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TAG: Early Medieval Kent

Maritime Kent – place-names, sea songs and Anglo-Saxon ‘invaders’

Keeping with the maritime theme, at least for part of this blog, I thought I would report on a presentation I went to last Saturday at the Beaney in Canterbury. This was the second in a series of lectures and other events organised by the Kent History and Library Centre at Maidstone under the title ‘Life along the Kent Coast’ that works with an exhibition at Maidstone called ‘Bawleys, Barbels and Owlers’.

What has this got to do with the Centre for Kent History and Heritage, I hear you cry. Well, one of the Centre’s events in 2018 will be a conference on ‘Maritime Kent through the Ages’, which it is envisaged will take place on a Saturday in June, perhaps with a keynote lecture on the Friday evening. More details on this soon because presently it is very much a ‘work in progress’. Another event, similarly at the planning stage, is the joint one-day conference between the Centre and the Kent History Federation [KHF]. This is due to take place on Saturday 12 May at Old Sessions, CCCU under the theme ‘Tudor and Stuart Canterbury’, thereby in some ways complementing the Canterbury Medieval Weekend 2018, which will take place between 6 and 8 April. Having had a fruitful meeting with the KHF executive committee on Monday, I now have more ideas to follow up and I hope to be able to reveal some of the details shortly.

Dr Mark Bateson (Kent Archives Service) introduces the event
However to return to the presentation last Saturday, this was given by Dr Paul Cullen and some of you may remember Paul from his fascinating talks on Kentish place-names, especially field-names, and surnames as part of the joint conference between the Centre and the Kent Archaeological Society last year. This time Paul turned his attention to maritime or coastal names, and one of the things that surprised him was that for many the first record of the name was not until the 16th or 17th century, and actually quite a few do not pre-date the Victorians. Paul mused on this and the audience considered it too, one suggestion being that the influx of holiday makers in the 19th century meant there was a desire to make places along coast, and Thanet in particular, appear exotic, foreign and exciting, in other words just the sort of place it was good to visit.

Paul provided lots of examples, many of which he illustrated using old postcards, indeed, these at time were his only source for the place-name itself. Among these modern place names, Paul discussed Cliftonville (St John the Baptist, Thanet), which a member of the audience from Margate believes initially was a reference to a local hotel. Also a late comer, as far as Paul can see, is Shakespeare Cliff, Dover, because, ok, it ‘must’ post-date the Bard but the earliest reference Paul can find is 1818. However, although he hasn’t revealed his sources, one researcher believes he has a much earlier use of this designation. I’ll leave it there and if I hear any more I’ll pass it on.

Perhaps mistaken identity accounts for the name Swalecliffe, the ‘cliffe’ part being relatively straightforward, that is a slope over 45 degrees, albeit the vertical distance doesn’t appear to matter and a river bank seems to be sufficiently deep to be so designated. Rather it is the birds that may have been misidentified from medieval and even earlier times, or maybe in earlier time it was swallows rather than the modern day sand martins, because the first element comes from the Old English [OE] ‘swealwe’ a swallow.

One of Paul Cullen’s other examples
To take one more of Paul’s many examples of different maritime elements, Dungeness is rather interesting and brings in the southern Kent marshes. Again, some of the elements are pretty straightforward in that ‘nase’, ‘ness’ is OE for a nose, and, like the nose, Dungeness is a promontory. In fact, it is a moving promontory in that longshore drift is gradually moving the gravel spit eastwards, a move counteracted by man in an attempt to safeguard the site of the nuclear power station! So what about the first two elements of Dunge, which was until relatively recently ‘Denge’? One idea that has been put forward in ‘dyncge’, OE dung but Paul is rightly unhappy with this and thinks what we should be thinking about is ‘denn’, OE for a pasture region. For even though this is most frequently linked to woodland, especially but not exclusively the Weald, it is very much a Kentish element and not that far away is Shipesdenne (Lydd) which comes from pasture for sheep. Furthermore, we know from an Anglo-Saxon charter that there were holly trees growing on Dengemarsh and as higher land than the surrounding Romney and Walland Marshes, it is perfectly feasible that the holly offered fodder and the gravel refuge for grazing animals. I’ll skip the other idea that Paul also discounted: ‘denu’, OE for a steep sided valley, and instead turn to the final (middle) element of ‘gē’ for a region. This is found quite widely in east Kent but otherwise exceedingly rarely – Paul pointed to Surrey as one of the few ‘that got away’, and again it fits very nicely for the wooded region on the gravels of Dungeness.

The audience was delighted with all these different elements, and, after Paul’s talk, several people came up afterwards to offer further ideas and/or information. If this is something you are interested in, there is a chapter of Paul’s place-name elements in Early Medieval Kent, 800-1220 (Boydell, 2016) and available through booksellers and the Kent History and Library Centre.

This short interval also gave Paul a chance to catch his breath before he launched into the second half of the programme. As a consummate folk singer, Paul accompanied himself on the guitar when he sang a selection of sea shanties and fo’c’sle songs, the former being unaccompanied ‘work’ songs and the latter entertainment on board ship when the hands were generally below deck, hence the name. These were great fun, although the topics covered could be gruesome, as in the case of a song about Andrew Rose, a young man in the British Navy who suffered terribly at the hands of Captain Rogers, although the captain got his comeuppance when the ship returned to Liverpool. The second of this sort covered a story from Kent and involved the murder of two sisters from Folkestone in 1856.

Paul singing a fo’c’sle song
At this point, I’ll turn to another theme but if this sounds interesting and you would like to hear Paul he will be repeating the event on 30 September at 6.30pm at the Kent History and Library Centre, Maidstone. Another two events that will be taking place at Maidstone as part of this series are talks by lecturers at CCCU. Firstly, on 27 September Dr Martin Watts will give his reaction to the exhibition and build his lecture around the cabinet that most takes his fancy, and then on 11 October Professor Carolyn Oulton will discuss the seaside reading of Londoners who came down to the coastal resorts on Thanet, using authors from Dickens to Barbara Cartland. These talks will also begin at 6.30pm and if you want to attend, please book a ticket by calling 03000 41 64 38 or emailing archives@kent.gov.uk, tickets are £5 each.

Finally, another matter that I want to mention is a ‘busman’s holiday’ that I took with a fellow medievalist from the University of Birmingham when last week we went to look at the parish church at St Margaret at Cliffe. If you don’t know it the Norman carving is exquisite and the number of ‘heads’ on the columns and arches is truly extraordinary, as I hope you can see from the photo. Mary Berg and Howard Jones have discussed the patronage link to St Martin’s Priory at Dover [became subordinate to Christ Church Priory], as well as its architectural features, in their book on Norman churches in the diocese of Canterbury, and again if you are interested, I would recommend the church and the book. It is appropriate to mention such features because of a lecture coming up early in September that is jointly organised by the Centre and Canterbury Cathedral. Professor Sandy Heslop, an expert on medieval church art and architecture, will discuss Archbishop Anselm’s crypt and the various carvings there on Friday 8 September at 6pm. This free talk will take place in the AV Theatre, Schools Dept in the Lodge within the cathedral precincts. Booking is essential because space is limited and the web address is www.eventbrite.co.uk and for further details email journey@canterbury-cathedral.org

Chancel arch at St Margaret at Cliffe (Photo: Dr Philippa Semper).
This seems a good place to finish. However, for those of you in Canterbury on Sunday 3 September and wish to learn about the city’s history from the late Roman period through to the time of St Augustine, you will be most welcome at the open lecture at 7.30pm (prior booking not required), as part of the 68th International Sachsensymposion. The organising committee includes Dr Andy Seaman from CCCU amongst others, although this particular lecture will be held in the Colyer Fergusson Lecture Theatre at the University of Kent. Professor Paul Bennett (Director of Canterbury Archaeological Trust) will be speaking under the title ‘Canterbury in Transition’ – do come along.

Museum of Canterbury – exciting opportunity

This week I have been to two meetings among other things, and, although they may seem very different, they actually have common themes such as the value of bringing archaeology and documentary research together, as well as the importance of studying the lives of people in the past who were not royalty or aristocrats, but who made up the bulk of society.

Kent History Centre events in 2017

So what is there to look forward to from the Centre in the first half of 2017? The flagship event will be the ‘Tudors and Stuarts History Weekend’ between Friday 31 March and Sunday 2 April, which primarily will take place in Old Sessions House, part of the University’s Canterbury campus.

Reviewing Kent History and Heritage Centre

I thought that this week and next would follow the example of the Roman god Janus and look back this week and forward next week into 2017. Consequently, the blog today will offer a brief summary of events organised or involving the Centre during 2016 to provide a flavour of the types of activities various members undertook under the Centre’s head, Professor Jackie Eales.

Norman and Bronze Age warriors

Wednesday saw two events linked to History at Canterbury Christ Church. The first was the presentation of the John and Peggy Hayes Canterbury Award to Paul Bennett as Director of Canterbury Archaeological Trust. The Lord Mayor, Councillor George Metcalfe, presented the award to the Trust in recognition of the several publications recently completed on such large sites as Canterbury Whitefriars and the outer precincts of St Augustine’s Abbey (now largely covered by the main campus of Christ Church). Among the committee responsible for the Award is Professor Jackie Eales and it was thus appropriate that the presentation took place at the University’s Sidney Cooper Centre. Professor Louise Wilkinson joined Jackie Eales, and other members of the School of Humanities, as well as a number of Trustees from Canterbury Archaeological Trust at the presentation. The audience heard the Lord Mayor congratulate Paul on the continuing work of the Trust in the face of increasing difficulties regarding planning matters and other issues. Paul responded in kind and thanked both the Award’s committee and Councillor Metcalfe. He recalled the activities of John and Peggy Hayes in the field of Canterbury history, and the direct help they had given to the Trust over many decades. Paul also mentioned that 2016 had been very successful, not least the ‘40-year history of the Trust’ exhibition held in the Beaney about six months ago which had brought in several thousand visitors.

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The Lord Mayor, Paul Bennett and Richard Eales in discussion

The second event on Wednesday was Dr Leonie Hicks’ lecture on ‘Reading and Writing the Battle of Hastings, 1066’. As Christ Church’s contribution to the 950th commemoration of a battle that arguably changed the course of national and international history, it was fitting that Dr Keith McLay, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, chaired the lecture. Students joined staff members from the Faculty in the lecture theatre in Old Sessions House, and the audience was considerably enlarged by the presence of members from several local organisations, such as the Friends of Canterbury Archaeological Trust, Canterbury Historical and Archaeological Society, the Historical Association and the University of Kent’s Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies.

Leonie explored a considerable number of almost contemporary and relatively near contemporary sources, including the poem Carmen de Hastingae Proelio, and narratives of the period and people produced by William of Poitiers, William of Jumieges, and monastic writers such as Eadmer and Orderic Vitalis. As she was keen to point out, there are analytical issues regarding all the sources. Yet some are more problematic than others are in terms of the story told, the level of detail given, and the viewpoint of the narrator. Moreover, when looking at the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle a further consideration has to be its place of production because William’s treatment of the north not surprisingly influenced how chronicles viewed these invaders. Leonie did not confine her analysis to the written word, but also discussed the Bayeux Tapestry. She noted that like Eadmer’s History, this should be seen as a ‘local’ source because Odo Bishop of Bayeux probably commissioned its creation at St Augustine’s Abbey under Abbot Scolland. This makes it especially interesting because she posed the question ‘did the makers have any agency in its design’ at a time when there must have been considerable tension between Anglo-Saxon and Norman in the monastery, as in society more generally. Such topics engaged the attention of the audience and Leonie took a large number of questions after her lecture.

Another lecture that drew questions from the audience was Dr Conrad Leyser’s lecture on ‘The Cult of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the History of the Family’ in The Schoolroom of the King’s School on Tuesday evening. Conrad took questions on his analysis of the development of Marian piety during late antiquity and the subsequent Carolingian era, in particular. Several of his questioners were students at King’s, and it was interesting to hear the various viewpoints raised.

A considerable number of students from Canterbury Christ Church were at the Friends of Canterbury Archaeological Trust lecture last night. As a result, the lecture theatre in Newton was almost full to hear Peter Clark, Deputy Director of CAT, give a fascinating talk on ‘The Swordsmiths of Holborough: the manufacture, use and disposal of late Bronze Age weaponry’. His assessment of the way bronze swords were made using clay moulds was eye-opening and demonstrated his very careful analysis of all the various processes, as well as opening up a wide range of questions about the availability of raw materials, logistical matters, and the status of smiths and other skilled workers from this period. However, from a personal perspective it was the cultural questions that he posed that reminded me of Everyday Objects, edited by T. Hamling and C. Richardson, and the paradox of an apparently ‘everyday object’ that through its particular use becomes ‘symbolically changed’ or ‘singular’, but that its everydayness is paramount for this process to work. Thus, thematically this was indeed thought provoking for a medievalist who knew nothing of Bronze Age sword making an hour earlier.