Late Anglo-Saxon Locations Alan Payne and Jonathan Parkhouse, December 2020
Ditteridge in Allen's 1630 map (courtesy Wiltshire History Centre)
In the previous issue we considered whether our area was a self-contained unit in late Anglo-Saxon times. There is no evidence to suggest that Box was an administrative area as such but there are indications of late Saxon occupation and settlement, particularly in the hamlets away from the village centre.
Early Medieval Ditteridge
We can see how Ditteridge evolved because it remained substantially undisturbed by the later buildings that obscure the origins of Box. Ditteridge still shows a distinct settlement pattern. Each house is sited on its own croft of land for the exclusive use of its owner, facing the sun and running at right angles to the street on the west and set back from the street on the east.[1] The crofts are gathered close together at the centre of the area and they stretch back from the street to fields surrounding them. This arrangement is a basic medieval pattern although it is not possible to date its origin or the cause of the pattern, whether an indication of an early Saxon kinship group or of post-Conquest deliberate planning by the lord of the manor. There are numerous references to feudal crofts in Box in the period 1207-27, such as: a certain croft which Midewynter held, the croft which is called Lepeyate, which lies next to that land of theirs called Smith’s croft.[2]
This is reinforced by the name of the area. Ditteridge refers to a ridge (hrycg) and, when applied to a field, it may have been caused by repeated medieval ploughing in open fields.[3] There is some evidence of intensively cropped infields, highly manured and planted every year called Dichridg Feilde in Allen’s maps. Further away may be the outfields, such as the field called Newlands, which were used only when needed to boost agricultural production after poor harvests, perhaps once every five years, or where the soil was poor and needed to be rested as pasture before being brought back into cultivation.[4] However, notwithstanding this assertion, there is another, simpler explanation of the name of the hamlet as a ridge of land running eastwards from the Fosse Way, which is probably more plausible.[5]
The Domesday Book gives us more detail about Ditteridge before 1066 at the close of the Saxon period. It states that Ditteridge had arable land of one hide and three virgates (being about 120 acres and 90 acres respectively), 7 acres of meadow, 15 acres of pasture and 17 acres of woodland. It was a small settlement with a rental value of 30 shillings (£1.50), bigger than Biddestone,
a similar size to Kington St Michael. We might speculate that it had a population of 15 people or so, being the households of two villani (villeins) and four cottars (cottagers). It was controlled by a lord (probably not resident) and in return for the lord’s protection and justice, the residents worked on ploughing his land in the arable fields for a number of days per week, according to the custom of the area.
Five hundred years later, the headline Allen map of 1630 shows the settlement pattern with Rode Hill passing through the Upper Field, linking up with Alcombe by a curious detour. Another road passes through the Lower Field, linking at Ingalls and Powlilea before climbing the valley side to Colerne. The map shows what still remained, following piecemeal enclosure, of two large communal open fields, Dichridg Uppar Feilde of 111 acres and Ditchridg Low Feilde of 67 acres. We can still trace some fields: Slade (meaning low lying) of 10 acres is the pasture, Ashe Close of 14 acres is the woodland, Multo Ley is 20 acres (possibly meaning sheep or wether) may refer to the communal pasture in the Domesday Book.[6]
We can see how Ditteridge evolved because it remained substantially undisturbed by the later buildings that obscure the origins of Box. Ditteridge still shows a distinct settlement pattern. Each house is sited on its own croft of land for the exclusive use of its owner, facing the sun and running at right angles to the street on the west and set back from the street on the east.[1] The crofts are gathered close together at the centre of the area and they stretch back from the street to fields surrounding them. This arrangement is a basic medieval pattern although it is not possible to date its origin or the cause of the pattern, whether an indication of an early Saxon kinship group or of post-Conquest deliberate planning by the lord of the manor. There are numerous references to feudal crofts in Box in the period 1207-27, such as: a certain croft which Midewynter held, the croft which is called Lepeyate, which lies next to that land of theirs called Smith’s croft.[2]
This is reinforced by the name of the area. Ditteridge refers to a ridge (hrycg) and, when applied to a field, it may have been caused by repeated medieval ploughing in open fields.[3] There is some evidence of intensively cropped infields, highly manured and planted every year called Dichridg Feilde in Allen’s maps. Further away may be the outfields, such as the field called Newlands, which were used only when needed to boost agricultural production after poor harvests, perhaps once every five years, or where the soil was poor and needed to be rested as pasture before being brought back into cultivation.[4] However, notwithstanding this assertion, there is another, simpler explanation of the name of the hamlet as a ridge of land running eastwards from the Fosse Way, which is probably more plausible.[5]
The Domesday Book gives us more detail about Ditteridge before 1066 at the close of the Saxon period. It states that Ditteridge had arable land of one hide and three virgates (being about 120 acres and 90 acres respectively), 7 acres of meadow, 15 acres of pasture and 17 acres of woodland. It was a small settlement with a rental value of 30 shillings (£1.50), bigger than Biddestone,
a similar size to Kington St Michael. We might speculate that it had a population of 15 people or so, being the households of two villani (villeins) and four cottars (cottagers). It was controlled by a lord (probably not resident) and in return for the lord’s protection and justice, the residents worked on ploughing his land in the arable fields for a number of days per week, according to the custom of the area.
Five hundred years later, the headline Allen map of 1630 shows the settlement pattern with Rode Hill passing through the Upper Field, linking up with Alcombe by a curious detour. Another road passes through the Lower Field, linking at Ingalls and Powlilea before climbing the valley side to Colerne. The map shows what still remained, following piecemeal enclosure, of two large communal open fields, Dichridg Uppar Feilde of 111 acres and Ditchridg Low Feilde of 67 acres. We can still trace some fields: Slade (meaning low lying) of 10 acres is the pasture, Ashe Close of 14 acres is the woodland, Multo Ley is 20 acres (possibly meaning sheep or wether) may refer to the communal pasture in the Domesday Book.[6]
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Scandinavian fertility motifs on the doorway of Ditteridge Church (courtesy Carol Payne)
St Christopher's Church, Ditteridge
The church of Ditteridge has possible origins in Saxon times. The Domesday entry for Ditteridge says: An Abbot of Malmesbury leased 1 hide of this land to Alstan. We have already seen that Malmesbury was a very early minster centre and had widespread authority in the area through chapels-at-ease (daughter churches for the easy access of outlying residents) at Limpley Stoke, Atworth, Holt, South Wraxall and Winsley.[7] In return for providing a priest for the spiritual needs of parishioners (including weekly mass and absolution before death) the minster church retained part of the tithes (the great or corn tithe) and the income from the land which it rented out to Alstan (notionally 120 acres).[8] This was a large area, glebe-land usually being 30 or 60 acres. The priest retained the lesser tithes (animals and other produce). Allen’s map still shows what might be the residue of the Alstan’s land in fields called Gleeb and Strowd Gleeb (marshy land over grown with brushwood) totalling seven acres.[9]
St Christopher’s may not always have been a building and possibly started as simple standing cross. Early churches were founded when evangelising minster priests toured the countryside holding services at preaching stations. Later, wooden field churches were built to supersede the preaching cross, sometimes being made into a more permanent structure built of stone by the end of the Saxon period.[10] The present stone building dates from 1097 but its format is Saxon with a rectangular east end and side entrance, with no transepts.[11] It has been claimed that there was an earlier Saxon church on the site which was rebuilt in the Norman period.[12] The doorway, a window and the font may date from the 11th century but there is little evidence to support this. The doorway has Norman carvings showing a dragon and four-legged animals on the doorjambs and supporting stones, and a leaf frieze around the door.[13] Many Norman churches have themes depicting fertility as represented by the dragon. The decoration also includes a Scandinavian style creature on the left, perhaps a reference to Viking influence in the years after the Norman conquest.
The involvement of Malmesbury in the affairs of Ditteridge Church is interesting. Malmesbury was responsible for the spiritual welfare of people and with royal patronage. It built churches like the St Lawrence chapel at Bradford-on-Avon constructed to house the relics of King Edward the Martyr in a stone church worthy of God’s praise of his saint. It has been suggested that the church was unfinished and abandoned on the death of King Æthelred, the building’s sponsor.[14] The incident also shows the interest of Malmesbury Abbey in the building potential of the area. A number of Saxon Christian crosses made of local stone have been claimed apocryphally to be erected in the 800s at points in St Aldhelm’s journey through Wiltshire, including one at Colerne Church.[15]
Ditteridge Parish
The church of Ditteridge has possible origins in Saxon times. The Domesday entry for Ditteridge says: An Abbot of Malmesbury leased 1 hide of this land to Alstan. We have already seen that Malmesbury was a very early minster centre and had widespread authority in the area through chapels-at-ease (daughter churches for the easy access of outlying residents) at Limpley Stoke, Atworth, Holt, South Wraxall and Winsley.[7] In return for providing a priest for the spiritual needs of parishioners (including weekly mass and absolution before death) the minster church retained part of the tithes (the great or corn tithe) and the income from the land which it rented out to Alstan (notionally 120 acres).[8] This was a large area, glebe-land usually being 30 or 60 acres. The priest retained the lesser tithes (animals and other produce). Allen’s map still shows what might be the residue of the Alstan’s land in fields called Gleeb and Strowd Gleeb (marshy land over grown with brushwood) totalling seven acres.[9]
St Christopher’s may not always have been a building and possibly started as simple standing cross. Early churches were founded when evangelising minster priests toured the countryside holding services at preaching stations. Later, wooden field churches were built to supersede the preaching cross, sometimes being made into a more permanent structure built of stone by the end of the Saxon period.[10] The present stone building dates from 1097 but its format is Saxon with a rectangular east end and side entrance, with no transepts.[11] It has been claimed that there was an earlier Saxon church on the site which was rebuilt in the Norman period.[12] The doorway, a window and the font may date from the 11th century but there is little evidence to support this. The doorway has Norman carvings showing a dragon and four-legged animals on the doorjambs and supporting stones, and a leaf frieze around the door.[13] Many Norman churches have themes depicting fertility as represented by the dragon. The decoration also includes a Scandinavian style creature on the left, perhaps a reference to Viking influence in the years after the Norman conquest.
The involvement of Malmesbury in the affairs of Ditteridge Church is interesting. Malmesbury was responsible for the spiritual welfare of people and with royal patronage. It built churches like the St Lawrence chapel at Bradford-on-Avon constructed to house the relics of King Edward the Martyr in a stone church worthy of God’s praise of his saint. It has been suggested that the church was unfinished and abandoned on the death of King Æthelred, the building’s sponsor.[14] The incident also shows the interest of Malmesbury Abbey in the building potential of the area. A number of Saxon Christian crosses made of local stone have been claimed apocryphally to be erected in the 800s at points in St Aldhelm’s journey through Wiltshire, including one at Colerne Church.[15]
Ditteridge Parish
The Tithe Apportionment map of 1840 shows fields throughout Box marked in light green which are part of the Ditteridge parish (courtesy Wilts History Centre)
The unexplained problem with Ditteridge is how and when the Ditteridge parish became fragmented into many parts. Such fragmentation is relatively unusual although there are other instances, for example Charlton Adam in Somerset, Preston and Eyton near Wellington in Shropshire.[16] The Ditteridge parish areas survived for centuries but there is no evidence of when or why the diffuse arrangement was created.
The causes of the fragmentation may be varied - a new parish being carved out of an old one, or division of a parish into two but retaining a single common field system, or reflecting two parishes’ rights in inter-commoned wastes and woodland (unlikely to be the case here). Whatever the reason here, there seem to be strong hints of complexity in the manorial history of both Ditteridge and Box.
The causes of the fragmentation may be varied - a new parish being carved out of an old one, or division of a parish into two but retaining a single common field system, or reflecting two parishes’ rights in inter-commoned wastes and woodland (unlikely to be the case here). Whatever the reason here, there seem to be strong hints of complexity in the manorial history of both Ditteridge and Box.
Late Saxon Locations in Central Box
There have been claims that Box Church may have had origins as a wooden Saxon church but there is no actual evidence for this. The dating of the creation of a parochial structure in England as a whole remains a mystery because no documentary evidence has been uncovered of what appears to have been a massive reorganisation of church administration. A commonly-suggested date is late 900s and early 1000s.[17] An alternative view is that many local churches (often called estate churches) derive from the increased power of local lords during a period of the break-up of large estates and increased local manorialisation (local agricultural economy headed by lord).
The position of Box Church is curious as it is scarcely visible from certain directions, surrounded by a comparatively small area of glebe land.[18] The lack of substantial glebe land adds to the belief that Box Church started as an estate church, built by, and financially supported by, the local lord of the manor for use by the local community as well as himself. The seventeenth century antiquarian John Aubrey asserted that: Parson Bridges says Sir Hugh Speke told him that he had searched in the black Book and found … that 100 years after the conquest Box church was built by the Earl of Hereford, although Aubrey thought that the Bigod family were the real builders.[19] Clearly there is much speculation in this and it seems to be the basis of an assertion on a plaque in the church: This Church was first built in 1200 and rebuilt in 1713, which was obviously recorded after 1713.
If the concept of an earlier wooden building is correct, then it is possible that the creation of a church was a sign of the rising status of a lay person to a position of nobility in the early 1000s.[20] It was a common event throughout England, so that Bishop Hereman of Ramsbury wrote to the Pope in 1050 about: England being filled everywhere with churches, which daily were being added anew in new places. But it has been suggested that this document was probably referring to great churches rather than parish or proprietary churches, though this does not negate the amount of building going on at the time.[21]
Another popular claim is that stone quarrymen lived in the Box area in Anglo-Saxon times based on an assumption that Bradford, Malmesbury and other ecclesiastic buildings were of Box Ground stone.[22] But the evidence for this is flimsy. The tradition that Aldhelm used Box stone at Malmesbury was not recorded until about a thousand years after the supposed event, and no trace of Aldhelm's buildings at Malmesbury has been found, so we have no evidence for the materials used in their construction.[23] The stone would have been enormously valuable and its extraction, shaping, transportation and erection extremely expensive. Stone would have been restricted to the more significant churches and, probably, there would have been very little demand for building stone. Nor are there any Old English place-names which denote quarrying in Box, such as crundel (technically ‘ravine’ but also indicative of quarrying) or stan gedelf and no quarries recorded in the parish in the Domesday Book. We must acknowledge that there is in reality very little reason to suppose that quarrying was a significant activity in Anglo-Saxon Box.
Alcombe
There are occasional Old English elements in fieldnames, such as Charlands (meaning the coerls lands) at Alcombe (refs 258 and 280) and Charlwood (refs 699 and 701a). Both refer to the Saxon word churl (peasant). We need to exercise care with these references. They may not mean that an early medieval settlement existed here as a couple of Old English fieldname elements don’t necessarily make an Anglo-Saxon settlement. The term churl was still in use after the Norman conquest, although the free peasant originally denoted eventually became an unfree villein.
There have been claims that Box Church may have had origins as a wooden Saxon church but there is no actual evidence for this. The dating of the creation of a parochial structure in England as a whole remains a mystery because no documentary evidence has been uncovered of what appears to have been a massive reorganisation of church administration. A commonly-suggested date is late 900s and early 1000s.[17] An alternative view is that many local churches (often called estate churches) derive from the increased power of local lords during a period of the break-up of large estates and increased local manorialisation (local agricultural economy headed by lord).
The position of Box Church is curious as it is scarcely visible from certain directions, surrounded by a comparatively small area of glebe land.[18] The lack of substantial glebe land adds to the belief that Box Church started as an estate church, built by, and financially supported by, the local lord of the manor for use by the local community as well as himself. The seventeenth century antiquarian John Aubrey asserted that: Parson Bridges says Sir Hugh Speke told him that he had searched in the black Book and found … that 100 years after the conquest Box church was built by the Earl of Hereford, although Aubrey thought that the Bigod family were the real builders.[19] Clearly there is much speculation in this and it seems to be the basis of an assertion on a plaque in the church: This Church was first built in 1200 and rebuilt in 1713, which was obviously recorded after 1713.
If the concept of an earlier wooden building is correct, then it is possible that the creation of a church was a sign of the rising status of a lay person to a position of nobility in the early 1000s.[20] It was a common event throughout England, so that Bishop Hereman of Ramsbury wrote to the Pope in 1050 about: England being filled everywhere with churches, which daily were being added anew in new places. But it has been suggested that this document was probably referring to great churches rather than parish or proprietary churches, though this does not negate the amount of building going on at the time.[21]
Another popular claim is that stone quarrymen lived in the Box area in Anglo-Saxon times based on an assumption that Bradford, Malmesbury and other ecclesiastic buildings were of Box Ground stone.[22] But the evidence for this is flimsy. The tradition that Aldhelm used Box stone at Malmesbury was not recorded until about a thousand years after the supposed event, and no trace of Aldhelm's buildings at Malmesbury has been found, so we have no evidence for the materials used in their construction.[23] The stone would have been enormously valuable and its extraction, shaping, transportation and erection extremely expensive. Stone would have been restricted to the more significant churches and, probably, there would have been very little demand for building stone. Nor are there any Old English place-names which denote quarrying in Box, such as crundel (technically ‘ravine’ but also indicative of quarrying) or stan gedelf and no quarries recorded in the parish in the Domesday Book. We must acknowledge that there is in reality very little reason to suppose that quarrying was a significant activity in Anglo-Saxon Box.
Alcombe
There are occasional Old English elements in fieldnames, such as Charlands (meaning the coerls lands) at Alcombe (refs 258 and 280) and Charlwood (refs 699 and 701a). Both refer to the Saxon word churl (peasant). We need to exercise care with these references. They may not mean that an early medieval settlement existed here as a couple of Old English fieldname elements don’t necessarily make an Anglo-Saxon settlement. The term churl was still in use after the Norman conquest, although the free peasant originally denoted eventually became an unfree villein.
References
[1] RW Brunskill, Traditional Buildings of Britain, Victor Gollanz, 1981, p.33
[2] GJ Kidston, History of the Manor of Hazelbury, 1936, p.294-95
[3] John Field, A History of English Field-names, 1993, Longman, p.81
[4] Michael Aston, Interpreting the Landscape, p.127-9 and David Hall, The Open Fields of England, 2014, Oxford University Press, p.86
[5] JEB Gover Allen Mawer and FM Stenton, The Place-names of Wiltshire, 1970, Cambridge University Press, p.83
[6] RE Latham, 1965, Revised medieval Latin word-list, 1965, Oxford University Press
[7] Derek Parker and John Chandler, Wiltshire Churches: An Illustrated History, 1993, Alan Sutton, p.12, 14
[8] Derek Parker and John Chandler, Wiltshire Churches: An Illustrated History, p.20
[9] John Field, A History of English Field-names, 1993, Longman, p.188
[10] Derek Parker and John Chandler, Wiltshire Churches: An Illustrated History, p.18
[11] Parish Magazine, February 2002
[12] Wiltshire Community History, https://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/getchurch.php?id=633#:~:text=Church%20of%20St.%20Christopher%2C%20Ditteridge%2C%20Box%20It%20is,here%20although%20the%20present%20church%20dates%20from%20c.1100
[13] Nikolaus Pevsner, The Buildings of England :Wiltshire, 1975, Penguin Books, p.220
[14] J Haslem, The unfinished chapel at Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, and ecclesiastical politics in the early eleventh century, 2013, Archaeological Journal 170, p.272-301
[15] Andrew Langley and John Utting, The Village on the Hill, 1990, Colerne History Group, p.7
[16] A Wainwright, Discovering Parish Boundaries, 1999, Shire Publications, p.13-19
[17] Barbara Yorke, Wessex in the Early Middle Ages, 1995, Leicester University Press, p.229
[18] As seen in Francis Allen’s 1626 map
[19] John Aubrey, The Wiltshire Topographical Collections, 1862, The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, p.55
[20] Barbara Yorke, Wessex in the Early Middle Ages, p.230
[21] John Blair, The Church in Anglo-Saxon Society, 2005, Amazon, p.368
[22] E Jope, The Saxon building-stone industry, 1964, Medieval Archaeology 8, p.91-118
[23] John Aubrey, The Wiltshire Topographical Collections, 1862, The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, p.58
[1] RW Brunskill, Traditional Buildings of Britain, Victor Gollanz, 1981, p.33
[2] GJ Kidston, History of the Manor of Hazelbury, 1936, p.294-95
[3] John Field, A History of English Field-names, 1993, Longman, p.81
[4] Michael Aston, Interpreting the Landscape, p.127-9 and David Hall, The Open Fields of England, 2014, Oxford University Press, p.86
[5] JEB Gover Allen Mawer and FM Stenton, The Place-names of Wiltshire, 1970, Cambridge University Press, p.83
[6] RE Latham, 1965, Revised medieval Latin word-list, 1965, Oxford University Press
[7] Derek Parker and John Chandler, Wiltshire Churches: An Illustrated History, 1993, Alan Sutton, p.12, 14
[8] Derek Parker and John Chandler, Wiltshire Churches: An Illustrated History, p.20
[9] John Field, A History of English Field-names, 1993, Longman, p.188
[10] Derek Parker and John Chandler, Wiltshire Churches: An Illustrated History, p.18
[11] Parish Magazine, February 2002
[12] Wiltshire Community History, https://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/getchurch.php?id=633#:~:text=Church%20of%20St.%20Christopher%2C%20Ditteridge%2C%20Box%20It%20is,here%20although%20the%20present%20church%20dates%20from%20c.1100
[13] Nikolaus Pevsner, The Buildings of England :Wiltshire, 1975, Penguin Books, p.220
[14] J Haslem, The unfinished chapel at Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, and ecclesiastical politics in the early eleventh century, 2013, Archaeological Journal 170, p.272-301
[15] Andrew Langley and John Utting, The Village on the Hill, 1990, Colerne History Group, p.7
[16] A Wainwright, Discovering Parish Boundaries, 1999, Shire Publications, p.13-19
[17] Barbara Yorke, Wessex in the Early Middle Ages, 1995, Leicester University Press, p.229
[18] As seen in Francis Allen’s 1626 map
[19] John Aubrey, The Wiltshire Topographical Collections, 1862, The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, p.55
[20] Barbara Yorke, Wessex in the Early Middle Ages, p.230
[21] John Blair, The Church in Anglo-Saxon Society, 2005, Amazon, p.368
[22] E Jope, The Saxon building-stone industry, 1964, Medieval Archaeology 8, p.91-118
[23] John Aubrey, The Wiltshire Topographical Collections, 1862, The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, p.58