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Excavations at Lincoln. Third Interim Report: Sites outside the Walled City 1972–1977

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2011

M. J. Jones ,
Margaret J. Darling ,
Brian Gilmour ,
R. H. Jones  and
K. F. Wood
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Summary

Excavations outside the walled area (of the ancient city) have added much to our knowledge of Lincoln's historical development and have demonstrated the potential of the suburbs for further problem-orientated investigations. Evidence was recovered in 1972 for a late Iron Age settlement on the east bank of the Brayford to the south of the later Roman city. The Ermine Street frontage here was heavily built up from the mid-second century for a distance of at least 400 m. from the south gate of the extended colonia. Only slight traces of Roman occupation, however, have been recovered outside the east and west walls of the lower town. Investigation of the medieval suburb of Butwerk revealed a sequence of domestic structures from its origin c. A.D. 1000 through to the post-medieval period, while the development of the ecclesiastical site of St. Mark's church in Wigford reflected to a large extent the changing fortunes of this important southern suburb. Limited work on the north and east banks of Brayford Pool exposed remains of early medieval waterfronts, but the exploitation of the city's waterside is as yet little understood. Further progress has been made in understanding the structures connected with the water supply to the Roman city, and an interesting Roman tile kiln 10 km. south-east of the city is also described.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 61 , Issue 1 , March 1981 , pp. 83 - 114
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1981

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References

NOTES

1 For previous reports, see Antiq. J. lv (1975), 227–66Google Scholar; lix (1979), 50–91; final reports are being published in the series The Archaeology of Lincoln, issued initially as fascicules.

2 See in particular Keene, D. J., ‘Suburban growth’, in Barley, M. W. (ed.), The Plans and Topography of Medieval Towns in England and Wales, (C.B.A. Res. Rept. 14, 1976), pp. 71–82.Google Scholar For Roman suburbs, see Cleary, S. Esmonde, The Extra-Mural Areas of Romano-British Towns (B.A.R., forthcoming).Google Scholar I am grateful to Dr. Cleary for letting me see the draft of his section on Lincoln in advance of publication.

3 Archaeol. J. ciii (1946), 43–4Google Scholar; J. Rom. Stud. xlvi (1956), 32–6Google Scholar.

4 See S. Esmonde Cleary, forthcoming (note 2); SirHill, Francis, Medieval Lincoln (1948), pp. 35–6, 157–70, 329–30.Google Scholar Roman and medieval structures were also uncovered on Newport, c. 700 m. to the north of the city (Lincs. Hist. and Arch, xi (1976), 59Google Scholar; xii (1977), 75) and on Orchard Street west of the lower city (Lincoln Arch. Trust 8th Ann. Report 1979–80, 15).

5 Lincoln County Borough Council (until April 1974); from April 1974, Lincoln City Council and Lincolnshire County Council.

6 Hill, , Medieval Lincoln, pp. 147, 161–2.Google Scholar

7 Ibid., pp. 35–6.

8 For ‘-wic’ sites, see Biddle, M., ‘Towns’, in Wilson, D. M. (ed.), The Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England (1976), pp. 114–5Google Scholar; Reynolds, Susan, An Introduction to the History of English Medieval Towns (1977), pp. 24–7Google Scholar.

9 For the church, see Hill, , Medieval Lincoln, pp. 134–9Google Scholar; Taylor, H. M. and Taylor, J., Anglo-Saxon Architecture, I (1965), pp. 391–4Google Scholar.

10 A quitclaim of 1452 refers to a property extending to ‘the water called the Brayford on the west’: White Book, (L/1/3/1) f. 18, Lincs. Archives Office. For other similar properties of earlier date, see Registrum Antiquissimum of the Cathedral Church of Lincoln, IX (ed. Major, Kathleen, 1968), nos. 2458–9, 2466, 2469.Google Scholar See also eighteenth-century maps of the city, some used as illustrations by Sir Hill, Francis, Georgian Lincoln (1966), pls. 12, 13Google Scholar.

11 May, Jeffrey, Prehistoric Lincolnshire (1976), pp. 173–94.Google Scholar See also Pryor, F. M. M., in Northants. Arch. xiii (1978), 16–22Google Scholar, for a discussion of the interpretation of such gullies.

12 e.g. that from Dragonby: Antiq. J. l (1970), 235–42, figs. 7–9Google Scholar.

13 The object was similar to a number found at Maiden Castle: Wheeler, R. E. M., Maiden Castle, Dorset (1943), p. 281, nos. 3–13, with fig. 93.Google Scholar There is as yet no proof that this type was used with artillery (information from Dr. D. Baatz). The attitude of the Coritani to the Romans has recently been discussed by Todd, M., The Coritani (1973), pp. 20–21Google Scholar, and by May, , op. cit., pp. 202–7Google Scholar.

14 See discussion by Williams, J. H. in Northants. Arch. xi (1976), 112–14Google Scholar.

15 Antiq. J. lv (1975), 241 ff.Google Scholar

16 For the interpretation of similar deposits at the Flaxengate site, see Perring, Dom, Early Medieval Occupation at Flaxengate, The Archaeology of Lincoln, IX/1, forthcoming (1981)Google Scholar.

17 For skates, see McGregor, A., Arch. J. cxxxiii (1976), 57–74Google Scholar.

18 Similar shelving waterfronts are known at this period at other sites: see discussion by Helen Clarke in McGrail, S. (ed.), Medieval Ships and Harbours in Northern Europe (B.A.R. S 66, 1979), p. 158Google Scholar.

19 This may be contemporary with the reclamation on the north side of Brayford Pool associated with the creation of the suburb of Newland in the mid-twelfth century and the subsequent extension of the defensive circuit. See Antiq. J. lv (1975), 265.Google Scholar The Fossdyke had been cleared of obstruction in 1121, thereby allowing the resumption of river communication with the Trent: Durham, Symeon of, Historia Regum, II, 260Google Scholar, noted by Hill, , Medieval Lincoln, p. 308Google Scholar.

20 We are grateful to Mr. P. R. V. Marsden for his preliminary comments on the boat fragment, some of which are incorporated here. See also Greenhill, Basil, Archaeology of the Boat (1976), pp. 250 ffGoogle Scholar.

21 Hill, , Medieval Lincoln, p. 157.Google Scholar

22 Antiq. J. lv (1975), 259–66.Google Scholar

23 See Hill, , Medieval Lincoln, pp. 144–5.Google Scholar The gravestones and architectural fragments are now in the City and County Museum, Lincoln. Thanks are due to the Rev. J. Hammersley for his helpful survey of the documentary evidence.

24 For traders' houses and their arrangements see Wacher, J. S., The Towns of Roman Britain (1974), pp. 63–5, 286Google Scholar.

25 HAR 1961, 2010–2; giving dates of ad 1080 ± 70, 910 ± 60, 970 ± 70, and 840 ± 70, respectively.

26 A document (Registrum Antiquissimum, I, no. 45) records a writ (dated 1100–1107) of Henry I in which he granted to God and the Church of St. Mary of Lincoln and Bishop Robert all the churches which their priests held of the king. The same document is now dated to 1107, ?June (Regesta Regum Anglo-Norman-norum, II, 1100–1135, no. 821 (ed. C. Johnson and H. A. Cronne, 1956)). St. Mark's Church is first mentioned by name in 1147 as one of the churches granted by Henry I to the Bishop but which had not yet been assigned to a particular prebend (Reg. Ant. I, no. 302).

27 For the inscription, see Britannia, viii (1977), 428Google Scholar with pl. xxviia (site incorrectly referred to as ‘St. Martin's’).

28 MSS, Ross, Annales Lincolnienses, vol. III, p. 91Google Scholar , Lincoln Central Library.

29 Bodleian Library: Gough Lincoln MSS, 15 (20/6/1724), no. 38.

30 John Speed's map of Lincoln (from the map of Lincolnshire), Lincoln Central Library.

31 Reports and Papers of the Associated Architectural and Archaeological Societies, xix (1888), 333.Google Scholar

32 British Museum Library, Kaye, P. R., Lincolnshire, vol. 15, 541, no. 147.Google Scholar

33 Faculty granted by 1786 to rebuild church; L.A.O.Fac. 4/18.

34 Antiq. J. lv (1975), 227 ff.Google Scholar

35 Published in Stukeley, W., Itinerarium Curiosum (2nd ed.) (1776)Google Scholar, and reproduced in Hill, , Georgian Lincoln, pl. 12Google Scholar.

36 For Butwerk, see Hill, , Medieval Lincoln, pp. 35 f., 160 f., 360Google Scholar.

37 The western face of the east wall was located at Silver Street in 1973: Antiq. J. lix (1979), 81–3Google Scholar.

88 Arch. J. ciii (1946), 29 f.Google Scholar; Antiq. J. lv (1975). 235Google Scholar.

39 We are grateful to Mr. Clive Partridge for his comments on this structure. Cf. the example at Braughing found by Mr. Partridge in 1973: Rodwell, W. and Rowley, T. (eds.), The Small Towns of Roman Britain (B.A.R. 15, 1975), pp. 148 fGoogle Scholar.

40 Some of these had stamps at one time believed to be of Legio V, but now generally accepted as being the marks of civilian workshops: Britannia, viii (1977), 275 ffGoogle Scholar.

41 For the type of furnace, see Cleere, H. in Antiq. J. lii (1972), 11–15Google Scholar.

42 Registrum Antiquissimum of the Cathedral Church of Lincoln, X (ed. Major, Kathleen, 1973), nos. 2899–2909Google Scholar; cf. Dean and Chapter MS 169, no. 606 (A.D. 1349), a will referring to the extensive property of an important citizen, Geoffrey de Welton. We are indebted to Dr. Kathleen Major for this reference.

43 To the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln Cathedral and to various monasteries including Bardney and Bullington, for which cartularies survive.

44 An account of the collectors of a subsidy in 1428 gives an accurate picture of the depopulation of the city: Feudal Aids, iii, p. 339; Hill, , Medieval Lincoln, p. 287Google Scholar.

45 Jones, R. H., Medieval Stone Houses at Flaxengate, The Archaeology of Lincoln, XI/1 (1980).Google Scholar

46 The earliest pottery consists mainly of shelly wares and sandy wares; v. Adams, Lauren, Medieval Pottery from Broadgate East, Lincoln, 1973, The Archaeology of Lincoln, XVII/1 (1977), 6 ffGoogle Scholar.

47 See note 16.

48 Kindly reported by Mr. Tom Fanning. The example from Broadgate is of the type termed ‘plain ringed, sub-type polyhedral-headed’. See North Munster Antiq. J. xii (1969), 6 ff. with fig. 1, no. 5Google Scholar.

49 Whitwell, J. B., Roman Lincolnshire (1970), p. 33Google Scholar; fuller report to appear elsewhere; investigation of the castellum by the Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology is still in progress; short notes in Lincs. Hist. and Arch.

50 This problem was examined by Thompson, F. H., Arch. J. cxi (1954), 106–28Google Scholar, and has been recently discussed in Wacher, J. S., The Towns of Roman Britain (1974), pp. 131 ffGoogle Scholar.

51 The excavators are grateful to the farmer, Mr. Percy Wilkinson, for permission to excavate on his land. Grateful thanks are also due to Mr. Robert Wilkinson for his assistance in backfilling the excavation.

52 Grimes, W. F., ‘Holt, Denbighshire: the works-depot of the Twentieth Legion at Castle Lyons’, Y Cymmrodor, xli (1930), 59 and fig. 32, Type III.Google Scholar

53 Rawlins, B. F., ‘A Roman tile kiln at Park Street near St. Albans’, Hertfordshire Arch. ii (1970), 62–5.Google Scholar

54 The field is locally known as ‘Clay Hill’.

55 Air photographs taken and kindly supplied by Mr. Paul Everson who flew over the site with Mr. Tom Hayes.

56 For an interim report on the St. Paul-in-the-Bail site, see the article by Jones, M. J. and Gilmour, B. in Britannia, xi (1980), 61–72CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

57 Published in Antiq. J. lvii (1977), 315, fig. 2 (finial) and 336, fig. 6 (mould)Google Scholar.

58 Air photographs taken and kindly supplied by Professor J. K. St. Joseph, Cambridge University Committee for Aerial Photography.

59 Finds include a Roman inscription from Branston, , Lincolnshire Architectural and Archaeological Soc. Reports and Papers, x (1963), pt. 1, 8, pl. VIIIGoogle Scholar; J. Roman Stud. lv (1965), 221Google Scholar, no. 4; also the fine bronze candlestick found in 1974: Lincs. Hist. and Arch. x (1975), 59Google Scholar; Britannia, vi (1975), 210, pl. xivGoogle Scholar.

60 Coles, J. M. et al., ‘Washingborough Fen’, Lines. Hist, and Arch, xiv (1979), 1 ff.Google Scholar

61 Simmons, B. B., ‘The Lincolnshire Car-Dyke: navigation or drainage?’, Britannia, x (1979), 183–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar We are grateful to Mr. Simmons for discussion on this aspect.