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Why is Box in Wiltshire? Alan Payne and Jonathan Parkhouse August 2020 We discussed late Roman events in Box in the last issue. This issue considers the period from AD 600 to 800 and our place in a culture called Anglo-Saxon in the county of Wiltshire. Wiltshire is a strangely-shaped area with a diverse topography (the so-called Chalk and Cheese lands) and no large administrative focal county town. It borders six other historic counties, Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire, with irregular borders which sometimes appear to make little sense. Because of Box's proximity to Bath, it would seem natural that the two would be in the same county, so the question arises - how has it ended up separated from that city? This isn’t as straightforward as it seems. It presumes a knowledge of the origins of a territory called Box and an organisational structure called Wiltshire. Both areas concern the actual territory and the people who lived in them. The origins of this date back to Anglo-Saxon times. |
Heptarchy in England (courtesy Wikipedia)
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No modern Box residents would regard Wilton as a focal point yet Wiltshire is probably called after Wilton, 34 miles away and Box gradually lost any administrative connection with Roman Aqua Sulis. The reasons for this are complicated. Wilton was an early Saxon royal residence (until supplanted by Winchester), an ecclesiastical centre (until eclipsed by New Sarum and Ramsbury) and a major borough with right to mint coins. But this doesn’t really explain why Box is in Wiltshire.
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Saxon Expansion in the 600s
The period of two centuries after AD 600 was a time of conflict between two different groups. The Saxon Mercians were dominant in East Anglia and London and gradually spread into the Midlands, in the course of which their name evolved into Hwicce. This brought them into conflict with West Saxon areas controlled by the Gewisse who were extending their influence westwards from the area around Dorchester-on-Thames.[1] Bath and the area we now call northwest Wiltshire was contested by these two groups. If the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is to be believed, West Saxon / Gewisse ambitions in Gloucestershire were checked following a battle at Cirencester in 628 after which the Hwicce / Mercians established overall control over the territory and any ambitions of the Wessex Gewisse were largely confined south of the Thames and Avon rivers. |
Hwicce and Gewisse Saxon Tribes Both kingdoms are known through the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: Hwicce control was in the Midlands, later called Mercia The Gewisse tribe settled in Wessex (West Saxons, later called Anglo-Saxons). |
We can see repeated disputes between the two groups in the areas around Box. The rise of the Hwicce / Saxon Mercia, especially under King Penda from 632 until 655, threatened to overshadow the Gewisse / West Saxon hegemony. Penda took control of the Cotswolds, Cirencester and Bath through his client kingdom of the Hwicce. He twice defeated the Northumbrians before he met his death fighting them in 655. Confrontation continued in the North Wiltshire area. In 652 the Chronicle recorded that the Gewisse leader Cenwalh, whose name is British, fought at Bradanforda (probably identified as Bradford-on-Avon). We can see that the westward movement of the Saxon Gewisse into Wiltshire was secured only in the second half of the seventh century and their entry into Somerset after the battle of Peonnum in 658 (possibly Penselwood).[2] After 680 Bede began to call the Gewisse by the name West Saxon, although the inter-changeability of the names suggests it was the same people. The situation was still fluid, however. In 681, the Mercian ruler Cenfrith gave land at Tetbury and the Fosse Way to Malmesbury Abbey, implying that these places had been recaptured under direct Mercian control but in 682 Cadwalla of Wessex gave land at Kemble to the Abbey.[3]
Adam’s Grave long barrow on the East Wansdyke (courtesy Jonathan Parkhouse)
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King Ine
Ine was king of the West Saxons from 688 to 726 when he abdicated to go on pilgrimage to Rome. He ruled for a long time (over 37 years) in a period that seems to have been comparatively peaceful although there are references to a battle in 715 at Wodnesbeorg (the long barrow called Adam’s Grave on the East Wansdyke).[4] However, the veracity of this battle has been questioned. Wodnesbeorg is considered to be an example of a conflict narrative, whereby battles and important events may have been fabricated to be associated with significant topographical sites. It has been pointed out that, in addition to the battle of 715, there had also been great slaughter on the very same site in AD 592 according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Thus, we have a prominent ancient site apparently twice being incorporated into origin/ battle narratives and given a name which resonated with an immigrant back-story. Some historians have suggested that King Ine re-organised the West Saxon territory, abolishing sub-kingdoms and replacing them with a shire structure.[5] Each shire was administered by an ealdorman responsible for leading the shire-men into any battle that arose locally. After Ine’s death, Mercia invaded North Wiltshire in 733 and in 779 King Offa of Mercia tried to capture Bath.[6] |
West Saxon Rulers before Alfred according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 648-674 Cenwalh (restored) 674 Cenfus 674-676 Aescwine son of Cenfus 676-685 Centwine 685-688 Caedwalla, King of the Saxons 688-726 Ine 726-740 Aethelheard, brother-in-law of Ine 740-756 Cuthred, brother of Aethelheard 756-757 Sigeberht 757-786 Cynewulf 786-802 Beorhtric 802-839 Egbert, Ine’s nephew 839-858 Aethelwulf son of Egbert 858-860 Aethelbald son of Aethelwulf 860-865 Aethelberht brother of Aethelbald 865-871 Aethelred I brother of Aethelbald |
Formation of Wiltshire
It seems unlikely that the boundaries of early medieval Wiltshire were based on Roman or Iron Age territorial areas although some shires show partial similarities. It is more probable that Anglo-Saxon administrators used existing patterns of behaviour and local perceptions of identity. In some cases this might go back many generations; in other cases nurtured by foundation myths and new allegiances. In addition, old boundaries will have left a template, sometimes apparently physical (for example ancient earthworks), in other cases mental (our people have always grazed animals this side of the river, up as far as the old burial mound). Such factors might have influenced administrative decisions in respect of political geography but without necessarily indicating administrative structures.
Some historians have claimed that the origin of the shire may have occurred around 700 in the reign of King Ine. We can see the origins of some other shires. Hampshire was already a name in use by 755 but a very much smaller area in the immediate vicinity of the River Itchen, roughly the immediate surroundings of Southampton.[7] The theory goes that during Ine’s time the expansion of the West Saxons shifted in a westerly direction with the loss of Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Essex in the east and the consolidation of Saxon power over Somerset, Hampshire, Devon and the Vale of Pewsey. One theory is that Ine set up members of his royal family to control the shires of Berkshire, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Somerset, Dorset and parts of Devon, giving them the name of ealdormen.[8] These appointments appear to have replaced the use of sub-kings to consolidate royal West Saxon authority against the British and Mercian areas.[9] If this is correct, there was a marked shift away from the leadership of elite familial groups, which recruited their members on the basis of kinship and residence in the same geographical area. They were succeeded by a nobility class controlling larger areas (shires) with scirmen presiding over local courts.[10] Ine’s expansion didn’t last, however, and probably the Mercian army retook most of Wiltshire after his death.[11]
The archaeologist Bruce Eagles contrasted the west area of Wessex (Devon, Somerset, Dorset) with the east (Wiltshire, Hampshire, Berkshire). The former demonstrates some degree of continuity from late Iron Age/Romano-British tribal territories, whilst the latter do not, instead demonstrating the coalescence of smaller units.[12] Bruce Eagles proposed that, in the case of Wiltshire, there were small early units such as a Wiltsæte along rivers such as the Salisbury Avon or the upper Wylye (the Deverills). He thought the possible meaning of the word Wiltsæte was "dwellers around the river Wylye", rather than a derivation of Wilton.
The first documentary mention of the name Wiltshire doesn't occur until 802 when the ealdorman Weohstan led his people, the Wiltsaete, against the Hwicce and in support of King Egbert of Wessex.[13] It may be that the boundary of the county at that time was the line of the Wansdyke (East Wansdyke plus the Roman road to Bath) and the northern part not incorporated until after the West Saxon victory over the Mercians at Ellandun (possibly Wroughton or Lydiard Tregose) in AD 825. In this interpretation, Wiltshire started as smaller unit to defend against the Mercians and was perhaps formally reorganised into a larger administrative area first mentioned as Wiltunscir during King Alfred's fight against the Danes after 878.[14]
It seems unlikely that the boundaries of early medieval Wiltshire were based on Roman or Iron Age territorial areas although some shires show partial similarities. It is more probable that Anglo-Saxon administrators used existing patterns of behaviour and local perceptions of identity. In some cases this might go back many generations; in other cases nurtured by foundation myths and new allegiances. In addition, old boundaries will have left a template, sometimes apparently physical (for example ancient earthworks), in other cases mental (our people have always grazed animals this side of the river, up as far as the old burial mound). Such factors might have influenced administrative decisions in respect of political geography but without necessarily indicating administrative structures.
Some historians have claimed that the origin of the shire may have occurred around 700 in the reign of King Ine. We can see the origins of some other shires. Hampshire was already a name in use by 755 but a very much smaller area in the immediate vicinity of the River Itchen, roughly the immediate surroundings of Southampton.[7] The theory goes that during Ine’s time the expansion of the West Saxons shifted in a westerly direction with the loss of Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Essex in the east and the consolidation of Saxon power over Somerset, Hampshire, Devon and the Vale of Pewsey. One theory is that Ine set up members of his royal family to control the shires of Berkshire, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Somerset, Dorset and parts of Devon, giving them the name of ealdormen.[8] These appointments appear to have replaced the use of sub-kings to consolidate royal West Saxon authority against the British and Mercian areas.[9] If this is correct, there was a marked shift away from the leadership of elite familial groups, which recruited their members on the basis of kinship and residence in the same geographical area. They were succeeded by a nobility class controlling larger areas (shires) with scirmen presiding over local courts.[10] Ine’s expansion didn’t last, however, and probably the Mercian army retook most of Wiltshire after his death.[11]
The archaeologist Bruce Eagles contrasted the west area of Wessex (Devon, Somerset, Dorset) with the east (Wiltshire, Hampshire, Berkshire). The former demonstrates some degree of continuity from late Iron Age/Romano-British tribal territories, whilst the latter do not, instead demonstrating the coalescence of smaller units.[12] Bruce Eagles proposed that, in the case of Wiltshire, there were small early units such as a Wiltsæte along rivers such as the Salisbury Avon or the upper Wylye (the Deverills). He thought the possible meaning of the word Wiltsæte was "dwellers around the river Wylye", rather than a derivation of Wilton.
The first documentary mention of the name Wiltshire doesn't occur until 802 when the ealdorman Weohstan led his people, the Wiltsaete, against the Hwicce and in support of King Egbert of Wessex.[13] It may be that the boundary of the county at that time was the line of the Wansdyke (East Wansdyke plus the Roman road to Bath) and the northern part not incorporated until after the West Saxon victory over the Mercians at Ellandun (possibly Wroughton or Lydiard Tregose) in AD 825. In this interpretation, Wiltshire started as smaller unit to defend against the Mercians and was perhaps formally reorganised into a larger administrative area first mentioned as Wiltunscir during King Alfred's fight against the Danes after 878.[14]
King Offa of Mercia (courtesy Wikimedia)
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Our Area
The boundaries of present Box are varied - the north is the Lid Brook, the west is part of the Fosse Way, the south-west a small stream, the south a Roman road and the east is unclear. The area straddles the By Brook and includes at least two parishes, Box and Ditteridge, and probably a third in some periods at Hazelbury. The Fosse Way road is a pre-Saxon boundary at Alcombe. The Old English word describing the Fosse Way herepæÞ literally means army-path and the road was described as herewai in a charter of 1001.[15] The southern boundary was described as imare (from mære, a boundary or border) in the same charter. This route is no longer a road west of the Kennett valley and for most of its length not a public footpath. Such total loss of an important Roman route is unusual, although the point at which the road falls out of use is likely to be late, even post-conquest. |
None of this really helps to define Box’s origins. Some historians have claimed that the boundaries of Roman villa estates may have been coextensive with later Anglo-Saxon manors, but it is difficult to demonstrate actual continuity with any confidence. Some locations seem to reflect land divisions established in the Iron Age but this may be that the remnants of earlier boundaries, marked by pit alignments and ditches, still operated as templates in the landscape irrespective of administrative continuity.
Archaeological evidence of Saxon culture is prevalent to the south and east of Box but not in our area, where the predominant archaeological finds in the period AD 400 to AD 600 are of Romano-British styles. This is also apparent in south Gloucestershire at Kemble and Chavenage and to the west at Bath.[16] A fine Celtic hanging bowl mount dated AD 650 to 700 was found at Seagry, Chippenham. The River Avon and its many tributaries is a British name.
Because Box ended up as part of Wiltshire, this doesn't mean that it was continuously West Saxon. Based on the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the area seems to have been intermittently contested by groups identifying themselves as Mercians, Hwicce, Gewisse or West Saxon, all of which may imply people with various identities: British, Germanic or English. Indeed, because of its infrastructure our area might have been easily accessible to outsiders. The Roman Fosseway lay just to the northwest whilst the east-west road between Aquae Sulis (Bath), Verlucio (Sandy Lane) and Cunetio (Mildenhall, Marlborough) lay to the south. These routes may have been used by war-bands or raiding parties, as well as locals going about their daily lives. There is of course no way of telling what proportion of the people living in and around Box were incomers as against descendants of the Romano-British population.
Conclusion
Even if the origins of Wiltshire remain unclear, we can see how susceptible our area was to intrusion from outsiders in the Anglo-Saxon period, which may have made administrative location difficult. This may not have been significant for any residents in their daily lives. Indeed, there is no reason to suppose that a fertile area like Box was not inhabited during this time and exploited for husbandry with its good water supply in a sheltered valley.
Archaeological evidence of Saxon culture is prevalent to the south and east of Box but not in our area, where the predominant archaeological finds in the period AD 400 to AD 600 are of Romano-British styles. This is also apparent in south Gloucestershire at Kemble and Chavenage and to the west at Bath.[16] A fine Celtic hanging bowl mount dated AD 650 to 700 was found at Seagry, Chippenham. The River Avon and its many tributaries is a British name.
Because Box ended up as part of Wiltshire, this doesn't mean that it was continuously West Saxon. Based on the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the area seems to have been intermittently contested by groups identifying themselves as Mercians, Hwicce, Gewisse or West Saxon, all of which may imply people with various identities: British, Germanic or English. Indeed, because of its infrastructure our area might have been easily accessible to outsiders. The Roman Fosseway lay just to the northwest whilst the east-west road between Aquae Sulis (Bath), Verlucio (Sandy Lane) and Cunetio (Mildenhall, Marlborough) lay to the south. These routes may have been used by war-bands or raiding parties, as well as locals going about their daily lives. There is of course no way of telling what proportion of the people living in and around Box were incomers as against descendants of the Romano-British population.
Conclusion
Even if the origins of Wiltshire remain unclear, we can see how susceptible our area was to intrusion from outsiders in the Anglo-Saxon period, which may have made administrative location difficult. This may not have been significant for any residents in their daily lives. Indeed, there is no reason to suppose that a fertile area like Box was not inhabited during this time and exploited for husbandry with its good water supply in a sheltered valley.
References
[1] Barbara Yorke, Wessex in the Early Middle Ages, 1995, Leicester University Press, p.59
[2] Simon Andrew Draper, Landscape, settlement and society in Roman and early medieval Wiltshire, 2006, Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3064/ p.84
[3] See charter is S 231 P Sawyer, 1968, Anglo-Saxon Charters: an annotated list and bibliography at https://esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk/about/index.html
[4] Bruce Eagles, Roman Wiltshire and After (editor Peter Ellis), 2001, “Anglo-Saxon Presence and Culture in Wiltshire, AD 450-c675”, p.205. It can be identified, in the boundary clauses of a charter of 825 (Sawyer Charters 272) of King Egbert.
[5] Simon Andrew Draper, Landscape, settlement and society in Roman and early medieval Wiltshire, 2006, Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3064/ p.103
[6] Barbara Yorke, Wessex in the Early Middle Ages, p.62-64
[7] Victoria County History of Wiltshire, Vol II, editor RB Pugh, 1955, article by RR Darlington, p.1
[8] Victoria County History of Wiltshire, Vol II, 1955, confirms that Hampshire was founded by 755
[9] MJ Swanton (ed), The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1992, Psychology Press, pages 40–41
[10] Barbara Yorke, Wessex in the Early Middle Ages, p.91
[11] Victoria County History of Wiltshire, Vol II, 1955, p.4
[12] Bruce Eagles, From Roman Civitas to Anglo-Saxon Shire: topographical studies on the formation of Wessex, 2018, Oxbow Books, p.111-12
[13] Victoria County History of Wiltshire, Vol II, editor RB Pugh, 1955, article by RR Darlington, p.2
[14] Simon Andrew Draper, Landscape, settlement and society in Roman and early medieval Wiltshire, 2006, Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3064/ p.103
[15] Sawyer Charters 899 in which King Æthelred II granted the monastery at Bradford-on-Avon and its extensive associated lands (villa regalis, minster and associated parochiae) to Shaftesbury Abbey. Also Simon Andrew Draper, Landscape, settlement and society in Roman and early medieval Wiltshire, 2006, Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3064/ p.63-64
[16] Bruce Eagles, Roman Wiltshire and After (editor Peter Ellis), 2001, “Anglo-Saxon Presence and Culture in Wiltshire, AD 450-c675”, p.220
[1] Barbara Yorke, Wessex in the Early Middle Ages, 1995, Leicester University Press, p.59
[2] Simon Andrew Draper, Landscape, settlement and society in Roman and early medieval Wiltshire, 2006, Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3064/ p.84
[3] See charter is S 231 P Sawyer, 1968, Anglo-Saxon Charters: an annotated list and bibliography at https://esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk/about/index.html
[4] Bruce Eagles, Roman Wiltshire and After (editor Peter Ellis), 2001, “Anglo-Saxon Presence and Culture in Wiltshire, AD 450-c675”, p.205. It can be identified, in the boundary clauses of a charter of 825 (Sawyer Charters 272) of King Egbert.
[5] Simon Andrew Draper, Landscape, settlement and society in Roman and early medieval Wiltshire, 2006, Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3064/ p.103
[6] Barbara Yorke, Wessex in the Early Middle Ages, p.62-64
[7] Victoria County History of Wiltshire, Vol II, editor RB Pugh, 1955, article by RR Darlington, p.1
[8] Victoria County History of Wiltshire, Vol II, 1955, confirms that Hampshire was founded by 755
[9] MJ Swanton (ed), The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1992, Psychology Press, pages 40–41
[10] Barbara Yorke, Wessex in the Early Middle Ages, p.91
[11] Victoria County History of Wiltshire, Vol II, 1955, p.4
[12] Bruce Eagles, From Roman Civitas to Anglo-Saxon Shire: topographical studies on the formation of Wessex, 2018, Oxbow Books, p.111-12
[13] Victoria County History of Wiltshire, Vol II, editor RB Pugh, 1955, article by RR Darlington, p.2
[14] Simon Andrew Draper, Landscape, settlement and society in Roman and early medieval Wiltshire, 2006, Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3064/ p.103
[15] Sawyer Charters 899 in which King Æthelred II granted the monastery at Bradford-on-Avon and its extensive associated lands (villa regalis, minster and associated parochiae) to Shaftesbury Abbey. Also Simon Andrew Draper, Landscape, settlement and society in Roman and early medieval Wiltshire, 2006, Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3064/ p.63-64
[16] Bruce Eagles, Roman Wiltshire and After (editor Peter Ellis), 2001, “Anglo-Saxon Presence and Culture in Wiltshire, AD 450-c675”, p.220