Gabor Thomas

Originating in the seventh century as one of the ‘Old Minsters’ of Kent, Lyminge has one of the longest continuous Christian histories in Britain. Drawing upon the results of two campaigns of re-investigation in the early 1990s and 2019, this paper elucidates this trajectory through a rigorous reassessment of archaeological remains in Lyminge churchyard, originally explored by the antiquary Canon Jenkins in the 1850s. This work generates fresh insights on the structural archaeology of the churchyard and Jenkins’ influence on the interpretation and public presentation of Lyminge’s early Christian heritage. New details of the seventh-century apsidal church are presented, allowing its place within ‘Kentish Group’ churches to be appraised with greater confidence, and aspects of the operational sequence of such buildings to be reconstructed for the first time. A fresh examination of structural foundations to the west of the apsidal church, and the current parish church of SS Mary and Ethelburga, charts the monumental development of the site into the Late Saxon period and beyond, offering insights into the commemorative processes bound up with the long-term evolution of the cult focus. Findings beyond the churchyard, from previous research excavations by the University of Reading, are also woven into the current study to contextualise developments within the monumental core, providing an exceptionally rare integrated ‘big picture’ perspective in the study of early medieval monastic archaeology. The results of scientific dating, and the analysis of bioarchaeological data, are applied to reconstruct the lived experience of the monastic community during the Viking Age, and to chart the complex settlement transformations during Lyminge’s afterlife as a secular minster church and seat of archiepiscopal authority. Complementing other recent work on the long-term development of monastic landscapes, this paper demonstrates how the enduring mythology of the golden age of Anglo-Saxon saints influences the interpretation of sacred Christian heritage and how archaeological approaches can inform narratives of these potently meaningful places.

This publication, including supplementary materials, is available full open access here:
https://www.sal.org.uk/journals/in-the-shadow-of-saints-the-long-duree-of-lyminge-kent-as-a-sacred-christian-landscape/

Well known for the Early Anglo-Saxon settlement previously excavated on Rookery Hill and its impressive pre-Conquest church, Bishopstone has entered archaeological orthodoxy as a classic example of a ‘Middle Saxon Shift’.Sculpture Sundial This volume reports on the excavations from 2002 to 2005 designed to 

investigate this transition, with the focus on the origins of Bishopstone village. Excavations adjacent to St Andrew’s churchyard revealed a dense swathe of later Anglo-Saxon (8th- to late 10th-/early 11th-century) habitation, including a planned complex of ‘timber halls’, and a unique cellared tower. The occupation encroached upon a pre-Conquest cemetery of 43 inhumations.

The report provides a comprehensive analysis, interpretation and academic contextualisation of the archaeological discoveries brought to light by these excavations, the first to sample a later Anglo-Saxon rural settlement in East Sussex on an extensive scale. The inter-disciplinary approach appraises the historical and topographical evidence alongside that recovered during the excavations.

The result is a uniquely informative picture of the emergence and operation of an estate-centre complex in the later Anglo-Saxon landscape, an embodiment of the growth of an increasingly stable and hierarchical settlement pattern which laid the foundations for the English countryside.

This book will be valuable reading for specialists and students working on early medieval settlements from a variety of archaeological and historical perspectives. It will also be of interest to general readers with an interest in the evolution of southern chalklands of England during the post-Roman era.

Originating in the seventh century as one of the ‘Old Minsters’ of Kent, Lyminge has one of the longest continuous Christian histories in Britain. Drawing upon the results of two campaigns of re-investigation in the early 1990s and 2019, this paper elucidates this trajectory through a rigorous reassessment of archaeological remains in Lyminge churchyard, originally explored by the antiquary Canon Jenkins in the 1850s. This work generates fresh insights on the structural archaeology of the churchyard and Jenkins’ influence on the interpretation and public presentation of Lyminge’s early Christian heritage. New details of the seventh-century apsidal church are presented, allowing its place within ‘Kentish Group’ churches to be appraised with greater confidence, and aspects of the operational sequence of such buildings to be reconstructed for the first time. A fresh examination of structural foundations to the west of the apsidal church, and the current parish church of SS Mary and Eth...

This volume publishes the proceedings of an international conference held at the University of Kent in April 2015 to celebrate the conclusion of the excavation phase of the Lyminge Archaeological Project. It brings together 11 contributions from historians and archaeologists which together provide a comprehensive evaluation of the results of the Lyminge excavations and their contribution to scholarship on early medieval monasticism in north-west Europe. The proceedings will be published as a special edition (Vol. 20) of the series 'Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History'.

Six items dated to the ninth to eleventh centuries AD (three strap-ends, a pair of tweezers and two horse-harness fittings) were found by a metal-detectorist. Comparative evidence suggests that they may be associated with a precursor of the later medieval manorial curia of `Hamme', comprising the parish church of St Peter and the adjacent site of a medieval manorial residence. The potential of metal-detected finds as a neglected source of evidence is discussed.

This paper takes a fresh look at the relationship between Christian conversion and economic change in Anglo-Saxon England, drawing upon new archaeological evidence from Kent. One of its primary aims is to exploit the archaeological record to provide a critical perspective on how these two processes may have related to one another, paying particular attention to previous assumptions concerning the role played by monastic institutions in the process of rural intensification in Anglo-Saxon England

Recent archaeological studies conducted at different scales, from the level of site through to landscapes and regions, have focused critical attention on the connections and interactions existing between secular and religious realms of life in Anglo-Saxon England. Settlement archaeology has made an important contribution to this re-evaluation by drawing attention to a series of high-status residences of the seventh-ninth centuries AD whose trajectories and lifestyle blur the boundaries between monastic and secular aristocratic culture in pre-Viking England. Recent excavations in the Kentish village of Lyminge extend an appreciation of this theme into a region which has hitherto suffered from a deficit of Anglo-Saxon settlement archaeology. Originally conceived to improve archaeological understanding of a documented pre-Viking monastery, the Lyminge Project has subsequently gone on to uncover the remains of a separate and spatially distinct royal focus – a rare example of a seventh-c...

Items of Late Anglo-Saxon metalwork discovered from a site in the parish of Hamsey are described and the implications of the finds discussed. The dates attributed to the metalwork allow activity on the site to be assigned to the 9th to the 11th centuries AD. Comparative evidence suggests that the metalwork may be associated with a precursor of the later medieval manorial curia of ‘Hamme’ (Hamsey), comprising the parish church of St Peter and the adjacent site of a medieval manorial residence. It is concluded that metal-detected finds represent a neglected source of evidence, with the potential to advance our understanding of settlement and of the regional economy of Sussex during the Mid–Late Saxon period.

... Anglo-Scandinavian Metalworkfrom the Danelaw 249 Scandinavian finds including that on the strap-end from Borre (Vestfold, Norway) (fig ... archae-ological units: Tom Plunkett, Ipswich Museum; Kevin Leahy, Scunthorpe Museum; Trevor Cowie and Ian Scott, National Museums ...

I. ANGLO-SAXON IDENTITY: ETHNICITY, CULTURE, AND GENES II. RURAL SETTLEMENT III. MORTUARY RITUAL IV. FOOD PRODUCTION V. CRAFT PRODUCTION AND TECHNOLOGY VI. TRADE, EXCHANGE, AND URBANIZATION VII. THE BODY AND LIFE COURSE VIII. THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF RELIGION IX. SIGNALS OF POWER X. THE PLACE OF ARCHAEOLOGY IN ANGLO-SAXON STUDIES

Boosted by a proliferation in metal-detected finds, categories of personal adornment now constitute a vital archaeological source for interpreting Viking-age cultural interaction in the North Sea region. Previous research in England has explored the potential of this metalwork in relation to the formation of ‘Anglo-Scandinavian’ identity, but without due consideration of a wider spectrum of cultural influences. This article redresses the balance by shifting attention to twenty-eight belt fittings derived from richly embellished baldrics, equestrian equipment, and waist belts manufactured on the Frankish continent during the period of Carolingian hegemony in the later eighth and ninth centuries AD. The metalwork is classified and then contextualized in order to track import mechanisms and to assess the impact of Carolingian culture on the northern peripheries of the Frankish empire. The main conclusion is that the adoption, adaptation, and strategic manipulation of Carolingian/northe...

Anglo-Saxon monastic archaeology has been constrained by the limited scale of past investigations and their overriding emphasis on core buildings. This paper draws upon the results of an ongoing campaign of archaeological research that is redressing the balance through an ambitious programme of open-area excavation at Lyminge, Kent, the site of a royal double monastery founded in the seventh century ad. The results of five completed fieldwork seasons are assessed and contextualised in a narrative sequence emphasising the dynamic character of Lyminge as an Anglo-Saxon monastic settlement. In so doing, the study brings into sharp focus how early medieval monasteries were emplaced in the landscape, with specific reference to Anglo-Saxon Kent, a regional context offering key insights into how the process of monastic foundation redefined antecedent central places of long-standing politico-religious significance and social action.

Strap-ends represent the most common class of dress accessory known from late Anglo-Saxon England. At this period, new materials, notably lead and its alloys, were being deployed in the manufacture of personal possessions and jewellery. This newly found strap-end adds to the growing number of tongue-shaped examples fashioned from lead dating from this period. It is, however, distinctive in being inscribed with a personal name. The present article provides an account of the object and its text, and assesses its general significance in the context of a more nuanced interpretation of the social status of lead artefacts in late Anglo-Saxon England.

This paper offers a critical reconsideration of the social, spatial and temporal dynamics of sixth- to eighth-century great hall complexes in England. The major interpretative issues and constraints imposed by the data are considered, and the sites are then subject to comparative analysis across long-term and short-term temporal scales. The former highlights persistence of antecedent activity and centrality, the latter the ways in which the built environment was perceived in the past, structured social action, and was a medium for the construction and consolidation of elite identity and authority. Within the broad similarity that defines the site-type there is evidence for considerable diversity and complexity of site history and afterlife.

Informed by a scheme of recording and excavation directed by the author on the site of the ‘The Marlipins’ in 2003, this archaeological survey brings significant new evidence to bear on the structural history of one of the country’s oldest surviving vernacular buildings - last surveyed over 80 years ago. The discovery and identification of several new structural features relating to The Marlipin’s earliest -12th-century – phase, is used to drive forward a reassessment of the intended function and layout of the Norman building, leading to a revised interpretation (also drawing upon recent work on urban townhouses in Southampton) that it started life as a first-floor hall. Interpretation of buried archaeological remains provides the opportunity for the structure’s complex history to be compared to the dynamics of a wider streetscape within the commercial heart of one of the south coast’s busiest medieval ports, whilst also providing some of the first insights into the range of exotica...

This volume reports on the excavations from 2002 to 2005 designed to investigate this transition, with the focus on the origins of Bishopstone village. Excavations adjacent to St Andrew’s churchyard revealed a dense swathe of later Anglo-Saxon (8th- to late 10th-/early 11th-century) habitation, including a planned complex of ‘timber halls’, and a unique cellared tower. The occupation encroached upon a pre-Conquest cemetery of 43 inhumations. The report provides a comprehensive analysis, interpretation and academic contextualisation of the archaeological discoveries brought to light by these excavations, the first to sample a later Anglo-Saxon rural settlement in East Sussex on an extensive scale. The inter-disciplinary approach appraises the historical and topographical evidence alongside that recovered during the excavations.

As proclaimed on the back of its dust-jacket, this book has already received glowing accolades and these will surely proliferate as its readership grows. Blair’s international reputation as one of the most visionary thinkers on Anglo-Saxon England was consolidated by his previous blockbuster, The Church in Anglo-Saxon England, published in 2005. Here the author turns his attention to the built environment of Anglo-Saxon England taken in its very widest sense: from the architectural intricacies of buildings and houses, through to the physical make-up of rural settlements, defensive installations and towns, and, at the broadest scale, to the mechanics of the landscape and its resources. Although the subject focus is different, the current work shares many of the hallmarks of its predecessor, not least a highly compelling narrative populated by ground-breaking insights generated through the deft interweaving of archaeological, historical and place-name sources, of which it provides a veritable masterclass. This current book adds to a growing number of studies that have attempted to write new developmental narratives of the English landscape from the synthesis of commerciallyexcavated sites and settlement data, much of it locked away in grey literature. Similar endeavours have previously been attempted for the Prehistoric and Romano-British periods, but this represents the first attempt to conduct similar for the full span of the Anglo-Saxon period on a national scale. The end product is in many senses a highly personal portrayal, one shaped by Blair’s unique outlook on and approaches to the period that have evolved over his distinguished career. This translates most obviously in the dizzying interdisciplinary breadth of the study, but Blair’s distinctive take on the period finds other outlets of expression, including allusions to Finnish building culture as an ethnographic context for imagining how Anglo-Saxon timber houses may have looked above ground level. Blair sets out an overarching framework for his book in Part 1 with chapters respectively on sources and approaches, regionality and issues of archaeological visibility, and the cultural and symbolic contexts of Anglo-Saxon building culture. The remainder of the book is organized along chronological lines, comprising a narrative structured around two ‘great transformations’, the first c. AD 600–700 (Part 2) and the second c. AD 920–1000 (Part 4), separated by an intervening period of consolidation (Part 3). Covering a huge amount of analytical ground, the constituent chapters combine entirely new synthetic insights with fresh perspectives on long-standing issues: the urban or otherwise nature of Middle Saxon wics, the degree to which the burghal hidage system was based on Mercian precedents, the origins of nucleated villages and champion countryside, the significance or otherwise of the Norman Conquest as a watershed in patterns of daily life. Some of the most impressive and ground-breaking work is arguably contained in the earlier parts of the chronological narrative covered in Parts 2 and 3. It is difficult to cherry pick from such a rich bounty, but highlights for this reviewer included the author’s subtle and richly-contextualised discourse on so-called great hall complexes as the earliest stratum of royal residence in Anglo-Saxon England and his trail-blazing synthesis of place-names, archaeology and topographic sources to uncover the intricate systems of governance and resource mobilization that underpinned the Mercian state. On a broader scale, the author’s observations on the trajectory of rural settlement over the Anglo-Saxon period, framed around the identification of a highly enduring, yet flexible ‘semi-nucleated’ mode, constitutes a vital contribution to the subject, one with important implications for how we

It is notoriously difficult to gain any clear impression of the realities of sub-Roman Britain given gaping holes in the archaeological record and the smokescreen of centuries of myth-making and historical invention. Green’s book represents an engaging and readable interpretation of what may have happened in the region we know as Lincolnshire in the shadowy period between AD 400 and 650. Through considerable dexterity and the integration of a wide array of historical, linguistic and archaeological sources, the author conjures a lively hypothetical narrative of the transformation of a Late Roman province into the historically attested Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Lindissi. The book commences by highlighting the vitality of the Lincolnshire region in the late Imperial world of the fourth century, a vitality which the author suggests may have sustained Romanised ways of life somewhat later here than in other regions of Britannia. In this version of events, the fall of the Imperial administration did not so much result in political implosion as in mutation: by the fifth century what had been the northern part of Civitas Corieltavorum had re-emerged as the lost British kingdom of *Lindēs, inheriting much of the organisational infrastructure of its predecessor, including the provincial capital of Lincoln, which persisted as a centre of political and episcopal authority. As portrayed, this post-Imperial polity was sufficiently robust and cohesive to influence the inflow of Anglo-Saxon immigrants, orchestrating the controlled settlement of Germanic enclaves in regions distant from the British nerve-centre of Lincoln. Ultimately, however, British resistance collapsed, paving the way for the formation of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Lindissi, which first emerged into clear historical light in the seventh century. According to Green, this new political formation drew heavily upon its British precursor: it was similar in geographical extent; the Lincoln region continued to function as a ‘core territory’; and other component parts of the kingdom (including those named in the Tribal Hidage) and their central places can invariably be shown to reference the Late Roman past in their siting and configuration. Green is not afraid to stick his neck out and make some brave assertions on the basis of what he readily admits is a very difficult and incomplete evidential base. While speculative, his analysis is nevertheless critically informed in relation to general academic discourse on Dark Age Britain and contributing fields of study. There are some, however, who may find the book’s conceptual framework (not unreminiscent of Alcock’s Arthur’s Britain) somewhat outdated. In the final analysis, this is a familiar account of Britons versus Anglo-Saxons. Although there is acknowledgement that these were fluid categories with significant evidence for British populations acculturating to AngloSaxon norms and, to a more limited extent, vice versa, the dynamic is still interpreted in binary terms: depending upon context, one identity is proclaimed in opposition to, or subsumed by, the other. There is no space here for the cultural blurring and complexity known from betterdocumented post-Imperial domains (such as Gaul) or that might otherwise be inferred from migration theory. If you can forgive these absences of nuance, then prepare to be stimulated by a valuable contribution to Dark Age studies written in the traditional mould.

be advised to come armed with a map and some amount of patience, but the rewards will merit the effort. The excavation of Dublin’s extraordinary early medieval remains at Wood Quay, and the associated sites, was a landmark achievement of north European archaeology. The first-hand synthesis of these excavations in a book of impressive detail, keen observation and insightful discussion is another major accomplishment, the result of decades of scholarship and endeavour. The work of an astute copy-editor would have been a comparatively small additional investment and is greatly missed. It is rare these days even for key scholarly monographs to appear in revised editions; one hopes that the enduring interest in the archaeology of Dublin will make this book an exception.

Informed by a scheme of recording and excavation directed by the author on the site of the ‘The Marlipins’ in 2003, this archaeological survey brings significant new evidence to bear on the structural history of one of the country’s oldest surviving vernacular buildings - last surveyed over 80 years ago. The discovery and identification of several new structural features relating to The Marlipin’s earliest -12th-century – phase, is used to drive forward a reassessment of the intended function and layout of the Norman building, leading to a revised interpretation (also drawing upon recent work on urban townhouses in Southampton) that it started life as a first-floor hall. Interpretation of buried archaeological remains provides the opportunity for the structure’s complex history to be compared to the dynamics of a wider streetscape within the commercial heart of one of the south coast’s busiest medieval ports, whilst also providing some of the first insights into the range of exotica imported into the late medieval town.

There are also factual mistakes that affect the overall argument. For example: the brick-stamps found used in the honorific bases on the south side of the Forum are not necessarily post-Diocletianic (p. 49); the prefect Paulinus dedicated the equestrian statue of Constantine on behalf of the Senate, when he was already a consul (p. 58); CIL VI 36952 was dedicated by a financial officer of equestrian (perfectissimus, and not clarissimus) rank, making no reference to Constantine’s financial policies (p. 60); CIL VI 1195 (the statue of Honorius) does not survive because it is the same dedication as CIL VI 1731 (the statue of Stilicho), hence the same text (p. 90); the statuebase reused by Probianus in front of the basilica Iulia was not addressed by a successful senator to Constantine I (p. 106), but by an official of equestrian rank (perfectissimus) to Constantine II when he was Caesar (CIL VI 1156a); the wall separating the tabernae from the aula of the basilica Aemilia was only restored during the Tetrarchy, and not built ex novo (p. 112).

A catalogue and discussion of the largest assemblage of hooked-tags and strap-ends recovered from Late Anglo-Saxon England comprising two chapters in an edited finds volume. Benefiting from the refined contextual, stratigraphic, and other dating evidence available for the site of Flixborough (a paradigm of high-status rural settlement), this survey provides the basis for a more nuanced understanding of chronological and regional variations embodied by two of the most ubiquitous classes of ornamental metalwork from Anglo-Saxon England. Analysis also brings to light new evidence for contemporary production methods and materials and provides key information for reconstructing networks of trade and exchange along the eastern seaboard of England during the 8th and 9th centuries A.D.

This thesis presents a national survey of the Late Anglo-Saxon and Viking-age strap-end, one of the commonest manifestations of ornamental metalwork from the period. This survey is based on approximately 1,400 strap-ends, enabling, for the first time, a detailed investigation of various themes concerning their manufacture, circulation, and use. The introduction (1) describes the organisation and contents of the thesis in light of past work on the subject. A background chapter (2) sets out a methodological framework for the study and then introduces some relevant theoretical considerations. A classification of Late Saxon and Viking-age strap-ends (3) presents the defining characteristics of morphology and decoration relating to a sub-division of the corpus into typological groups. Chapter (4) discusses the variety of contexts in which Late Saxon strap-ends are discovered - highlighting the limitations and implications of each for subsequent interpretation. Evidence of their manufacture and associated technology is evaluated in Chapter (5). Extended analysis and interpretation then proceeds in the following three chapters. The chronology and distribution of Late Saxon strap-ends are discussed in (6) and (7) respectively. Chapter (8) is primarily contextual, exploring the possible function/s of these artefacts, and the production systems involved in their manufacture. Chapter (9) offers general conclusions and suggestions for refining the present study and strategies for future research. Appendices include a comprehensive checklist of individual strap-ends recorded in the survey (1), a preliminary checklist of examples recorded outside the survey area (2), and contextual information relating to strap-ends discovered in stratified, archaeological contexts (3). These are intended to provide the principle source of reference for the classificatory and thematic discussions which form the main text.

landscape were viewed, ascribed meanings and used by early medieval communities. As such it goes beyond landscape studies into the archaeologies of belief and psychology. It will, rightly, become a fixed reference point for researchers and a primary source for students. Chapter 1 sets out the intellectual background and context. This is followed by three chapters which, broadly speaking, examine relationships between early medieval communities and earlier monuments through patterns of spatial proximity in the archaeological record and naming. This delivers a nuanced and regionally sensitive analysis of the reuse of monuments in mortuary geography; an assessment of the ways in which landscape, landscape features and monuments may or may not have structured the spectrum of ritualised social behaviours from cult through assemblies to military conflict; and a clear-sighted analysis of the relationship between early churches and pre-Christian monuments which challenges some easy assumptions. Chapters 5 and 6 deal respectively with the meanings and significances accorded monuments and landscape elements in place names and literature, and with the place of monuments in constructions of religious and jurisdictional theatre and landscapes of administration in the Middle and Late Anglo-Saxon periods. Chapter 7 provides a lucid summary and overview, and there are four appendices of supporting data. The text is well supported by illustrations in monochrome and colour. The main conclusions may be summarised by emphasising two points: the ways in which early medieval communities used and reacted to earlier monuments and landscape features were complex; and their meanings and resonances changed over time. There is no single simple pattern of spatial association: reuse was selective, varied by region, locality, physical landscape and sphere of social activity, and analysis must take account of context and situation, both physical and ideational. It is clear, however, that from the eighth and ninth centuries attitudes shifted from a mindset in which association with monuments from the past might be affirmative to one in which some were attributed negative associations of death, hell and judgement. The ways in which the spectrum of different resonances was utilised and renegotiated to help establish landscapes of authority in the Late Anglo-Saxon period provide important insights into the psychologies of power, rulership and the ruled. It is, of course, possible to take issue with some elements of intellectual history, perspective and argument. There is no doubt that the past fifteen to twenty years have seen a massive increase in scholarship in this area but (contra the statement on p 2) debates about the use of the ancient landscape – with contributions from, for example, Brian Hope-Taylor, Richard Bradley and Richard Morris – were current well before 1992. The emphasis is on the prehistoric (in the modern sense – there is no suggestion of an AngloSaxon concept of prehistory rather than of the past) but early medieval communities reacted with all elements of the inherited landscape; similarly, in privileging the use of the past and the landscape in social construction and reconstruction there is a danger that the contemporary, the innovative and other media are downplayed, leaving an anachronistic picture of societies living their lives in dialogue with the past rather than with the exigencies of subsistence, health, social relationships and rulership in the here and now. In fairness, though, these points are acknowledged. The analysis throughout is alert to the pitfalls of speculation, recognising the limitations of the evidence and of the analytical approaches available, and explicit about contingent argument and model-building. The only serious criticisms to be levelled at this monograph must be aimed at the publisher rather than the author. The hardback cover price will discourage most of the target audience and even as a loss-leader for a subsequent paperback edition it is hard to see the business justification. Just as seriously, although the book is physically well produced there are slipshod errors that should have been eradicated by competent copyediting and quality control during production. These include inconsistencies between citations in the text and in the bibliography, elisions in the bibliography whereby publications are attributed to the wrong author, erratic text layout at the foot of some pages, and an apparent loss of text at the foot of page 212 which leads to a conflation of Edgar’s consecration at Bath in 973 with the ‘submission at Chester’. At this price from Oxford University Press one expects better.

This paper advances understanding of rulership over the fifth to the ninth centuries AD, drawing upon a category of elite settlement from southern Britain known as the great hall complex. Guided by a practice-based conceptual framework, we connect these sites with the embodied regimens, rituals, habits, and activities through which rulership was constituted in the early medieval world. Harnessing recent expanded datasets, we generate insights in three key areas. First, by documenting the significant and sustained antecedent occupation attested at great hall sites, we reveal how rulers exploited the complex multiple pasts of these places to advance symbolic and worldly agendas. Second, we reframe understanding of hall construction as a strategy of elite legitimation by focusing attention on the agency of the skilled practitioners who created these innovative architectural statements and, in doing so, recognise these hitherto neglected specialists as ‘crafters’ of rulership. Third, we use proxies from recently investigated great hall complexes to reconstruct the networks of dependency and interaction which enmeshed these centres. A concluding comparative discussion of southern Britain and Scandinavia contributes shared perspectives on rulers’ residences as a prime arena for the orchestration and creative renewal of early medieval sovereignty.

THE GREAT HALL complex represents one of the most distinctive and evocative expressions of the Anglo-Saxon settlement record, and is widely cited as a metaphor for the emergence of kingship in early medieval England. Yet interpretation of these sites remains underdeveloped and heavily weighted towards the excavated findings from the well-known site of Yeavering in Northumberland. Inspired by the results of recent excavations at Lyminge, Kent, this paper undertakes a detailed comparative interrogation of three great hall complexes in Kent, and exploits this new regional perspective to advance our understanding of the agency and embodied meanings of these settlements as ‘theatres of power’. Explored through the thematic prisms of place, social memory and monumental hybridity, this examination leads to a new appreciation of the involvement of great hall sites in the genealogical strategies of 7th-century royal dynasties and a fresh perspective on how this remarkable, yet short-lived, monumental idiom was adapted to harness the symbolic capital of Romanitas.

This thesis presents a national survey of the Late Anglo-Saxon and Viking-age strap-end, one of the commonest manifestations of ornamental metalwork from the period. This survey is based on approximately 1,400 strap-ends, enabling, for the first time, a detailed investigation of various themes concerning their manufacture, circulation, and use. The introduction (1) describes the organisation and contents of the thesis in light of past work on the subject. A background chapter (2) sets out a methodological framework for the study and then introduces some relevant theoretical considerations. A classification of Late Saxon and Viking-age strap-ends (3) presents the defining characteristics of morphology and decoration relating to a sub-division of the corpus into typological groups. Chapter (4) discusses the variety of contexts in which Late Saxon strap-ends are discovered - highlighting the limitations and implications of each for subsequent interpretation. Evidence of their manufacture and associated technology is evaluated in Chapter (5). Extended analysis and interpretation then proceeds in the following three chapters. The
chronology and distribution of Late Saxon strap-ends are discussed in (6) and (7) respectively. Chapter (8) is primarily contextual, exploring the possible function/s of these artefacts, and the production systems involved in their manufacture.
Chapter (9) offers general conclusions and suggestions for refining the present study and strategies for future research. Appendices include a comprehensive checklist of individual strap-ends recorded in the survey (1), a preliminary checklist of examples recorded outside the survey area (2), and contextual information relating to strap-ends discovered in stratified, archaeological contexts (3). These
are intended to provide the principle source of reference for the classificatory and thematic discussions which form the main text.