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A Probable Mercian Royal Mausoleum at Winchcombe, Gloucestershire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2011

Extract

Winchcombe, a leading Mercian centre, was a royal burial-place and, later, the cult-centre of the alleged royal child-martyr Cynhelm. The antiquary Leland refers to an ancient chapel of St Pancras at Winchcombe lying between its two major medieval churches, both of which are arguably of Anglo-Saxon origin. The chapel is very probably one described in 1320 as having a cellarium, which may have been a crypt. The paper suggests that this chapel was, until the late tenth or early eleventh century, the free-standing mausoleum of Cynhelm and perhaps also of his father, King Coenwulf of Mercia, and discusses its precise whereabouts.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1985

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References

NOTES

1 Bassett, S. R., ‘The origins and early history of Winchcombe and its district’ (in preparation)Google Scholar.

2 Birch, W. de G., Cartularium Saxonicum, 3 vols. (London, 18851893), 1, no. 364Google Scholar; Finberg, H. P. R., The Early Charters of the West Midlands (Leicester, 1961), 98, no. 235Google Scholar; Sawyer, P. H., Anglo-Saxon Charters: an Annotated List and Bibliography (London, 1968), no. 1861. The endorsement reads: carta regis cenuulf f[a]c[t]a wlfled; de aldantune (Google ScholarBruckner, A., Marichal, R. (eds.), Cartae Latinae Antiquiores. Facsimile-Edition of the Latin Charters prior to the Ninth Century, III (Olten, 1963), 58–9, no. 196)Google Scholar.

3 Finberg, H. P. R., The Early Charters of Wessex (Leicester, 1964), 250Google Scholar, suggests that this is Alderton (Glos.) near Winchcombe, rather than Aldington (Worcs.), with which it has usually been identified.

4]quae sita est aet Wincel cumbe IIII boves vel vaccas digna aetate seu IIII vasa plena de melle ex hac t[…: Bruckner, and Marichal, , op. cit. (note 2), III, 58Google Scholar.

5ab omnibus saeculariarum rerum servitiis exceptis his arcis et pontis constructione atque expeditione … (ibid.).

6 e.g. Birch, , op. cit. (note 2), 1, 503Google Scholar; Bruckner, and Marichal, , op. cit. (note 2), III, 58Google Scholar; Levison, W., ‘Winchcombe Abbey and its earliest charters’, appendix iv in his England and the the Continent in the Eighth Century (Oxford, 1946), 249 n. 1Google Scholar.

7 Bull of Pope Alexander III confirming Winchcombe Abbey in its possessions, printed i n Royce, D. (ed.), Landboc sive Registrum Monasterii de Winchelcumba, 2 vols. (Exeter, 18921903), 1, 25–9Google Scholar.

8 As demonstrated in Bassett, , op. cit. (note 1)Google Scholar

9 Birch, , op. at. (note 2), 1, no. 338Google Scholar; Sawyer, , op. cit. (note 2), no. 167Google Scholar; Levison, , op. cit. (note 6), 253–9Google Scholar.

10 Formula 93 the so-called Liber Diurnus, on which see ibid., 25, 29–31. The privilegium no longer contains the name of the monasteries, all dedicated to St Peter, with which it is concerned.

11 Annales de Winchcumba (B.M. Cotton MS Vitellius C.viii), referred to by Levison, ibid., 31, 249 n. 1, and 257–8. A.D. 787 rex Merciorum Offa in Glaornensi pago, in loco qui Winchelcumbe dicitur, monasterium construxit in quo sanctimoniales constituit: Liebermann, F., Ungedruckte Anglo-Normannische Geschichtsquellen (Strasbourg, 1879), 19Google Scholar.

12 Bassett, , op. cit. (note 1)Google Scholar. What follows is a condensed version of the arguments set out there.

13 This argument, that the rulers of the Hwicce were not imported by the Mercian kings, runs contrary to Stenton, F. M., Anglo-Saxon England, 3rd edn. (Oxford, 1971), 45 n. 1Google Scholar, and to Finberg, , ‘The princes of the Hwicce’, op. cit. (note 2), 167–80Google Scholar. The best general account of the Hwicce is Smith, A. H., ‘The Hwicce’ in Bessinger, J. B., Creed, R. P. (eds.), Frankiplegius: Medieval and Linguistic Studies, in Honour of Francis Peabody Magoun, fn. (London, 1965), 5565Google Scholar. Also see Stenton, F. M., ‘The supremacy of the Mercian kings’ in Engl. Hist. Review, xxxiii (1918), 433–52CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and Wilson, M., ‘The Hwicce’ inGoogle ScholarBarker, P. A. (ed.), ‘The Origins of Worcester’, Trans. Worcs. Arch. Soc, 3rd ser., ii (19681969), 20–5Google Scholar.

14 A stipulation of Coenwulf, cited in the settlement of a dispute concerning Upton in Blockley (Glos.), to the effect that his heirs must not grant leases of his hereditary land belonging to Winchcombe for more than one life-time (quod nullus heres post eum licentiam haberet hereditatem Cenuulfi quae pertinet ad Wincelcumbe alicui hominum longius donandam vel conscribendam quam dies unius hominis): Birch, , op. cit. (note 2), 11, no. 575Google Scholar ; Sawyer, , op. cit. (note 2), no. 1442Google Scholar. Finberg, who alone has commented on this, accepts it as an authentic eleventh-century copy (op. cit. (note 2), 51, no. 86; for the identification of Uptune, see ibid., 45, no. 63). The authenticity of Coenwulf's stipulation (which we know from this source alone) need not be in serious doubt. In the settlement it is recorded that in 897 Ealdorman Æthelwulf had found it among privileges recorded in the hereditarios libros of Coenwulf; these were very probably the ancient privileges stored at Winchcombe which are referred to in the settlement of a dispute in 825, an authentic original charter printed in Birch, , op. cit. (note 2), 1Google Scholar, no. 384: antiquis privilegiis quae sunt aet Wincel cumbe. See also Levison, , op. cit. (note 6), 252 and n. 2Google Scholar.

15 On which see especially Finberg, H. P. R., ‘The ancient shire of Winchcombe’, op. cit. (note 2), 228–35Google Scholar.

16 For this, see Bassett, , op. cit. (note 1)Google Scholar. In brief, a study of all Mercian charters up to c. 821 shows that, within the area of the future shire of Winchcombe, no Mercian king is recorded making a grant of land until the late 720s, whereas they made many of them thereafter. Elsewhere in the provincia Mercian kings granted land from the time of the earliest surviving charters. In the meanwhile, the rulers of the Hwicce were making grants of land i n all parts of it until the late eighth century.

17 See Stenton 1971 (see note 13), 293–301.

18 Stenton 1918 (see note 13), esp. 439; 1971 (note 13), 45–6; Bassett, , op. cit. (note 1)Google Scholar.

19 See below.

20 For which Levison argues from a privilegium of Pope Paschalis I (printed in Birch, , op. cit. (note 2), 1, no. 363): op. cit. (note 6), 251–2, 257Google Scholar.

21 Birch, , op. cit. (note 2), 11Google Scholar, no. 575 (Sawyer, , op. citGoogle Scholar. (note 2), no. 1442) records that she had granted out land (at Upton in Blockley: see note 14) which was part of Coenwulf's hereditas.

22 Bath: Birch, , op cit. (note 2), 1, no. 43Google Scholar; Sawyer, , op. cit. (note 2), no. 51Google Scholar; Gloucester: Birch, i, no. 60; Sawyer, no. 70. For the case that these two charters have authentic bases, see (for Bath) Finberg, , op. cit. (note 13), 172–4Google Scholar, and (for Gloucester), most recently, Finberg, , ‘The early history of Gloucester Abbey’, op. cit. (note 2), 153–66Google Scholar.

23 The charter is lost, but the foundation of this church by Oshere (cf. Birch, , op. cit. (note 2), 1, no. 217Google Scholar; Sawyer, , op. cit. (note 2), no. 1255)Google Scholar during the reign of Æthelred of Mercia is reported in a synodal decree of 736–7 concerning the place: Birch, 1, no. 156; Sawyer, no. 1429.

24 Birch, , op. cit. (note 2), 1, no. 163Google Scholar; Sawyer, , op. cit. (note 2), no. 101Google Scholar; Birch, 1, no. 139, Sawyer, no. 84 (where dated 718 for 1727).

25 Birch, , op. cit. (note 2), 1, no. 246Google Scholar; Sawyer, , op cit. (note 2), no. 141Google Scholar.

26 Birch, , op. cit. (note 2), 1, no. 309Google Scholar; Sawyer, , op. cit. (note 2), no. 1431Google Scholar.

27 1971 (see note 13), 161.

28 Refs. in note 20.

29 Refs. in note 9.

30 Printed in Liebermann, F., Die Heiligen Englands (Hannover, 1899), 919Google Scholar.

31 Rollason, D. W., ‘Lists of saints’ resting-places in Anglo-Saxon England, Anglo-Saxon England, vii (1978), 61–8, esp. 68Google Scholar. The first half of the list may be a ninth-century compilation.

32 On which now see Rollason, D. W., ‘The cults of murdered royal saints in Anglo-Saxon England’, Anglo-Saxon England, xi (1983), 122, esp. 9–10, 12Google Scholar.

33 Birch, , op. cit. (note 2), 1, nos. 308, 313, 316, 321, 322, 328, 335 and 339 (Google ScholarSawyer, , op. cit. (note 2), nos. 1260, 1187, 159, 161, 40, 164, 168 and 165 respectively)Google Scholar. He also attested as Cenelm filii regis in a spurious charter (Birch, 1, no. 296; Sawyer, no. 156), on which see Levison, , op. cit. (note 6), 249 n. 3Google Scholar. He is mentioned, as Coenwulf's son, in the Mercian royal genealogy which prefaces Florence of Worcester's Chronicon ex Chronicis (printed in Stephenson, J. (ed.), The Church Historians of England, 11, pt. 1 (London, 1853), 387Google Scholar), but does not appear in Mercian regnal lists: Dumville, D., ‘The Anglian collection of royal genealogies and regnal lists’, Anglo-Saxon England, v (1976), 2350Google Scholar . The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, moreover, explicitly states that Ceolwulf was Coenwulf's immediate successor in 821: Whitelock, D.et al. (eds.), The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a Revised Translation (London, 1961), 40Google Scholar.

34 Wormald, F., English Kalendars before A.D. 1100, 1 (1934) (Henry Bradshaw Society Publications, vol. 72 for 1933), 22, 36, 64, and passimGoogle Scholar.

35 Oxford, Bodleian Library, Douce MS 368, fos. 80–3. This thirteenth-century manuscript has been transcribed and edited, together with seven other, less full, versions, in Rurik von Antropoff, ‘Die Entwicklung der Kenelm-Legende’, unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Bonn, 1965. (I am grateful to Dr P. Sims-Williams for access to his own transcript of the Douce MS 368 text and for discussions with him in 1976 on the date of composition of the passio; and to Dr D. W. Rollason for drawing my attention to the existence of von Antropoff's thesis.) In a preface (Douce MS 368, fo. 80) the author of the passio lists Edith, second wife of Edward the Confessor, who died in 1075, and Wlfwinus, a monk of Worcester described as a disciple of archbishop Oswald (who died in 992), among his informants. On the date of Cynhelm's death, see Levison, , op. cit. (note 6), 249–51Google Scholar; and for hagiographical details, Hartland, E. S., ‘The legend of St Kenelm’, Trans. Bristol & Glos. Arch. Soc. xxxix (1916), 1365Google Scholar, and now Rollason, , op. cit. (note 32), 910Google Scholar.

36 In this section, which begins at 8211,line 38, reference is made to two of Winchcombe's abbots, Godwine (died 1053) and his eventual successor Godric (deposed in 1066). In 8311, line 45, the latter is abbate proximo godrico; a few lines later, at 8312, lines 5–7, the next sentence begins Anno autem preterito complacuit presenti patri monasterii et fratribus … This could indicate Godric's successor Galandus (1066–75). Following the epilogue, there is a short postscript (83V1, line 31 to 83V2, line 45), of which the majority concerns the destruction of Winchcombe monastery by fire in 1149. (Abbatial dates are taken from Knowles, D., Brooke, C. N. L. and London, V. C. M., The Heads of Religious Houses: England and Wales 940–1216 (Cambridge, 1972), 79.)Google Scholar

37 See above and note 34.

38 Douce MS 368, fo. 82V1, lines 21–2: Item in ipsius natalicio cum ex tota anglia ad eius festa annuo usu confluerent; Stubbs, W. (ed.), Willelmi Malmesbiriensis Monachi, De Gestis Regum Anglorum, Libri Quinque, Rolls Series, 90, 2 vols. (18871889), 1, 263: Corpusculum sancti celebriter colitur, nee ullus fere locus in Anglia majori ad festum adventantium vener-atur frequentiaGoogle Scholar.

39 Douce MS 368, fo. 81v1, line 44, to 81v2, line 4. (See note 35.) Also in Thorpe, B. (ed.), Florentii Wigorniensis Monachi, Chronicon ex Chronicis, 1, Eng. Hist. Soc. Pub. 13 (1848), 266Google Scholar; Stubbs, , op. cit. (note 38), 1, 95Google Scholar; and Hamilton, N. E. S. A. (ed.) Willelmi Malmes-biriensis, De Gestis Pontificum Anglorum, Libri Quinque, Rolls Series, 52 (1870), 294Google Scholar.

40 Birch, , op. cit. (note 2), 1, no. 337Google Scholar (but no Sawyer number), on which see Levison, , op. cit. (note 6), 31–2, 255 (esp. n. 2)Google Scholar. The text is preserved in fos. 36–7 of the Landboc of Winchcombe Abbey (Royce, , op. cit. (note 7), 1, 21–2)Google Scholar.

41 See note 9.

42 Brock, E. L. P., ‘Winchcombe Abbey’, J.B.A.A. xxxii (1876), 446–54Google Scholar; anon., review article in Arch. J. xxxiv (1877), 93–8Google Scholar; Brock, E. L. P., ‘Excavation of the site of Winchcombe Abbey, Glos., J.B.A.A. xlix (1893), 162–72Google Scholar.

43 Ibid., plan opp. 163; see below, p. 90.

44 Royce, , op. cit. (note 7), 1, 93–5 and passimGoogle Scholar.

45 Anon., Winchcombe’, Trans. Bristol & Glos. Arch. Soc. iv (1880), 2631Google Scholar; Verey, D., The Buildings of England. Gloucestershire: the Cotswolds (London, 1970), 473–4Google Scholar.

46 See note 35.

47 Stabat tune quendryda in solario occidentalis ecclesie beati petri quam vie spatium dirimit ab atrio monasterii (Douce MS 368, 81V2, line 45, to 8211, line 3). Von Antropoff's unpublished edition (as in note 35) has used all eight of the known manuscripts of the passio. Six of them give occidentalis. MS Gotha membrane 1.81, fos. 47–50 (Landesbib-liothek at Gotha) gives occidenns, which is clearly in error. Only B.M. MS Lansdowne 436, fos. 88–91, gives occidentali (which would alter the sense to ‘in a western upper room of the church of St Peter’). There is little doubt, therefore, that occidentalis is correct. Word-order makes it almost certain that it is in the genitive case, qualifying ecclesie, and not in the nominative, qualifying quendryda. (I am grateful to Dr J. W. Binns and Dr D. W. Rollason for advice on this point.)

48 Royce, , op. cit. (note 7), 1, pp. xcvii–xcviii and n. 2 on p. xcviiGoogle Scholar: Rex concessit magistro Henrico de Caumpeden, persone Ecclesie Beati Petri de Winchecumba, quod elongare facial Cancellum eiusdem Ecclesie, per spacium xij pedum, versus orientem, si via ilia, per quam itur et reditur ab Abbacia de Winchecumba, remaneat latitudinis xxx pedum, et etiam, quod possit dilatare quandam Alam inchoatam, ex parte australi eiusdem Ecclesie, in longitu-dine xxx pedum, et latitudine xij pedum, si Strata Regia communis remaneat latitudinis xviij pedum. The ‘royal highway’ probably refers to Gloucester Street-High Street on its present course, which is a length of road newly laid out in the later medieval period on a line completely at variance with the predominant road alignments in the plan of Winchcombe: Bassett, , op. cit. (note 1). This licence provides a useful terminus ante quern for itGoogle Scholar.

49 It may formerly have had a course rather further to the east, so as to continue the line of one of the main roads coming into Winch-combe from the south (fig. 1). If so, it would appear to have been deflected to its present course by the presence of the abbey church across its former line.

50 Personal communication from Dr W. J. Rodwell, based on his observation of such major realignments in the Norman period at, e.g., Bath, Exeter, Wells, York.

51 Taylor, H. M., Anglo-Saxon Architecture, in (Cambridge, 1978), 1020–1Google Scholar; Lehmann, E., ‘Von der Kirchenfamilie zur Kathedrale’ in Schmoll, J. A. (ed.), Festschrift Friedrich Gerke (Baden-Baden, 1962), 2137 and refsGoogle Scholar.

52 Raine, J. (ed.), The Historians of the Church of York, Rolls Series, 71, 3 vols. (18791894), 11, 20–1 (Google ScholarEadmer's, Vita Oswaldi, ch. 17)Google Scholar. For details of Oswald and his career, see Stenton 1971 (see note 13), 448–55 and passim.

53 Raine, , op. cit. (note 52), 11, 20Google Scholar: eiectis clericis feminarum consortium ecclesiis ante-ponentibus. It seems quite likely, however, that i n many instances Oswald allowed the same men to stay on after he had eventually persuaded them, by what William of Malmesbury describes as ‘holy guile’ (sancto ingenio; Stubbs, W. (ed.), Memorials of St Dunstan, Rolls Series, 63 (1874), 303Google Scholar) to become proper monks: Sawyer, P. H., ‘Charters of the reform movement, the Worcester archive’ in Parsons, D. (ed.), Tenth-Century Studies. Essays in Commemoration of the Millennium of the Council of Winchester and Regularis Concordia (Chichester, 1975), 8493Google Scholar. John, E., on the other hand, believes that the reform was short and sharp: ‘St Oswald and the Church of Worcester’ in his Orbis Britanniae and other Studies (Leicester, 1966), 234–48Google Scholar.

54 Hearne, T. (ed.), Hemingi Chartularium Ecclesiae Wigorniensis (1723), 1, 189Google Scholar; Eadmer's, Vita DunstaniGoogle Scholar in Stubbs, , op. cit. (note 53), 197Google Scholar. Here I follow the line taken in Dyer, C. C., ‘The Saxon cathedrals of Worcester’ in Barker, op. cit. (note 13), 34Google Scholar. R. D. H. Gem, however, presumably following E. John (as in note 53), states that both churches were already in existence when Oswald became bishop, and that he merely rebuilt St Mary's: ‘Bishop Wulfstan II and the Romanesque cathedral church of Worcester’ in The British Archaeological Association Conference Transactions for the year 1975. Medieval Art and Architecture at Worcester Cathedral (1978), 1527, esp. 15Google Scholar. This alternative view entirely depends on the authenticity of Birch, , op. cit. (note 2), III, no. 1136 (Google ScholarSawyer, , op. cit. (note 2), no. 1368)Google Scholar, allegedly a letter of Oswald to King Edgar of about 964, in which he refers to Sanctam Mariam in cujus nomine hoc monaster-ium dicatum est. (Oswald was consecrated in 961.) The authenticity of this document, however, is in serious doubt: Galbraith, V. H., ‘Notes on the career of Samson, bishop of Worcester (1096–1112)’, Eng. Hist. Review, lxxxii (1967), 86101, esp. 100–1. (I am grateful to Dr Dyer for drawing my attention to this article.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar

55 Dyer, , op. cit. (note 54)Google Scholar, but it would be wrong to infer from what Dyer says that St Peter's went out of use in the mid eleventh century. Nothing is known of the circumstances or date of its eventual demolition. (There may have been the same separation of functions at this time at Winchester: Biddie, M., Felix Urbs WinthoniaGoogle Scholar: Winchester in the age of monastic reform’ in Parsons, , op. cit. (note 53), 123–40, esp. 128, 131.Google Scholar) It seems very likely that, as at Worcester, a dedication to St Mary (and St Kenelm) at Winchcombe would belong to the newer of the two churches.

56 e.g. Abingdon, Gloucester, Westminster, York.

57 Cox, D. C., Evesham Abbey and the Parish Churches (Vale of Evesham Historical Society, 1980)Google Scholar.

58 Douce MS 368, 820, line 1.

59 Douce MS 368, 81v2, lines 2–4. There is no evidence to support M. O. H. Carver's belief that the churches of St Peter and St Mary at Worcester were axially aligned; their spatial relationship is unknown: Carver, M. O. H., ‘Medieval Worcester. An archaeological framework,’ Trans. Worcs. Arch. Soc, 3rd ser., vii (1980), fig. 3 on 6, 7Google Scholar.

60 Royce, , op. cit. (note 7), 1, 25–6, 74Google Scholar, and passim. In Knowles, Brooke, and London, , op. cit. (note 36), 78Google Scholar, the dedication of Winch-combe Abbey is said to have been to ‘St Mary (formerly St Peter) and St Kenelm’; the suggestion, however, that the dedication had been changed in this way is unsupported, and is apparently in error.

61 Royce, , op. cit. (note 7), 1, 26Google Scholar. It was still a vicarage in 1553: Valor Ecclesiasticus Temp. Henr. VIII Auctoritate Regia Institutus, Record Commission, 9, 6 vols. (18101834), 11 (1814), 440, 458Google Scholar.

62 Smith, Toulmin (ed.), Leland's Itinerary in England and Wales, 11 parts-in 4-vols. (London, 19071910), 11, 54–5Google Scholar. The other church, dedicated to St Nicholas, was alleged to have stood ‘in the east parte of the towne, decayed many yers sence’ (ibid., 54). For this, see Bassett, , op. cit. (note 1)Google Scholar.

63 Royce, , op. cit. (note 7), 11, p. xxxiGoogle Scholar; Smith, Toulmin, op. cit. (note 62), 11, 54–5Google Scholar; Verey, , op. cit. (note 45), 473–4Google Scholar.

64 Dugdale, W., Monasticon Anglicanum, ed. Caley, J., Ellis, H., Baudinel, B., 6 vols. in 8 pts. (London, 18171830), 11, 305Google Scholar. The other feast was that of the Expectation of the Virgin Mary on 18th December, probably reflecting the dedication of the abbey church.

65 Société des Bollandistes, Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina, 2 vols. (19001901), 11, 928–9Google Scholar; Thurston, H., Altwater, D. (eds.), Butler's Lives of the Saints, 4 vols. (London, 1956), 11, 285Google Scholar. Another saint of the same name, St Pancras of Taormina, was sent in the first century to convert the Sicilians, who killed him; his feast-day, however, was 3rd April: ibid., 11, 18.

66concessimus … Cameram illam ex parte occidentali porte Abbatie nostre cum Capella cellario subtus Capellam stabulo garderoba et placia inter Ecclesiam Beati Petri et dictam Cameram dicte Camere adjacentibus: Royce, , op. cit. (note 7), 1, 339Google Scholar.

67 See above, p. 87 and note 48.

68 Cange, du F. Du, Glossarium ad Scriptores Mediae et Infimae Latinitatis, 3 vols. (Frankfurt, 1688), 1, 917Google Scholar: cellarium, cella, cubiculum’. Latham, R. E., Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources. Fascicule II: C (Oxford, 1981), 310–11Google Scholar for cellarium, 526–7 for cubiculum including the meaning ‘resting-place (i.e. tomb)’.

69 See note 35.

70 Regius vero martyr kenelmus paterno monasterio Wincelcumbe cum altissonis laudi-bus infertur, ubi ipsum patris monumentum sancta memoria celebratur: Douce MS 368, 8211, lines 29–33.

71 Douce MS 368, 82n, lines 1–3.

72 For the fire: Royce, , op. cit. (note 7), 1, 83Google Scholar; for the rebuilding: ibid., 1, 68, 73 and passim.

73 See above, p. 88.

74 See above, p. 85 and note 70.

75 See note 34.

76 Birch, , op. cit. (note 2), III, no. 1007Google Scholar; Sawyer, , op. cit. (note 2), no. 1185Google Scholar. Post finem autem vitae illorum lapidum structura more antiquorum super sepulchrum eorum opere arti-ficioso cum cruce dominica ab monumentum largitatis et monimentum animarum ipsorum composita est… Perduravit igitur haec lapi-dum structura usque ad tempora Eadwardi regis quo regnante Alricus frater Berhteachi episcopi presbyterium supradictae beati Petri aecclesiae ampliare studuit ipsamque lapidum congeriem destructam operi immiscuit (Birch, III, 208). Finberg suggests that Wiferd and Alta issued the charter whose text, together with Hemming's comments, is Birch, III, no. 1007, in 781–96: op. cit. (note 2), 96, no. 230.

77 Taylor, H. M., St Wystart's Church, Repton. A Guide and History (1979), 1–2, 1819Google Scholar.

78 Heighway, C. M., ‘Excavations at Gloucester. Fifth interim report: St Oswald's Priory 1977–8’, Antiq. J. lx (1980),209Google Scholar. The structure (Building A) was not backfilled until the eighteenth century, but nothing is known of its function either in the later medieval period or after the Dissolution. (I am grateful to Carolyn Heighway for this information.)

79 In the grounds of ‘The Abbey’. I am grateful to the owner, Mr J. Philip-Sorensen, for permission to take photographs on his property.

80 Royce, , op. cit. (note 7), 1, 245–6 (three separate references); 11, 468Google Scholar.

81 M. Biddle and B. Kjølbye-Biddle, personal communication.

82 Esp. Verey, , op. cit. (note 45), 473–4Google Scholar.

83 Smith, Toulmin, op. cit. (note 62), 11, 54–5Google Scholar.

84 Most are found on the north side of a chancel, and some on the south side: anon.,On sacristies’, The Ecclesiologist, v (1846), 510, esp. 7–8Google Scholar. For others to the east, cf. St Peter Mancroft and St Peter Parmentergate, both in Norwich, and Tideswell in Derbyshire: Cook, G. H., The English Medieval Parish Church (London, 1954), 177–80, esp. 178Google Scholar.

85 See above, p. 87 and note 48.

86 Leland states that the chapel of St Pancras was still standing when William Winchcombe decided to rebuild the chancel of the parish church, but does not make it clear if this work involved its demolition: Smith, Toulmin, op. cit. (note 62), 11, 55Google Scholar.

87 I am indebted to Dr W. J. Rodwell for this suggestion.

88 Taylor, H. M., op. cit. (note 77), 12Google Scholar.

89 See above, p. 85 and note 33.

90 Of the nineteen medieval instances of the dedication known to the writer in Britain, it can be argued that several may belong to the earliest centuries of Anglo-Saxon Christianity. Certainly the cult of Pancras was well established at that time. The monastery of St Andrew in Rome, to which the missionary Augustine belonged, was founded by Pope Gregory I on the alleged site of the house of Pancras's family, ‘and therefore the name of St Pancras was often in Gregory's mouth … and would thus naturally occur to Augustine also’ (Arnold-Forster, F., Studies in Church Dedications, 3 vols. (London, 1899), 1, 170Google Scholar). Gregory referred, for instance, to Pancras's tomb and cult in the seventeenth of his Homiliae in Evangelia (Migne, J. P., Patmlogia Latina, 217 vols. (Paris, 18411864), LXXVI (1849), 1204–10, esp. 1208, 1210)Google Scholar. Relics of Pancras, moreover, were among those sent to King Oswiu of Northumbria by Pope Vitalian (Colgrave, B., Mynors, R. A. B. (eds.), Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People (Oxford, 1969), 320, i.e. bk. in, ch. 29)Google Scholar. So it is possible that churches in Britain may have been dedicated to Pancras even during the period of the Augustinian mission. (For the possibility that the church of St Pancras at Canterbury was one such, now see Thomas, A. C., Christianity in Roman Britain to A.D. 500 (London, 1981), 173–4 and n. 63 there.)Google Scholar

91 Wormald, P., ‘The ninth century’, in Campbell, J. (ed.), The Anglo-Saxons (Oxford, 1982), 138Google Scholar.

92 See note 33; Wormald, , op. cit. (note 91), 138Google Scholar.

93 Only a small part of the area concerned has been lost to future investigation. It does not appear, however, that any archaeological provision has yet been made for the site.