Anglo Saxon Kirkdale
Kirkdale from its founding in about
685 CE to the beginning of the Scandinavian period in about 800 CE
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The history
of Kirkdale is told across six webpages.
· The Kirkdale Anglo Saxon
artefacts
· Anglo-Saxon Scandinavian
Kirkdale
A possible pre Christian past
There
have been local finds of later worked flint. There is inconclusive evidence of
a stone monolith, but if that is what it was, it could have been transported
there in floods. It is possible that there was some prehistoric ritual
landscape in the area and this would be consistent with later early religious
use which often followed at prehistoric ritual sites. All this however is pretty inconclusive. (St
Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, North Yorkshire, Archaeological Investigations and
Historical Context, Philip Rahtz and
Lorna Watts, 2021, 284).
Kirkdale’s
Christian association may not mark the beginning of the site’s importance.
There have been suggestions of its possible association as a Druid site. In
support of a longer history, many commentators have remarked on the quietness,
beauty and timelessness of the site (C L R Tudor, a
Brief Account of Kirkdale Church with Plans, Elevations, Sections, Details and
Perspective Views (London 1876)).
The
adjacent stream, Hodge Beck, long referred to by its primitive Welsh name Redofram or stream, has a distinctive
characteristic. In dry weather it ceases to flow above ground and uses
underground channels of fissured limestone. This occurs either side of the
present church, between the mill above the church where the water goes underground
and the church at Welburn where it reemerges. Madge Allison, a local archaeologist, had
recognised the importance of this, citing J G
Frazer’s The Golden Bough,
as something unusual that would promote a reaction to the landscape, in its
variable physical setting of the beck. The spectacle of the waters of the Hodge
Beck on either side of the site of the later Church, which are periodically
lost to sight, provides a suitable location for pre Christian
phenomenological experience. The Hodge Beck was not the only example of
disappearing water, with similar occurrences at Lastingham. Underground
openings might have been used to communicate via discolouration by means of
dyes and meetings might have been timed to coincide with water flow changes.
The
location of Kirkdale is both accessible, whilst not obvious. It could be
accessed by long distance routeways,
but its location was aside and at the edge of the more populated vales.
If
there were pre Christian practices at Kirkdale, then
the shift from pre Christian to Christian might have
been a more natural one. (St Gregory’s Minster,
Kirkdale, North Yorkshire, Archaeological Investigations and Historical
Context, Philip Rahtz and Lorna Watts, 2021, 306).
The
late fourth and fifth century transitional period after the end of Roman rule,
provides limited archaeological evidence. It is likely that settlement was very
localised.
What
happened to the Roman estates and populations around Kirkdale in the post Roman
period is uncertain, but the interests of some of the dominant landholders
probably continued. The nature of lordship in the area around Kirkdale was not
overtly Anglo Saxon. There is an absence of obviously culturally Anglo Saxon grave goods. In might be surmised that the
population in the area remained more indigenous, at least for a while, rather
than being immediately overwhelmed by the Anglo Saxon
incomers. Over time however, the population would have gradually assumed a new
mixed Anglo Saxon identity.
At
Beadlam,
a large number of coins date to the later fourth
century CE and might reflect locally secure conditions after the Romans had
left. Beadlam seems to have continued as an important supplier of grain, as
evidenced by the presence of a grain dryer. Beadlam’s
material culture suggests continued post Roman activity. It cannot be said with
any certainty that Kirkdale had any association with Beadlam, but its proximity
might suggest its continued importance during this little
known period.
The
Kingdom of Deira emerged from the mid
fifth century and Bede’s Historia Ecclesia suggests that there was a
gradual consolidation of small controlling groups.
The
absence of hillforts and the non defensive nature of
places like Hovingham
raise questions about how control was physically maintained during this period.
(St Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, North Yorkshire,
Archaeological Investigations and Historical Context, Philip Rahtz and Lorna Watts, 2021, 288 to 289).
656 CE
Foundation of
Kirkdale
Oswiu’s
monastic endowments
In
consequence of his victory over the Mercian Penda in 656 CE, and the birth of
his daughter, Oswiu offered twelve small estates of ten hides each for the
foundation of monasteries, six in Bernicia and six in Deira, an attempt to join
two people into a single kingdom. The Deiran monasteries were generally focused
around Ryedale and the Vale of Pickering. Those
monastic sites may have included Kirkdale, though it may initially have been a dependant
monastery or burial site.
Kirkdale is sited
at a point where the flat and steep sided narrow valley follows a gentle curve.
This has led Richard Morris to identify this as cornu vallis,
where abbot Ceolfrith, after leaving Wearmouth-Jarrow in 716, paused on his
route through Yorkshire to await news of the election of his successor as abbot.
Burials and remains of a monumental structure of some sort, possibly a
mausoleum, from the late Roman or post Roman period underlie the remains of the
church, which has developed through three structural phases before its present
form. The earliest phase is tentatively suggested from a limited excavation as
a single cell building with an apsidal east end 14.4 metres in overall length
and 8 metres wide, corresponding closely to the width of the present nave but
offset slightly; burials are associated with this phase. Two grave covers of
the late 8th to 9th centuries are incorporated into later fabric. One is
fringed with a skeuomorphic (representing
the real world) representation of a pall, a textile used for wrapping a
relic. The draping of a richly embroidered cloth over a freestanding tomb was a
proclamation of sainthood, suggesting that this grave cover marked the
translation of a saint’s relic as in cases of Lastingham and Hovingham. Philip Rahtz
and Lorna Watts, the excavators, think that this small church did not serve a full scale religious community but was more akin to a
monastery chapel and that Kirkdale was a dependent settlement within a secular estate
whose centre lay at Kirkbymoorside. To understand why this part of the narrow
valley of the Hodge beck should have become a focal place for burials, and
possibly the translation of the saint, the excavators turned to a
phenomenological reading of the landscape. In dry seasons the water flowing in
the beck disappears into a sinkhole upstream from the church site, reappearing
again some distance further downstream. In the words of one observer, to see
the mouth of the cavernous feature that suddenly appears in the spring and
disappears later in the year is like peering into another world, this strange
behaviour of an otherwise prosaic watercourse, made the valley in some way numinous
(having a strong religious or spiritual quality). This association with a
shrine and a watercourse emerging from the hillside recalls West Heslerton on the opposite side of the vale. (Northumbria AD 367-867, Max Adams and Colm O’Brien, 2025, page 142).
The precise
circumstances under which a church of the Anglo Saxon
period was established at Kirkdale are unknown.
When King
Edwin of Deira fell at the Battle of
Hatfield Chase near Doncaster on 12
October 633 CE just north of Doncaster, this marked the effective end of Deiran
kingship. Edwin’s body was temporarily placed in a porticus or chapel
then also dedicated to St Gregory in York and
later completed by his successor Oswald. His body was then moved to be finally
buried at Whitby again in a porticus
also dedicated to Gregory. The archaeologists have speculated that as the
journey from York to Whitby would have taken more than a day, and as Kirkdale
is at about the mid way point, it is possible that
his body lay there temporarily. This would suggest an association of Kirkdale
with the Kings of Deira and with St Gregory and the Roman church from as early
as 633 CE. Whether or not there was a primitive church there by 633 CE, there
may have been a close association of this place with Gregory, the pope who
first imagined an English nation, after Edwin’s conversion in 627 CE, and his
final journey in 633 CE.
The Church
might have been established at the time of the establishment of a new cemetery
or there may have been an existing burial practice, so far undetected by
archaeology. It was most likely to have been built to be a church, without an
associated monastery. Although there were natural resources in the immediate
vicinity, the risk of flooding was probably not favourable to a permanent
monastery settlement.
It is most
likely that the sponsors of the new church were from the social elite and they
probably lived elsewhere, perhaps in Kirkbymoorside.
Kirkdale’s
foundation probably followed that of Lastingham
in 659 CE and it was likely to have been associated with the monastery there,
though that relationship might have changed over time. The two locations are
only six kilometres apart. The sculpture suggests that there might have been an
association with Lastingham and Hovingham as important saint rich
centres, although it is possible to interpret Kirkdale sculpture as some degree
of rivalry with these places.
685 CE
By about 685
CE, it seems likely that the early church at Kirkdale was dedicated to St
Gregory, Pope Gregory who sent Augustine’s mission to England in 597 CE. Dedication
to St Gregory was unusual, but there seem to have been strong links between the
Deirans and Pope Gregory. This was probably the consequence of Edwin’s
conversion and Oswiu’s subsequent decision at Whitby in 664 CE to favour the
Roman traditions.
It is
significant that Bede reported Gregory’s encounter with a Deiran boy in Rome,
about to be sold into slavery and is said to have referred to his nationality
as Angli, in his word play with angels; the Deira
people, his word play with De Ira; and its King
Aella’s association with Alleluia. This suggests some linkage between
Deira and the Deiran king and Pope Gregory.
Another link
with St Gregory is that Cedd, the founder of Lastingham was described by Bede to have
baptised the king of East Anglia at Rendelsham in a
church also dedicated to St Gregory. This might also reinforce some linkage
between Cedd, Lastingham and Kirkdale.
Dedication
to St Gregory might link Kirkdale to a period of general conversion in the area
from about 569 CE and might also have emphasised the direction of the English
church’s association with Rome after the Synod of Whitby in 663 CE.
Whilst there may have been some continued subdivision of the local
area into great estates, the locality of Kirkdale at this time was in well
regulated and well used landscape. The Vale of Pickering was a self contained area, off centre to
the main north to south route through York, but accessible to the North Sea.
Hovingham continued to be an administrative centre. Kirkdale was therefore well
protected from the more troublesome border areas and a suitable place for agricultural
and religious prosperity. Kirkdale is unusual in being a settlement which has
not been subject to constant renewal. (St
Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, North Yorkshire, Archaeological Investigations and
Historical Context, Philip Rahtz and
Lorna Watts, 2021, 290).
|
The
founding of a Celtic Christian monastery by Cedd, 2 km from the entrance to
Farndale. |
|
The
momentous agreement at Whitby, 30 km northeast of Farndale, which resolved
incompatibilities between Roman and Celtic Christian traditions, and placed
Britain onto the European stage. |
It has also been surmised that the church might have been built in
around 654 CE, but that theory rests on the unlikely premise that Kirkdale was
the place of the Lastingham monastery. However, as the church was dedicated to
St Gregory, likely to have been a deliberate attempt to foster unity following
the Synod of Whitby,
it seems likely to have been founded in the years following the Synod say
around 665 CE. Cedd had died in 664 CE. Perhaps the church was founded by his
successor and younger brother Chad, say
in the late 660s. (St Gregory’s
Minster, Kirkdale, Arthur Penn,
Parochial Church Council).
It
is possible that the site marks an early Anglo Saxon
monastery, of which the Church is the surviving part (Archaeology at Kirkdale, Supplement to the Ryedale
Historian No 18 (1996 to 1997), Lorna
Watts, Jane Grenville and Philip Rahtz, 1), though the use of minister
does not necessarily mean that is the case.
More recent excavations tend to suggest that the church at
Kirkdale was important.
There is a
local legend that the original intention was to build the church near Nawton and Wombleton, but a
stone, chosen to mark the spot, was mysteriously found the next morning in
Kirkdale. It was moved back to the intended site, but once again returned to
the dale. So the church was built there. The story was
later recorded in the diary of a schoolmaster of Appleton le Moors, F C Dawson, in his entry after a visit to Kirkdale
on 14 June 1843.
Kirkdale’s
foundation coincided with the emergence of the original parish churches. A parish was a district that supported a
church by payment of tithes in return for spiritual services. Some churches
were linked to manor houses and others originated as the districts of
missioning monasteries. The church at Whitby was near a major settlement,
whilst the church of St Gregory’s at Kirkdale was located remotely in a dale.
By 1145, Kirkdale was described as the church of Welburn. Recent excavations
tend to confirm the view that an important church was at Kirkdale (John Rushton, The History of Ryedale, 2003, 19).
In contrast to the trackless moorland
wilderness haunted by wild beasts and outlaws where Lastingham was built, in
Kirkdale, an ancient route from
north to south descended out of Bransdale to form a crossroads with an ancient
route from west to east along the southern edge of the moors. Travellers needed
shelter, medical attention and perhaps spiritual sustenance. It may well have
been to provide these Christian ministrations and to teach the gospel in the
region that a small community of monks or a priest was established there as a
minster dedicated to Gregory the Great, as an English Apostle. The two finely
decorated stone tomb covers, generally agreed to date from the eighth century,
hint that this early church had wealthy patrons, perhaps royal patrons.
So we don't know exactly when the first church
was built at Kirkdale. It may have been a daughter house of the monastic
community at nearby Lastingham, which was founded in AD 659. The first church
at Kirkdale was a minster, or mother church for the region. It may have
included a chancel, a rarity for Anglo-Saxon churches.
The Friends of
St Gregory's Minster Kirkdale suggest
that at least one of the eighth century patrons may have been venerated locally
as a saint.
The three fragments of Anglo-Saxon
cross shafts built into the church walls date to the ninth and tenth centuries.
Pope Gregory had encouraged the conversion of pagan holy places to
Christianity and the church at Kirkbymoorside is near a large burial mound.
The creation
of a church at Kirkdale has been attributed to the Laestingas,
an elite family of the Deiran Kingdom, potentially associated with a larger
area than Lastingham itself. Perhaps
the parishes of Lastingham, Kirbymoorside, Kirby
Misperton and Kirkdale, comprised the much larger territory of the Laestingas, and the original parish of Lastingham,
later divided into several smaller areas.
T Pickles, Power, Religious Patronage and Pastoral
Care: Religious Communities, Mother Parishes and Local Churches in Ryedale, c.
650-c. 1250, The Kirkdale Lecture, 2009 (York: Trustees of the Friends of St Gregory’s Minster,
Kirkdale, 2009), at 25-6 has noted the overlapping jurisdiction of the
parishes of Lastingham, Kirbymoorside, Kirby
Misperton and Kirkdale, suggest that the much larger territory of the Laestingas, and the original parish of Lastingham,
had been divided subsequently into several smaller areas.
Kirkdale and Lastingham are about 6 km apart and have long been
closely associated.
It is likely
that Kirkdale also had a close relationship with Kirkbymoorside. The location of
Kirkbymoorside and Kirkdale, at the edge of the dales, was more like that of
Kirkdale than Lastingham. Kirkbymoorside was slightly better placed in terms of
water supply, protection from flooding, land based
resources and higher surveillance points, which made it more suitable as a
central place. By the late eighth century, a coin find suggests that
Kirkbymoorside was sharing in the monetary economy which has been evidenced
between Whitby and the Humber.
It may well
be that relationships between Kirkdale, Kirkbymoorside
and Lastingham were more fluid and not
fixed.
(St Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale,
North Yorkshire, Archaeological Investigations and Historical Context, Philip Rahtz and Lorna Watts, 2021, 290 to 292).
The local community
It is assumed in the early Anglo Saxon
period, that all land was ultimately held by the King, but was gradually
dispersed, but by the ninth century CE the land was held by a broader elite, as
the political structure gradually changed. Kirkdale was probably sponsored by
the social elite. A structure on the north east side
of the church may have been associated with burial and there may have been
sequences of burial and building. (St Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, North Yorkshire,
Archaeological Investigations and Historical Context, Philip Rahtz and Lorna Watts, 2021, 283).
The scale of building at Kirkdale is evidence of robust economic activity
that could be relied upon by its benefactors. This would have required the
sourcing of stone and its transportation on viable routeways, its cutting to
the required sizes, the tools to do this, and the manufacture of wood for
scaffolding and mortar. This could have been achieved by central control, but
probably involved a variety of landowners, at least to some degree.
It is likely that there were different interrelationships across
Ryedale and beyond. The sculpture suggests that there might have been an
association with Lastingham and Hovingham as important saint rich
centres, although it is possible to interpret Kirkdale sculpture as rivalry. It
is also likely that there were allegiances and links with Cornu Vallis and perhaps with
Monkwearmouth and Jarrow, which might have bridged several generations.
(St Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale,
North Yorkshire, Archaeological Investigations and Historical Context, Philip Rahtz and Lorna Watts, 2021, 296 to 297).
This was perhaps the time when the Old English Beowulf was told orally as an epic poem.
716 CE
There is a possible association of
Kirkdale with Cornu Vallis, the horned
valley where Ceolfrith of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow rested on his last journey to
Rome. This is explored in another page. If correct, this may provide further clues
to Kirkdale’s origins.
The Latin name Cornu Vallis
described a horn-shaped valley (cornu means ‘horn’, though cornu vallis can also translate as ‘corner of the valley’),
aligning with the topography of Kirkdale. The name might also suggest an
association with cattle. Augustine’s mission was likely to have included
instruction from Gregory to Christianise places of formerly pagan shrines.
Kirkdale might already have been a known meeting pre-Christian place.
Cornu Vallis is referred to as a place where Abbot Ceolfrith of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow
visited in 716 CE, and this might suggests links
between Kirkdale and the Tyne valley and Jarrow which might have bridged
several generations. Ceolfrith had been
a monk at Gilling and Ripon, and had an association
with the area. Ceolfrith was born in around 642 CE in Northumbria. In 674 CE,
Ceolfrith founded the twin monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow, which have also
been associated with Cornu Vallis, along the River Wear in Northumbria.
These monasteries became centres of learning, culture, and religious
devotion. Cornu Vallis has also
been associated with Hornsea on the East Coast of Yorkshire, Spurn Head and
with Bass Rock on the Firth of Forth. The exact location of Cornu Vallis
remains debated.
750 CE
A cultural
crossroads
By 750 CE there was a reference to the pope involving land
distribution relative to Stonegrave, Coxwold and Donemuthe (probably on the Tyne), which involved the
Archbishop of York and his brothers, one of whom was the king of Northumbria.
It is likely that Kirkdale would have had contact with Alcuin’s church of York which by that time
was a very significant intellectual status, with an important library.
By the eighth century, the kings and the church were part of a
socially stratified society, with political and economic control in the hands
of an elite. The Kirkdale archaeologists have found
evidence of symbolism and the burial of special dead, so in the middle Anglo Saxon period, Kirkdale likely had a significance
as a place in the surrounding hierarchy of the time. Kirkdale might have been
attached to a local estate and the presence of the church at Kirkdale must have
been a spiritual force which consolidated local hierarchies, providing social
cohesion. It must have been an important expression of Christianity which would
have created local identity.
Kirkdale probably
had an important relationship by the eighth century with what was by then
perceived as the past. This might have been visible in its use of earlier Roman
materials and as a symbol of enhanced associations with Christian Rome,
including through its dedication to St Gregory. The archaeologists have
identified blown glass (Artefact GL2) in the
Roman fashion which might suggest a continuation of techniques from the Roman
period. There may have been an importance of Romanitas, a Latin word,
first coined in the third century CE, meaning Roman-ness, a link with
things Roman, the collection of political and cultural concepts and practices
by which the Romans defined themselves.
Artefact
GL2
(St
Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, North Yorkshire, Archaeological Investigations and
Historical Context, Philip Rahtz and
Lorna Watts, 2021, 297 to 298).
|
Alcuin
and the birth of modern education The
world of Ecgbert and Aethelbert, successors to Bede, and their pupil Alcuin, who
took York’s powerhouse of knowledge to the court of Charlemagne to pioneer
the European educational system |
|
Deirian and Northumbrian York, a political,
cultural and educational Hub on the European stage |
Early ninth century
Important
sculptural artefacts of the late eighth and early ninth centuries have been
found at Kirkbymoorside and Kirkdale.
|
Ornate sarcophagus lids and Saxon artefacts to be
found in Kirkdale Minster and embedded into its walls which will transport
you to the Eighth century. |
By this time
minsters were associated with pastoral care. What is thought to have been part
of an ecclesiastical chair at Kirkbymoorside suggests that it might have been a
mother church, reinforced by its dedication to All Saints. So Kirkdale might
have answered to Kirkbymoorside by this time.
Kirkdale and
Lastingham
Perhaps
Kirkdale became dependent upon the secular aristocratic centre of
Kirkbymoorside, whilst possibly having a continued relationship with Lastingham.
Lastingham,
Kirkbymoorside and Kirkdale might have been three separate and autonomous
units. Alternatively Lastingham, Kirkbymoorside and
Kirkdale might have been interconnected with Lastingham, a major ecclesiastical
centre, with Kirkbymoorside a secular and ecclesiastical dependent and Kirkdale
an ecclesiastical dependent. Perhaps Kirkbymoorside comprised a secular estate
with Lastingham a dependent monastery, perhaps suitable for transhumance or
seasonal grazing of livestock, and Kirkland a dependent church. Alternatively perhaps there was an ecclesiastical estate at
Lastingham, a secular estate at Kirkbymoorside, each having an influence over
Kirkdale.
Kirkdale was
most likely to have been the stable heart of a potentially flourishing economy,
with a governmental framework in which a strongly aristocratic church would
have played an important political role, including in Kingship. Churches would
have played an important political role in contemporary power politics.
The Vale of
Pickering came to have a significant concentration of religious establishments.
The significant artefacts
excavated relative to this period have been found in excavations to the north
of the church, at the west exterior, and in Trench II adjacent to the northern
churchyard wall at the southern edge of the northern field. These finds are
probably late eighth century and possibly early ninth century. These objects
were associated with the early church, from which they had become displaced
during later reconstruction. What survives is a tiny fraction of the original stone built structure – stone, glass and lead items which
were able to withstand decay. It could be imagined that there would also have
been non organic objects including altar cloths,
vestments and paintings, which are no longer present. The presence of items
such as glass suggest a contemporary active nexus of
exchange. They could have been newly acquired or recycled.
You can next
read about the Kirkdale
Anglo Saxon artefacts.
The history
of Kirkdale is told across the following webpages.
· The Kirkdale Anglo Saxon
artefacts
· Anglo-Saxon Scandinavian
Kirkdale
There are
related webpages:
· Alcuin and the birth of modern
education