Reviews

REVIEWS The Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes. By J. N. L. Myres. 9f x 6 in., Pp. 32. Pubhshed for the British Academy by Oxford University Press, 1971,40p. This is the text of a lecture delivered to the British Academy on 27th May, 1970, and most appropriately this day happened to coincide with the festival of the Venerable Bede, for it is about Bede's derivation of the English nation of his day from Angles, Saxons and Jutes, and the relevance of his statement to recent archseological evidence, that Dr. Myres is concerned. Others have, of course, in previous times looked for a correlation of the historical and archseological data along these lines, using grave-goods, such as brooches and other personal ornaments, as distinguishing marks of particular culture-groups and drawing conclusions from their distribution both in England and the Continental homelands of the invaders. But Dr. Myres' new contribution is a close study of the ceramic evidence, a subject upon which he has been collecting material for many years, and which he has at last given to the archseological world in his Anglo-Saxon Pottery and the Settlement of England (Oxford, 1969). The value of pottery in this connection is probably greater than that of metal objects which could have a long life and be traded over wide areas. Pots of the homely type used by the early Anglo-Saxons and Jutes would normally have a short existence, and their distinctive shapes and decoration are more likely to be restricted spatiaUy to the areas actually occupied by their makers. How does Bede's statement that the people of Kent were of Jutish origin stand in the light of the pottery evidence? Now that archaeologists have ceased to be misled by the characteristically Frankish nature of the sixth- and early seventh-century East Kent cemeteries and their contents, and have come to look for the Jutes further back in the less spectacular artifacts of the fifth century, a reappraisal of the whole matter is possible. The question is asked whether Bede was right in allowing us to believe that his Jutes came from Jutland. Early cruciform brooches and some of the first square-headed brooches as weU as the gold bracteates found in Kent certainly make it possible, and Dr. Myres reinforces this with the remarkable similarities between fifthcentury pottery from cemeteries and settlements in East Kent, including huts within the walls of Canterbury, and corresponding material from all over Jutland. Most telhng of all are examples of speciahzed forms from Bifrons, Eastry, Westbere and Wingham—tall 255 REVIEWS beakers carrying a highly idiosyncratic decoration matched most convincingly from sites in Jutland such as Drengsted and Veiling. In the wider field, the complexities of the cultural relationship and interplay between Angles and Saxons are reflected in their pottery, as Dr. Myres has shown, and his important conclusions cannot be adequately summarized here. Those concerned in unravelling the mysteries of the age of the Enghsh Settlement must examine the evidence he has so painstakingly assembled, not only in this lecture but in the major publication to which reference has already been made. P. J. TESTER Fishbourne. By Barry Cunliffe. 9 | x 7 J in. Pp. 228, 7 colour plates, 86 monochrome plates, 40 line drawings. Thames & Hudson, London, 1971, £4.50 (Paperback, £2.10). Fishbourne is one of the volumes in the publishers' new series 'New Aspects of Antiquity', under the general editorship of Sir Mortimer Wheeler, and comes, soon after Roman Bath and Richborough V, from the prolific pen of Professor Barry Cunliffe; it is a companion volume to the full-scale archseological report published by the Society of Antiquaries of London and clearly intended for the informed general pubhc. It is well produced and contains many excellent photographs, both of the excavation and some of the finds, as well as plans and reconstructions of the various structures. In twelve informative chapters, Professor Cunliffe guides his reader lightly through the complexities of the excavation and describes the discovery of the site and its early history as revealed by excavation, the proto-Palace, its Flavian successor and the scaled-down villa in the second century, and ends his story with the abandonment of the site during the fourth century when 'the natural environment was becoming hostile' (p. 217). The descriptions of the buildings and richly furnished rooms, of the layout of the fascinating garden, the interpretation of the excavated evidence are aU convincingly done in a lucid style though, understandably, the speciahst will have to resort to the Antiquaries' Report for the evidence on which the author's statements are based; indeed, it is one of the virtues of this book, which is certain to make it even more attractive to the general public, that the reader is not distracted by the technical details of a full archseological report. On the other hand, a fair number of irritating printer's errors ('noticably' sic, twice, and the unbelievable 'stylae', sic, for the plural of stylus) could have been extirpated. Professor Cunliffe's well-known thesis that Cogidubnus was the most hkely first owner of the site is argued at the very outset (pp. 22-3) and further developed in Chapter VIII where, in the absence of 'incontro- 256 REVIEWS vertible evidence' (p. 166), the author argues 'essentially a case based on possibilities' (p. 169) and engagingly admits that 'it is easier to argue that Cogidubnus was the owner than that he was not'. It is interesting, to this reviewer at least, to see the same questions posed ('Who was he and why build such a place?', p. 166) at Fishbourne as at the Eccles site, and Professor Cunliffe is fortunate that he can make out such a convincing case for Cogidubnus' ownership of the site; circumstantially, it seems unquestionable, and one hopes that further excavation wUl recover the epigraphic evidence that will render it incontrovertible. However, apart from this and the applause that the author's reasoned speculation fully deserves, the later villa itself and its associated structures would have been ample justification for this latest addition to recent books on Roman Britain; it should find a ready sale not only amongst those who have aheady visited the site and admired the preserved structures and its exceUent museum but also amongst others for whom a visit to Fishbourne should come second only to a pilgrimage to Hadrian's Wall. A. P. DETSICAS Conservation in Field Archceology. By Ehzabeth A. Dowman. 7 J X 4f in. Pp. 170. Methuen & Co., London, 1970, £1.50. This is a very useful 'short guide to simple treatments for objects needing immediate conservation', a sort of first-aid book for field treatment before the more speciahzed conservation that can only be carried out in properly equipped laboratories. I t is divided into two portions, one deahng with the effects of different environments upon various buried objects, the other tackles the 'practical aspects of conservation inthe field'. Notwithstanding the obvious usefulness of some knowledge of the environmental factors, it is the second part of this httle volume that will be of the greatest practical use to the excavator who will find in it sections deahng with the various materials necessary for field treatment (and the addresses of their supphers), methods of treatment, ways of storage and packing as weU as the needs of specific materials. All this information is made avaUable in a style that can easily be understood even by the least scientifically-minded reader. A bibliographical seotion is also provided for those wishing to follow in greater detail the various techniques involved in conservation. The publishers hope that this 'book should be part of every field archseologist's equipment', and one of them heartily recommends it. A. P. DETSICAS 257 REVIEWS New Avenues in English Local History. By Alan Everitt. 8 | in. X 5|- in. Pp. 33. Leicester University Press, 1970, 25p. Professor Everitt's inaugural lecture to the University of Leicester in February, 1970, has been pubhshed as a booklet and contains some significant observations about social and economic aspects of English medieval and later communities, including numerous references to Kent. His main consideration is the development during the Middle Ages of smaU market towns, most of which were reduced ultimately to the state of mere villages. In medieval Kent as many as ninety-six places obtained the right to hold a weekly market yet only about twenty have managed to survive as trading centres into our own times. The peak period of their development was the fourteenth century, and typical examples are Lenham, Goudhurst, Chilham, Elham and Groombridge. Although often primarily agricultural settlements, they enjoyed for a time the important function of trade centres for buying, selling or exchanging goods of their region, rather than only producing them. Their origin is obscure, though a few existed at the time of the Domesday survey. The golden age, however, did not begin till c. 1200 and there was rapid development to about the time of the Black Death. In Kent nearly 60 per cent, were founded between 1200 and 1330. Many of the markets grew from primary settlements which may always have been to some degree trade centres, and in this category can be included Elham, Chilham, Wingham, Yalding, Reculver, Eastry, Milton Regis and Minster-in-Thanet. A long line of them was situated close to the Pilgrims' Way beneath the scarp of the Downs, among them Maidstone, Lenham, Charing, Wye and Folkestone. What was the reason for their decay? By about 1640, they had been reduced in Kent to about a third, and the decline was most likely begun by the Black Death. Another factor in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was the development of main roads which served the greater towns and bypassed the lesser markets. Appledore managed to survive into the seventeenth century but by the 1830s had ceased to serve as a market, probably for this reason. Ashford, on the contrary, grew after the coming of the railway in 1844 into one of the largest livestock markets in southern England, causing the extinction of other markets in the area after an existence of five or six centuries. Some markets were held at boundaries between parishes or manors, and curious divisions of authority and rights resulted from this at West MaUing and Gravesend. Speldhurst had two markets within its bounds, one occupying the site upon which Tunbridge Wells grew up from the seventeenth century onwards. An enquiry in 1860 into the distribution of landed property reveals that, in many counties, parishes containing a large proportion of 258 REVIEWS independent freeholders were usually not simply agricultural villages in origin but decayed market towns. In Kent almost 80 per cent, of the old markets were stUl freehold communities. Another interesting revelation is that in 1851, when a census was taken of rehgious allegiances throughout the country, these decayed market-towns were strongholds of Nonconformity. During the nineteenth century many became smaU mdustrial centres, and in this respect Kent was no exception. AU this provides many starting points of enquiry and opens up new fields of regional research, for which Professor Everitt deserves the gratitude of all who seek inspiration and guidance in pursuing the history of their own locahty. T Timber and Brick Building in Kent. By Kenneth Gravett. 8 | X lOf in. Pp. xiii + 122, 12 text figs + 122 pis. Phillimore & Co., London and Chichester, 1971. £3.50. This splendid book, pubhshed as Volume XX of the Records Pubhcations Committee of our Society, contains a selection (some two-thirds of the total) of pen and ink drawings, from the J. Fremlyn Streatfeild Collection, of timber and brick buUdings in the country arranged alphabeticaUy by parishes which, incidentally, goes a long way to compensate for the absence of an index. Mr. Gravett has been responsible for this selection, an unenviable task when there was such an embarras de richesses, and written the introduction which deals with early timber-framed houses in Kent, changes in the sixteenth century, town houses and trade, and other related topics; he has also included notes on J. Fremlyn Streatfeild, the artists and the drawings which had to be omitted—it may have been better to print the notes relating to the introduction as the footnotes they really are rather than collected together at the end as it would have saved the reader some labour, but this is a matter of preference. Mr. Gravett should be warmly thanked for his labours: he has produced not only an exceUent selection but also one which is admirably illustrated and makes this opulent volume a book to be highly recommended to aU members and their friends. Would it be too high an expectation to look forward to an encorel . „ _ r A. P. DETSICAS Whitstable and the French Prisoners of War. By WaUace Harvey, 8 in. x 5 | in., pp. 48, pis. 27, 2 maps. Emprint, Whitstable, Kent. 1971, n.p. This httle book, which is most lavishly illustrated with photographs, faUs into two parts. The first is a description of the escape-route used 259 REVIEWS by French prisoners during the Napoleonic Wars when escaping from the prison-hulks moored in the Thames and Medway. This was evidently a highly organized and highly profitable trade, involving Whitstable hoys or oyster-boats, which brought the escapers down the river, several farms or inns on the cross-country route to Swalecliffe and, finaUy, a yawl or cutter to carry them across the Channel. The second part is almost entirely concerned with the career of a particularly notorious smuggler—James Moore seems to have been the first of his numerous ahases. It is a pity when so much is known that it is not possible to discover what finaUy became of him, but even though incomplete his story is interesting and gives valuable information about the local coastal and fishing trade at the time. A. C. HARRISON 260