglian sites, all of which can be demonstrated to have been instrumental in the conversion effort.

Any analysis of the Middle Saxon ecclesiastical landscape is inevitably dominated by discussion of minster churches. The term ‘minster’ is derived from the Old English translation of the Latin monasterium and appears to have been used by the Anglo-Saxons to describe a wide range of early ecclesiastical foundations ranging from a small isolated community, perhaps with a timber church, to a large enclosed establishment focused around a stone church. Following their Anglo- Saxon subjects, modern scholars use minster in a similarly broad sense and it is the generally preferred term because it carries none of the later medieval connotations of the Anglicised ‘monastery’.

The development of the ecclesiastical system throughout the Anglo-Saxon period and the eventual emergence of the parochial system have frequently been the subject of often quite heated debate. Differences of interpretation aside, one thing on which all parties agree is that the first religious sites to be founded during the conversion period were different from those founded later and by definition must have housed ecclesiastics who combined a traditional life of monastic devotion with proactive missionary and pastoral work within the local lay community. John Blair goes so far as to specifically, but subtly, separate his discussion of those minsters which were founded as a part of the conversion effort from that of those which were founded later, as the newly established Church was consolidated. This book is concerned only with the former class of sites, but the traditional usage of minster is felt to be too general to be helpfully employed here, so, following the example of Stuart Rigold, the term ‘missionary station’ is instead used to describe those ecclesiastical sites which were founded during the initial wave of the conversion.