The Archaeology of Britain by Hunter John; Ralston Ian; Ralston Ian

Author:Hunter, John; Ralston, Ian; Ralston, Ian
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Humanities
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group
Published: 2010-12-14T00:00:00+00:00

Monasteries

Early monasteries do not present the classic plan of the later medieval Benedictine house, with its church, cloister and regular rectangular layout (see Chapter 14). Monastic houses seem to have been adaptations of contemporary secular building and settlement types and are therefore not always easily distinguishable from them. Identification as a monastery depends either on historical sources, or on peculiarities of plan or finds that are argued to be more monastic than secular in character.

The best-known of early Anglo-Saxon monasteries is Bede’s Jarrow, where excavations showed long, narrow, rectangular buildings arranged in something that approximates to a cloister (Figure 10.6). Similar features were seen at the sister monastery at nearby Monkwearmouth. Whitby, however, did not produce such clear evidence for a regular plan.

Other sites are less securely identified Features that might be thought to rule out monasticism need not necessarily have done so. Cemeteries with men, women and children could be explained as belonging to double houses, with both monks and nuns and very young oblates or schoolchildren, and the graves of the sick, cared for in the monastery. Animal bones, evidence of meat eating, might reflect a less than complete observance of dietary

Figure 10.6 Model of the Anglo-Saxon monastery of St Paul, Jarrow, in the early eighth century. The appearance of the monastery is based on the results of excavation.

Source: South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council

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