Re-investigating the origins of the church at Lyminge

By Rob Baldwin

Over the past decade, excavations in Lyminge south of Canterbury have revealed a wealth of evidence for occupation in the period between the Fifth and Eleventh Centuries.

But during the second half of the Nineteenth Century, Lyminge also featured frequently in the pages of Archaeologia Cantiana. The Rector, Canon Robert Jenkins (Fig 2), was actively seeking the church of Queen Æthelburh (latinised as “Ethelburga”), widowed Queen of Northumbria, who traditionally was given the estate of Lyminge by her brother King Eadbald around 633. Jenkins began digging in the church yard during the 1850s. He soon encountered masonry.

In concluding on what he had found, Jenkins considered the first Lyminge charter (dated 697 or 712) describing the church as a ‘basilica’ and projected a great three-aisled church on the model of contemporary basilican churches in Italy. This extravagant conjecture has been questioned ever since.

However, it has not been possible to re-examine Jenkins’ claims until now. It has taken two years to put together a community-based project, largely funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, with additional significant support from the Sutton Hoo Society and the Roger De Haan Charitable Trust, as well as other smaller grants and public donations. The project, ‘Pathways to the Past: Exploring the legacy of Ethelburga’, involves renewing and improving the existing church yard paths and implementing disabled access to the standing Norman church. This creates the opportunity to explore once again the archaeology found by Canon Jenkins, which lies under the path on the south side of the Norman church.

Top

Fig 1: Aerial view Lyminge church from south east

Bottom

Fig 2: Rev RC Jenkins

The archaeological phase of the project commenced in July 2019 under the direction of Dr Gabor Thomas of the University of Reading, who has conducted the excavations in the village over the past decade.

Much of the work was undertaken by local volunteers, although we also contracted the assistance of Keith Parfitt from Canterbury Archaeological Trust (CAT).

Over eight weeks, we established beyond reasonable doubt that the structure found by Jenkins is mid-Seventh Century in date. It corresponds very closely in style to the church of St Pancras within the precincts of St Augustine’s in Canterbury, and also to St Mary’s at Reculver. The stepped nave was separated from the apsidal chancel by a characteristic triple arcade.

We were fortunate to recover a fragment of column made of stone from Marquise, near Boulogne, just like the columns at Reculver, which are now preserved in the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral. By finding a small fragment of the west wall, we also established its dimensions, comparable to, though smaller than, the other contemporary churches, being 13.4m long, by 5.3m at its widest. Fragments of white and pink plaster testify to the wall decoration, but we found no surviving remains of either the superstructure or the floor. All we know, therefore, is that the foundations were built using crushed Roman brick that give the mortar a distinctive pink hue. The method of construction suggests that continental masons were imported to supervise the work. It is quite possible that they re-used dressed Roman stone to build the walls, but these have been comprehensively robbed, so we cannot say for certain.

In true Victorian fashion, Canon Jenkins chased the walls of the church when he dug them, leaving the interior largely undisturbed.

However, this area may not have been disturbed in Victorian times, but it had been heavily disturbed by burials. We excavated eight burials in the end of the chancel, the deepest containing a sherd of the Thirteenth Century. It is likely, therefore, that the Seventh Century church had been demolished and had passed out of memory when burial began in this area sometime after 1200 (Fig 3).

Top

Fig 3: Excavating the Anglo-Saxon chancel at Lyminge Middle

Fig 4: Plan of Lyminge church KAS Proceedings 1874

Bottom

Fig 5: Launching the Royal Saxon Way, 29 Aug–

1 Sep 2019

Excavation has confirmed that Canon Jenkins discovered a church that could plausibly have been built by Queen Æthelburh. However, the elaborate structure he published in the KAS Proceedings for 1874 (in Archaeologia Cantiana X) did not exist (Fig 4). Some thirty years ago, the western end of the extension he described on his published plan as an “Atrium”, was re-investigated by Tim Tatton-Brown and Paul Bennett of CAT. They considered this to be a free-standing structure, and it is now clear it was built of different masonry from the church uncovered this summer, and was apparently much later in date, perhaps just pre-Conquest. It was also on a different alignment from how it was drawn by Jenkins and did not form an extension of the Seventh Century church. The solid linking walls shown on Jenkins’ plan were not found. Jenkins’ plan also ignored the stepping between the nave and chancel to fit better with his projected basilica. Exploring to the south, we found no evidence for further aisles, which thus are revealed as purely imaginary.

To the west of the porch of the standing church, an enigmatic ‘recess’ in the wall arched with Roman brick has long puzzled scholars. This now appears to be a hole hacked in the wall by

Jenkins’ workmen. We think he was investigating the great slab in the bottom of the ‘recess’, which he labelled on his 1874 plan as “original entrance”. We found the remains of Victorian period revetments that show that Jenkins made efforts to keep this area open. But we found no evidence for the Anglo- Saxon church extending under the Norman church in the way Jenkins suggests on his plan. It would appear that the ‘recess’ is simply part of the Victorian presentation of the site for public view.

Left

24 Aug site tour

Right

Archbishop Ceolnoth penny obverse c860-65

Left

White wall plaster from the church

Middle

Stratified middle Saxon pottery

Right

Red wall plaster from the church

The Seventh Century church has been revealed as a much simpler structure than Jenkins thought it was, but no less significant for that. It sits within a sequence of development at Lyminge that includes early settlement from perhaps the end of the Fifth Century, a complex of royal feasting halls of the Sixth to Seventh Centuries, and a monastic community of the Seventh to Ninth Centuries. The happenstance of survival due to the lack of later building in this core area of the village presents us with a rare opportunity to view the emergence of centres of royal and ecclesiastical power during this formative period for the development of England as a nation state.

The Pathways to the Past project is continuing into 2020 with a programme of community- based activities designed to raise awareness and understanding of the rich historical local environment. We have launched a modern pilgrimage route, the Royal Saxon Way, linking Folkestone to Minster-in-Thanet via Lyminge, celebrating the role of the queens and princesses of the Seventh and Eighth Centuries who founded abbeys and churches on the route. We have released our first project publication, Diary of a Dig, which is available through our website [Fig 5]. We will be seeking to publish more on the dig and look at the broader history of early medieval Lyminge, as well as install information panels within the village. We are also working with the Centre for the Study of Christianity and Culture at the University of York to create 3D digital reconstructions of the church site through its 1,400 year history, using the laser scans that were made during the summer. The project is thus continuing, and we still have a need for funding if we are to achieve all our objectives.

Members of KAS who are interested to learn more, or who wish to donate, can visit our project website at https://geopaethas.com

Top

Aerial view of Lyminge Anglo-Saxon chancel

Bottom

North porticus - possible site of Ethelburga’s tomb