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Kirkdale
The history of the church and early history of Kirkdale
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Headlines are in brown.
Dates are in red.
Hyperlinks to other pages are in dark blue.
References and citations are in turquoise.
Context and local history are in purple.
Geographical context is in green.
Introduction
The Saxon Church of Kirkdale is an
exquisite historical jewel which lies about a mile west of Kirkbymoorside,
south of the North York Moors, and overlooks the Hodge Beck. Within the porch
at the entrance door is housed a Yorkshire treasure. It is a Saxon sundial, and
it bears the following inscription:
“Orm the son of Gamel acquired St
Gregory’s Minster when it was completely ruined and collapsed, and he had it
built anew from the ground to Christ and to St Gregory in the days of King
Edward and in the days of Earl Tostig”.
The sundial
itself bears the inscription “This is the day’s sun circle at each hour”
and then “The priest
and Hawarth me wrought and Brand”
One would look far before finding a
place which surpasses Kirkdale for the combination of beauty of setting with
historic and architectural interest. Situated in that belt of limestone which
separates Ryedale from the North Yorkshire Moors, through which the streams
have scoured narrow valleys, Kirkdale can scarcely be seen from any direction
until one is close at hand. The Hodge Beck, rising above Bransdale, flows
southward through a wooded gorge and then, just below the old mill at Hold
Caldron, it enters a subterranean channel, leaving a surface bed to carry the
flood water after heavy rain. The Beck rises again at the spring at Howkeld and eventually rejoins the surface bed near Welburn
Hall. At Kirkdale a ford crosses the bed of the stream; normally dry, in time
of flood it can be covered by up to three feet of water
(St Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, Arthur Penn, Parochial Church Council).
Much of the existing church is late
Saxon. Within the church are the remains of grave slabs and crosses of an
earlier period.
Etymology
Kirkdale is variously applied to the church of
St Gregory’s Minster, to the lower part of the valley, and later to the parish (St Gregory’s Minster,
Kirkdale, North Yorkshire, Archaeological Investigations and Historical Context, Philip Rahtz and Lorna
Watts, 2021, 1).
Kirk is an Anglo
Saxon place name which is usually associated with a pre
existing church. Kirk
suggests the existence of a church prior to the ninth century. It has been
suggested that the churches at Kirkdale and Kirkbymoorside might have formerly
belonged to the monastic estate of Lastingham.
The word dale comes
from the Old English word dæl, from which the
word "dell" is also derived. It is also related to Old Norse
word dalr (and the modern Icelandic word dalur), which may perhaps have influenced its
survival in northern England. The Germanic origin is assumed to be *dala-. Dal- in various combinations is common
in placenames in Norway. It is used most frequently in the North of England and
the Southern Uplands of Scotland.
Vale, from the modern
English valley and French vallée are not
related to dale.
The reference to Kirkdale minster
on the sundial is likely the English equivalent of monasterium,
which was not an association with later monasticism, but to more varied types
of religious establishment. So minster does not
particularise the religious purpose of the original building. It doesn’t mean
that it was a monastery, nor a minster in the modern sense.
The Geography of Kirkdale
The valley of Kirkdale, which extends
from the larger dale of Bransdale, is one of many north
to south dales along the southern edge of the North York Moors, before these
valleys open out into the rich agricultural land of the Vale of Pickering and
the Vale of York. Kirkdale is the southern extension of Bransdale, which
follows the Hodge Beck. It lies west of the settlement of Kirkbymoorside. To
the south, the River Dove which flows from Farndale
through Kirkbymoorside and the Hodge Beck join at a confluence.
Kirkdale is at the flood plain of the
Hodge Beck, with a long history of downcutting, braiding and terracing. The
flood plain must always have been an attractive focus for settlement, pasture
and arable. The church and churchyard are situated at a wide area before the
dale narrows to pass through a steep valley with a high cliff, to emerge
further south into the Vale of Pickering. (Archaeology
at Kirkdale, Supplement to the Ryedale Historian No 18 (1996 to 1997), Lorna Watts, Jane Grenville and Philip Rahtz, 2). (St
Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, North Yorkshire, Archaeological Investigations and
Historical Context, Philip Rahtz and Lorna Watts, 2021, 1).
Maps
showing relationship of Kirkdale to Farndale and the lands of the Chirchebi
Estate
The
lands of Kirkdale
To
the north of Kirkdale lie the North Yorkshire Moors, the windswept and barren
heights. Flowing down from the moors, following river courses, are the dales,
relatively steeply sided valleys, with Bransdale following the Hodge Beck and Farndale following the River Dove. The dales
flow down to the wide, flat agricultural lands of two vast vales, the Vale of
York which sweeps south towards York and the Vale of Pickering, temporarily a
prehistoric lake, which flows east towards Pickering and beyond.
The
vales are ancient agricultural lands. The dales beyond the
southern extremities were probably impenetrable and heavily forested for much
of their ancient history. The moors have always been a harsh and bitter
place.
Kirkdale
therefore lies at the edge of the wild lands of the dales and the moors, but at
the northwest corner of vast agricultural lands, at the southern point of the
dales, where there is some protection, and access to stone, mineral and wood
resources, and to hunting opportunities. The church is positioned to avoid
excessive flood damage, but is at a location which has
historically been liable to flooding.
It
is clear from the
Domesday Book
that Kirkdale was at the centre of a section of those vast agricultural lands,
stretching from Kirkby Misperton and Muscoates to the
south to Gillamor at the approach to the dales in the
north. The River Dove and the Hodge Beck flowed out of the dales and through
Kirkdale and Chirchebi (Kirkbymoorside).
Since
Kirkdale cave has revealed animal remains dating to the last interglacial
period (130,000 to 115,000 Years Before Present (“YBP”), this is an
ancient place, where animals have long roamed and where our distant ancestors
later lived and worked, even before historical written records provided more
direct evidence of their presence.
In
time, after the Norman conquest, the new Norman overlords would seek more
agricultural land by probing higher into the dales, as the wooded dales were assarted (“slashed and burned”) to provide
extensions of the farmed land, into Farndale and Bransdale.
The
main geographical features in the surrounding area include:
·
Hodge Beck which flows
from its source in Bransdale. It has been associated with Redofra
or Redover in the Rievaulx Chartulary.
·
Welburn
which is 1 km south of Kirkdale, and referred to in the Domesday book, where
Roman finds have been discovered.
·
Kirkdale
likely had an important relationship with Kirkbymoorside (Chirchebi) which
developed from a centralised estate centre to a small urban settlement, whose
landowners, by the time of the Norman Conquest and probably prior to that, were
active in York and the wider area.
·
There
was a Roman Villa at Beadlam which might have been part of one estate
including Kirkdale (St Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale,
North Yorkshire, Archaeological Investigations and Historical Context, Philip Rahtz and Lorna Watts,
2021, 287).
·
Lastingham
lies in a sheltered valley on the edge of scarcely settled moors.
·
Hovingham,
Kirkbymoorside and Kirkdale by the middle
Anglo Saxon period, were secure locations within a wider territory, and within
a network of road and exchange networks.
·
Lower
down the vale, Sherburn
and Kirkby Misperton were at island crossing points within low lying
marshes.
·
Pickering,
Old Malton and Hovingham are likely to
have been the centres of major estates within the wider administrative
framework.
Archaeology at
Kirkdale
Archaeological research at Kirkdale
started in late 1994 focused on the church building itself, above and below
ground, and the fields to the north and the south along the river. The
Kirkdale evaluation project started in 1995. This work continued to 1998, with
further work to the exterior of the church in 2000 and 2014. The excavations
were dug by hand.
The
work was led by Professor Philip
Arthur Rahtz (11 March 1921 – 2 June 2011), founder
of the University of York’s Archaeology Department in 1979, and Lorna Watts.
Much
of the present interpretation depends on the excavation of a small sample of
only about 0.36% of the area around the church.
The
excavations were at Kirkdale itself, with three trenches in the North Field –
Trench II at the church boundary wall, Trench III in the middle of the field
and Trench I to the north by the Hodge Beck. There was also an excavation in
the south field.
Archaeological
excavations at Kirkdale
(St Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, North Yorkshire,
Archaeological Investigations and Historical Context, Philip Rahtz and Lorna Watts,
2021, 10, 283).
The earlier history of the church is
evidenced by artefacts at Kirkdale dating to as early as the late eighth
century CE:
Close scrutiny
of the surviving fabric of Orm's church reveals three large stone crosses,
much weathered, built into it, two in the outside of the south wall of the nave
and one in the outside of the west wall to the north of the tower.
These are gravestones of Anglo-Scandinavian
design introduced to northern and eastern England by the Danes and Norwegians
who settled here in the late ninth and early tenth centuries. They are most
probably to be dated to the tenth century or early eleventh, and presumably
were gravestones in the cemetery of the church which preceded Orm's rebuilding.
Heather O’Donaghue
(Viking Age Lastingham, Heather O’Donaghue,
Professor of Old Norse at the University of Oxford, 2016) refers to the Christ like figure on the Kirkdale cross, built in to the
wall of the church, having a forked beard, suggesting Scandinavian influence.
It
may seem a little odd to us that builders should use among their materials
gravestones which had been erected in the fairly recent past, especially at a
place where good building stone lies ready to hand:
but the practice was not uncommon in buildings of this period; there is a
nearby parallel, for example, in the church at Middleton between Kirkbymoorside
and Pickering.
There is a cross which was removed from
the west wall of the church and which was once
suggested to have been inscribed Cyning Aethilwald, but which
inscription is now lost. This cross had been the basis of a theory that
Kirkdale rather than Lastingham was the real site of the monastery founded by
St Cedd in the Seventh Century. However the theory is
not generally accepted.
Two elaborate grave covers,
have been called the Cedd Stone and the Ethelwald
Stone. These two tomb-slabs are to be seen
inside the church, under the arcade which separates the nave from the north
aisle.
These too were incorporated into the
fabric at Orm's rebuilding: They were moved to their present position at the
time of the restoration of 1907-09. Scholarly opinion dates these to the
Anglian or pre-Scandinavian period, that is before about 870 CE. One of them
appears to be of the eighth century and the other of the ninth. On the strength
of this dating the history of the church on this site may be taken back to
about 750 CE, conceivably even earlier. For their day they are very handsome
pieces which display craftsmanship of a high order. Furthermore, certain
features of their design strongly suggest that they originally stood inside a
church. These indications show that the persons once buried beneath them were
of significant status and prestige. The church, which originally housed these
tombs, may well have been an imposing one.
One
of these, upon which is a fine cross, was said, a century ago, to bear the
inscription in runic characters, 'Cyning Æthilwald,'
but no writing is now decipherable. This inscription was one of the foundations
of the theory that Kirkdale was the true site of the monastery founded by S.
Cedd in the 7th century.
The
inscription on the sundial makes it clear that the church built by Orm replaced
an earlier one on the site which was, 'completely ruined and collapsed'
when Orm acquired it.
The
earlier church may have been associated with the celebrated early Anglo-Saxon
monastery of Lastingham, only seven miles to the north-east of
Kirkdale. Lastingham was founded by St. Cedd in about 655.
He was a native of Northumbria, a monk and missionary who became the first
bishop of the East Saxons (i.e. Essex) in about 654 and died in 664. He kept up
his links with his native region, and it was in the course of
one of his sojourns in Northumbria after he had become a bishop that he founded
Lastingham. The sort of architecture favoured by Cedd may still be seen at the
imposing, barn-like church of Bradwell-on-Sea in Essex. The monastery at
Lastingham was an important one, and it is by no means impossible that it had
daughter-houses. A nearby and contemporary parallel is Hackness,
founded in 680 CE as the daughter-house of the monastery of Whitby. It is
therefore possible that Kirkdale may have originated as a satellite of
Lastingham.
Since
very early times Kirkdale Church has been known as St. Gregory's Minster, which
implies the existence of a religious house.
It
is dedicated to St. Gregory, the Pope who sent Augustine's mission in 597 CE to
convert the Angli to Christianity.
There
was for a time a certain amount of disagreement between the Roman and
Lindisfarne missions, which was resolved at the Synod of Whitby in 664 CE. St.
Cedd was at Whitby and agreed to the adoption of Roman customs. It may well be
that the dedication of a foundation, established by a Lindisfarne missionary,
to St. Gregory, was a deliberate attempt to foster unity.
Chronological history of Kirkdale to Norman times
The Palaeolithic record,
130,000 to 115,000 YBP
Geological formation
The valley of Kirkdale and Bransdale is the
result of wearing by the river, which in former millennia cut down the land
roughly to the level of the present flood plain at Kirkdale. This flow would
have been interrupted between c 18,000 to 13,000 BCE at the end of the last
glaciation, when drainage from the Vale of Pickering was impeded at the coast.
This resulted in Lake Pickering, which probably extended into tributary valleys
such as Kirkdale. (St Gregory’s Minster,
Kirkdale, North Yorkshire, Archaeological Investigations and Historical Context, Philip Rahtz and Lorna Watts,
2021, 1).
Kirkdale Cave
Kirkdale Cave is
a cave and fossil site located in Kirkdale. It was discovered by workmen in
1821 and found to contain the fossilised bones of a variety of mammals no
longer indigenous to Britain, including hippopotami (the farthest north any
such remains have been found), elephants and cave hyenas.
In 1821, a quarry close to the Minster
was being worked for road stone. The quarry men cut through a cave entrance.
They spread stone chippings on the road, not noticing small bones. This cave
was later found to have been covered by many inches
depth of animal bones beneath a layer of dried mud. The local vicar later
spotted the bones and reported his find to the Reverend William Buckland, who
was a professor of minerology and geology at Oxford University. Buckland came
to the site in 1822. The discovery at Kirkdale occurred in the wake of new
forms of stratigraphic dating developed during the Enlightenment. Some of the
fossils were sent to William Clift the curator of the museum of the Royal
College of Surgeons who identified some of the bones as the remains of hyenas
larger than any of the modern species. Buckland later reported to the Royal
Society in London the discovery of:
·
Straight
tusked elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, bison and giant bear finds from the
earlier warmer period; and
·
Mammoth,
woolly rhinoceros, reindeer, horse and sabre tooth tiger remains from the later
cold spells.
Buckland began his investigation
believing that the fossils in the cave were diluvial, that is that they had
been deposited there by a deluge that had washed them from far away, possibly
the Biblical flood.
On further analysis Buckland concluded
that the bones were the remains of animals brought in by hyenas who used it for
a den, and not a result of the Biblical flood floating corpses in from distant
lands, as he had first thought. His reconstruction of an ancient ecosystem from
detailed analysis of fossil evidence was admired at the time, and considered to
be an example of how geo-historical research should be done. The minute and
painstaking accuracy of his observation and description of the bones set new standards
of scientific method. The Kirkdale cave discoveries helped to inspire a
landmark in the development of geological study.
The hyena bones were abundant and
evidenced that hyena had dragged animal parts into the cave to eat them. The
mouth of the cave is not larger than one metre in height, so Buckland concluded
that the varied animal remains were the prey of hyena, dragged into the cave.
He came to realise that the cave had never been open to the surface through its
roof, and that the only entrance was too small for the carcasses of animals as
large as elephants or hippos to have floated in. He began to suspect that the
animals had lived in the local area, and that the hyenas had used the cave as a
den and brought in remains of the various animals they fed on. This hypothesis
was supported by the fact that many of the bones showed signs of having been
gnawed prior to fossilisation, and by the presence of objects which Buckland
suspected to be fossilised hyena dung. Further analysis, including comparison
with the dung of modern spotted hyenas living in menageries, confirmed the
identification of the fossilised dung.
All the bones at Kirkdale were
accumulated across the cave floor and later a sediment of mud was introduced on
a single occasion. This covered thousands of bone
remains. Perhaps this mud was carried in by a rush of water, perhaps from
glacial melt flooding through Newton Dale to lift Lake Pickering to a height of
250 metres. Thereafter a gradual reduction in the depth of Lake Pickering
followed over many years, as water escaped through Kirkham Gorge, to flow
towards the Humber Region.
A humorous cartoon in 1822 depicting
Buckland’s discovery
31 – Ox tibia, Pleistocene, Kirkdale
Cave
32 – Deer tooth, Cervus sp, Pleistocene, Kirkdale Cave
33 – Cave Earth, Pleistocene, Kirkdale
Cave
34 – Red deer antler, cervus elephus,
Pleistocene, Kirkdale Cave
35 – Hyena tooth, Pleistocene, Kirkdale
Cave
36 – Hyena tooth, Pleistocene, Kirkdale
Cave
37 = Bear tibia, Ursus sp, Pleistocene, Kirkdale Cave
(Displayed at the Scarborough Rotunda
Museum)
A few days before reading the formal
paper, he gave the following colourful account at a dinner held by the
Geological Society: The hyaenas, gentlemen, preferred the flesh of
elephants, rhinoceros, deer, cows, horses, etc., but sometimes, unable to
procure these, & half starved, they used to come out of the narrow entrance
of their cave in the evening down to the water's edge of a lake which must once
have been there, & so helped themselves to some of the innumerable
water-rats in wh[ich] the lake abounded.
In 1823 he published his findings to
great critical acclaim in his work Reliquiae Diluvianae; or Observations
on the Organic Remains con rained in Caves, Fissures and Diluvial Gravel, and
on other Geological Phenomena, Attesting the Action of an Universal Deluge.
The cave was extended from its original
length of 175 metres (574 ft) to 436 metres (1,430 ft) by Scarborough Caving
Club in 1995. A survey was published in Descent magazine.
Calcite deposits overlying the
bone-bearing sediments have been dated as 121,000 ± 4000 YBP using
uranium-thorium dating, confirming that the material dates from the Ipswichian
interglacial.
The Eemian or
last interglacial was the interglacial period which began about 130,000 YBP at
the end of the Penultimate Glacial Period and ended about 115,000 YBP at the
beginning of the Last Glacial Period. The
climate then was warmer than today, with a higher global sea level and smaller ice-sheets. During the Last Inter Glacial, polar
temperatures were about 3-5 °C higher than today, the global sea level was at
least 6.6 m above present and the global surface
temperature was about 1 °C warmer compared to the pre-industrial era.
The specimens were an original part of
the archaeology collection of the Yorkshire Museum and
it is said that "the scientific interest aroused founded the Yorkshire
Philosophical Society".
While criticized by some, William
Buckland's analysis of Kirkland Cave and other bone caves was widely seen as a
model for how careful analysis could be used to reconstruct the Earth's past,
and the Royal Society awarded William Buckland the Copley Medal in 1822 for his
Kirkdale paper. At the presentation the society's president, Humphry Davy,
said: by these inquiries, a distinct epoch has, as it were, been established
in the history of the revolutions of our globe: a point fixed from which our researches may be pursued through the immensity of ages, and
the records of animate nature, as it were, carried back to the time of the
creation.
There is no prehistoric evidence of
human habitation from the Kirkdale excavations. 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).
The discoveries in Kirkdale cave caused
a sensation at the time. The fossilised remains were embedded in a silty layer
sandwiched between layers of stalagmite. The energetic Buckland went on to
explore twenty further caves in the next two years, and even imported a hyena
to Oxford to observe the habits of killing and dismembering its prey in order to test his hypotheses.
Three years after his Kirkdale
discovery, William Buckland discovered the footprints of a giant lizard which
he called Megalosaurus, but which would later be called dinosaurs.
This was before the age of humans in
Britian, but a place of very deep antiquity, and the very place where our
ancestors would later live, in a different period of geological time.
A vast epoch of time then passed before
the first human settlers following the last great Ice Age entered Britain
across Doggerland, the lowlands of what is now the
North Sea, probably following animals such as reindeer. The first people
arrived in the area of the North Yorks Moors about
10,000 years ago. They were hunters, hunting wild animals across the moors and
in the forests. Relics of this early hunting, gathering and fishing community
have been found as a widespread scattering of flint tools and the barbed flint
flakes used in arrows and spears.
18,000 YBP – The Devensian
Period, the end of the last Ice Age
The Devensian ice sheets created the
natural topography of Yorkshire and Ryedale, which provided a natural landscape
for the dense network of religious communities of the seventh and eight
centuries. This was a landscape of strategic corridors through which royal and
aristocratic patrons competed. The geology of the upland areas directed the
meltwaters through rivers into the lowlands which provide water supplies and
rich alluvial deposits, creating four main regions of the Holderness peninsula,
the Vale of Pickering, the Vale of York and the Humberhead
Levels. The Hodge Beck and the River Dove ran off into the Vale of Pickering to
form Lake Pickering, a pro glacial lake. In time Lake Pickering drained off
into the Derwent, leaving extensive marshland.
Ryedale thus became an area of key
strategic importance. The area became as natural core for agriculture and human
habitation and the Vale of York and the Vale of
Mowbray were well suited to pastoral farming.
(Power,
Religious Patronage and Pastoral Care, Religious communities, mother parishes
and local churches in Ryedale c650 to c1250, Thomas Pickles D Phil Oxon,
Lecturer in Medieval History, The Kirkdale Lecture 2009)
Iron Age
By the late Iron Age, the area was
dominated by the Parisii around Holderness and the Brigantes in the Vale of York.
The Pre
Roman Period
It is clear that within a radius of some
15 to 20 km of Kirkdale there is complex archaeologically derived evidence of
secular and religious activity from at least the pre Roman
period (St Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, North Yorkshire,
Archaeological Investigations and Historical Context, Philip Rahtz and Lorna Watts,
2021, 3). This was essentially a rural area, with non
nucleated settlements, with contact between the settlements by north to
south routes through the valleys on the sides of the moors and east to west
through the Vale of Pickering.
Kirkdale is only about 25km north of the
major Roman regional capital, Eboracum (York). Eboracum
(York) would have become increasingly accessible from Kirkdale to the
south during the Roman period, with the construction of new roads.
Thurkilsti
was a pre Roman road from the North York Moors which
passed close to the west side of Kirkdale and on to Welburn,
just south of the Kirkdale ford and to Hovingham where it later joined the Roman roads (St Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, North Yorkshire,
Archaeological Investigations and Historical Context, Philip Rahtz and Lorna
Watts, 2021, 3).
During the Roman period, Kirkdale was in
the Roman hinterland. By the late Roman period, Kirkdale was probably part of a
stable, well regulated area
with dispersed settlement, probably dependent on major villa based estates such
as at Beadlam and Hovingham.
The significance of Ryedale was
reinforced by an extensive Roman road network.
·
Wade’s
Causeway ran from Malton across Wheeldale Moor
towards Whitby.
·
A
Roman road ran from Malton to the Vale of York via the Coxwold Gilling gap
where it joined Hambleton Street which stretched from Bernicia to Lincoln.
There have been structures in the area
dating to the Roman period, such as the Roman
villa at Beadlam, only 2 km west of Kirkdale,
discovered in the 1960s. The region around Beadlam was administered from the Roman
town of Isurium Brigantum
(modern Aldborough, near Boroughbridge).
Beadlam probably sat at the centre of a working
estate that provided its owners with an income. Comparable estates show
evidence for arable farming and pasture, the management of woodlands, quarrying
and various industrial activities. Many of the buildings at Beadlam
show evidence of metalworking. Since most of the population of Roman Britain
lived in the countryside, it is likely that sites like Beadlam
would have played an important part of the rural economy and had goods to trade
with larger settlements such as Malton or Aldborough.
Compared to the south of Roman Britain,
the north was largely dominated by the Roman army, most notably the many forts
along Hadrian’s Wall, and evidence of elaborate civilian buildings like Beadlam is quite rare. However, Beadlam
is one of a cluster of potential villa sites in the Vale of Pickering around
Malton, which include Langton, Oulston and Hovingham.
Excavations at each of them have
revealed a rich array of Roman objects, including jewellery, pottery and
expensive glassware, showing that such luxury items were in high demand even at
the farthest extent of the empire. Evidence of occupation at Beadlam before the construction of the villa suggests that
its owners were members of existing elites who had now adopted a Roman
lifestyle. It was quite common in Yorkshire and across Roman Britain for Iron
Age farmsteads to be developed with a Roman-style building. Other possible
owners could have been retired soldiers who had been rewarded with land for
their service, absentee landowners living elsewhere in the empire, or even the
Roman emperor himself, who owned various estates in the province of Britannia.
The villa complex was probably
constructed in about 300 CE and was occupied until about 400 CE, just before
the end of Roman Britain. The villa at Beadlam had
about 30 rooms, which were spread across three ranges built around a large
courtyard. The northern range, the only one visible today, is a typical
Romano-British winged-corridor house. This house comprised communal rooms in
the centre and two private suites of well-appointed rooms on either side,
connected by a long veranda.
The western suite included a room with a
heating system (hypocaust) and in the east suite there was an elaborate
reception room with a fine mosaic. It may be that these suites were
self-contained and belonged to different households, who shared the use of the
other rooms. A similar house lay just west of the courtyard and may have been
occupied by another household. On the eastern side were further buildings that
seem to have been used for industrial or agricultural processes.
It seems likely that there may have been
some religious site at Kirkdale in the late Roman period, whether pagan or
Christian or an amalgam of both. There is evidence of an early burial
(including an infant) to the north east of the church
at “Trench NB”. The first recognised structural phase is “Foundation P” at the
north exterior of the church, which used blocks which might have been from the
fully Roman period (or might have been reused) and might have been part of a
detached structure, such as a funerary building or mausoleum. It is not clear
whether late Roman Christianity might have reached Kirkdale. It was evident in York and it was arguably present in the excavations at the
nearby Beadlam villa, but this remains uncertain.
Hovingham was a much more significant Roman
villa, perhaps on a palatial scale, nearly 10km southwest from Kirkdale, and it
could have had very extensive holdings, which could have embraced a wider
estate including Beadlam and Kirkdale.
Lastingham might have had a Roman predecessor to
the later monastery, possibly a nymphaeum.
Villas at Appleton
le Street, Blandsby Park and Langton indicate that Ryedale
was a major agricultural producer in the Roman period. The landscape of the
Vale of Pickering was likely well settled, and this might have extended into
the rural hinterland. Agricultural produce would have been required at
significant scale to support the northern Roman army.
In the Roman period, the area around
Kirkdale probably included a small number of dominant settlements in this area
of rural hinterland. The population would have been within the military and
administrative orbits of the Roman interests.
(St
Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, North Yorkshire, Archaeological Investigations and
Historical Context, Philip Rahtz and Lorna Watts, 2021, 284 to 288).
A pre
Christian past?
C L R Tudor, a Brief
Account of Kirkdale Church with Plans, Elevations, Sections, Details and
Perspective Views (London 1876) suggested
that Kirkdale’s Christian association did not mark
the beginning of the site’s importance. He wondered about 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.
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).
Fifth Century CE
The late c 4th and c 5th
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 immediately overwhelmed by the
Angloi 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).
The
historian Procopius (500 to 565 CE) described the people of Brittia
as Angiloi to Pope Gregory the Great. Gregory
had seen fair haired slaves for sale and replied that they were not Angles,
but angels. His pun is sometimes taken to define the origin of the English
and Gregory continued to class them as a single peoples.
It
is significant that Bede described the incident as Gregory’s encounter with a Deiran boy in Rome about to be sold into slavery. Kirkdale
lay firmly in the Kingdom of Deira.
Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England, Book II, Chapter 1:
Nor must we pass by in silence the story of the blessed Gregory, handed down
to us by the tradition of our ancestors, which explains his earnest care for
the salvation of our nation. It is said that one day, when some merchants had
lately arrived at Rome, many things were exposed for sale in the market place, and much people resorted thither to buy:
Gregory himself went with the rest, and saw among other wares some boys put up
for sale, of fair complexion, with pleasing countenances, and very beautiful
hair. When he beheld them, he asked, it is said, from what region or country
they were brought? and was told, from the island of Britain, and that
the inhabitants were like that in appearance. He again inquired whether those
islanders were Christians, or still involved in the errors of paganism, and was
informed that they were pagans. Then fetching a deep sigh from the bottom of
his heart, “Alas! what pity,” said he, “that the author of darkness should own
men of such fair countenances; and that with such grace of outward form, their
minds should be void of inward grace.” He therefore again asked, what was the
name of that nation? and was answered, that they were called Angles.
“Right,” said he, “for they have an angelic face, and it is meet that
such should be co-heirs with the Angels in heaven. What is the name of
the province from which they are brought?” It was replied,
that the natives of that province were called Deiri.
“Truly are they De ira,” said he, “saved from
wrath, and called to the mercy of Christ. How is the king of that province
called?” They told him his name was Aelli; and
he, playing upon the name, said, “Allelujah,
the praise of God the Creator must be sung in those parts.”
So
three puns from this story give us some historical perspective:
·
An
Angle from Deira was the inspiration for the nation of England.
·
A
pun on Deira itself, de ira, ‘of anger’ were
an inspiration on Gregory, in Bede’s image, that the Deirans
had been saved from wrath.
·
King
Aelli of Deira was the King who inspired the word Allelujah.
Kirkdale
finds itself firmly within the ambit of England’s origin story, being a
significant place within the lands of Deira, and the place of a church which
soon afterwards was dedicated to Pope Gregory.
By
the late sixth century, groups now referred to as the Anglo Saxons were gaining
control over the land, including at Lastingham.
597 CE
Pope
Gregory sent Augustine, Prior of a Roman monastery, to Kent on an ambassadorial
and religious mission to convert the Angli,
and he was welcomed by King Aethelberht.
The
English church would come to own a quarter of cultivated land in England and
reintroduce literacy at least amongst the Church. English identity began in a
religious concept. Hence there grew a single and distinct English church. It
adopted Roman practices in its dogma and liturgy (as later confirmed at the
Synod of Whitby in 663 CE), but it venerated English saints and developed its
own character.
604 CE
St
Gregory (540 to 604 CE) died on 12 March 604. He was the bishop of Rome from 3
September 590 to his death. He is known for instituting the first recorded
large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregorian mission, to convert the then
largely pagan Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. Gregory is also well known for his
writings, which were more prolific than those of any of his predecessors as
pope. Gregory was more inclined to remain retired into the monastic lifestyle
of contemplation. The mainstream form of Western plainchant, standardised in
the late 9th century, was attributed to Pope Gregory I and so took the name of
Gregorian chant.
627 CE
By
the early seventh century CE, there was an incipient state structure under King
Edwin of Deira’s peripatetic government, which held gatherings on estates where
food renderings were consumed. Deira’s land was between the Humber and the
Tees. York was an important centre. Edwin
converted to the Christian religion, along with his nobles and many of his
subjects, in 627 and was baptised at Eoforwic (York) and he built the first wooden church amidst the Roman
ruins which was later replaced by a larger stone church.
The first recorded church at York was a wooden structure built
hurriedly in 627 to provide a place to baptise Edwin, King of Northumbria. The
location of this church, and its pre-1080 successors, is unknown. It was
probably in or beside the old Roman principia (the military
headquarters), which may have been used by the king when in residence in York.
Archaeological evidence indicates the principia was located partly
beneath the post-1080 Minister site, but excavations undertaken in 1967-73
found no remains of the pre-1080 churches. It can therefore be inferred that
Edwin's church, and its immediate successors, was near the current Minster
(possibly to the north, underneath the modern Dean's Park) but not directly on
the same site.
633 CE
Edwin died and overall control of the Kingdom
of Northumbria passed to the northern Kingdom of Bernicia.
655 CE
The
Battle
of the Winwead was fought on 15 November 655 between
King Penda of Mercia and Oswiu of Bernicia, ending in the Mercians' defeat and
Penda's death. According to Bede, the battle marked the effective demise of
Anglo-Saxon paganism. It marked a temporary Northumbrian ascendency.
There
followed religious foundations in Deira after the Battle of Winwead
in the Vale of Pickering and in the area
between York and Whitby, which appear to have included Lastingham, Kirkdale, Coxwold, Hovingham and Kirby Misperton.
657 CE
Whitby
continued to have an ongoing importance as a port, which was enhanced by the
foundation of a monastery there. The first monastery was founded in 657 CE by
the Anglo-Saxon King of Northumbria, Oswiu (Oswy).
The monastery at
Lastingham
Bede,
in his History of the English Church and People (731
CE), recorded
a small monastic community was founded at Lastingham (some 10km northeast of Kirkdale) under
royal patronage, partly to prepare an eventual burial place for Æthelwald, Christian king of Deira, partly to assert the
presence and lordship of Christ in a trackless moorland wilderness haunted by
wild beasts and outlaws.
663 CE
The Synod of Whitby
Aidan
had come to Northumbria from Iona, bringing with him a set of practices that
are known as the Celtic Rite. As well as superficial differences over the computus (calculation of the date of Easter), and
the “cut of the tonsure” (the practice of cutting or shaving some or all of the hair on the scalp as a sign of religious devotion
or humility), these involved a pattern of Church organisation fundamentally
different from the diocesan structure that was evolving on the continent of
Europe. Activity was based in monasteries, which supported peripatetic
missionary bishops. There was a strong emphasis on personal asceticism, on
Biblical exegesis, and on eschatology. Aidan was well known for his personal
austerity and disregard for the trappings of wealth and power. Bede several
times stresses that Cedd and Chad absorbed his example and traditions. Bede
tells us that Chad and many other Northumbrians went to study with the Irish
after the death of Aidan.
Lastingham
had been founded in the Lindisfarne/Iona/Celtic tradition.
There
was for a time some disagreement between the Roman and Lindisfarne missions.
This caused conflict within the church until the issue was resolved at the Synod of Whitby in 663 by Oswiu of Northumbria opting
to adopt the Roman system.
The
schism had come about because the church in the south were tied to Rome, but
the northern church had become increasingly influenced by the doctrines from
Iona. The Synod was held in the monastery at Streoneschalch
near to Whitby.
St
Cedd was at Whitby and agreed to the adoption of Roman customs.
A
scribe, probably Bede, who recorded the events of the Synod of Whitby
685 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 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).
Foundation
of Kirkdale
The circumstances under
which a church of the Anglo Saxon period was
established at Kirkdale are unknown. 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.
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. The
preferred model is that the initial use was of a church only, without an associated
monastery. The natural resources in the immediate vicinity and 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, probably in Kirkbymoorside.
Ongoing connections with
Lastingham may have changed over time.
Dedication to St Gregory was
unusual. There appear to have been strong links between the Deirans
and Pope Gregory.
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; 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.
The
Gregorian link extends further to associations with the royal dead of Deira and
Gregory. When King Edwin of Deira fell at the Battle
of Hatfield Chase
on 12 October 633 about 8 miles north of Doncaster, which marked the effective
end of Deiran kingship, Edwin was temporarily placed
in a porticus or chapel dedicated to St Gregory in York (later completed
by his successor Oswald) and his body was then moved to be finally buried at
Whitby again in a porticus dedicated to Gregory. Philip
Ratz et al 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. There is
no surviving evidence of this. It might be implied from a mid
eleventh century dedication stone. It is possible therefore that there
may have been some association with St Gregory from as early as 633 CE.
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 and 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.
There
is a possible association of Kirkdale with Cornu Vallis, the horned
valley, a name which suggests some association with cattle in the distant past.
Augustine’s mission was likely to have included instruction from Gregory to
deal with pagan shrines. This might suggest a possibility that Kirkdale was
already a known meeting 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. Ceolfrith had been
a monk at Gilling and Ripon, and had an association
with the area.
(St Gregory’s
Minster, Kirkdale, North Yorkshire, Archaeological Investigations and
Historical Context, Philip Rahtz and Lorna Watts, 2021, 292 to 293).
Ceolfrith was born around 642 CE in Northumbria.
He became a monk at the monastery of St. Peter’s, Wearmouth. 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. Cornu Vallis played a role in Ceolfrith’s journey in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria. Bede’s
abbot Ceolfrith (also known as Ceolfrid)
travelled to a place called Cornu Vallis, which some scholars believe could
have been Kirkdale. The Latin name “Cornu Vallis” may reference the horn-shaped
valley, aligning with the topography of Kirkdale.
The
Life of Ceolfrith by an Anonymous Monk of Jarrow
of the Eighth Century,
chapter XXIX, tells of the appointment of Hwartbert
as abbot of Monkwearmouth Jarrow, who wrote a letter which he sent with gifts
to Ceolfrith who was found at Aelfberht’s
monastery, which is situated at a place called Cornu Vallis. The notes suggest
that Ceolfrith had ridden south towards the mouth of
the Humber.
The creation of a church
at Kirkdale has been attributed to the Laestingas, an
elite sub group of the Deirans,
potentially associated with a larger area than Lastingham itself.
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 (Chirchebi).
Physically Kirkdale
was more similar to Kirkbymoorside 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 it was sharing in the monetary
economy which has been evidenced between Whitby
and the Humber.
It may well be that these relationships
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).
St
Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, Arthur Penn, Parochial Church Council surmises 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.
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.
The original
parish churches emerged at about this time. 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 8th 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
9th and 10th centuries.
Pope Gregory had
encouraged the conversion of pagan holy places to Christianity and the church
at Kirkbymoorside is near a large burial mound.
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.
750 CE
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).
Early ninth
century
Important sculptural artefacts of the
late eighth and early ninth centuries have been found at Kirkbymoorside and
Kirkdale. 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 there may have been a relationship between Kirkbymoorside and Kirkdale. However
the preferred model is that Kirkdale became dependent upon the secular aristocratic
centre of Kirkbymoorside, whilst possibly having an as yet undefined
relationship with Lastingham.
It has been surmised that:
·
Lastingham,
Kirkbymoorside and Kirkdale might have been three separate and autonomous
units.
·
Lastingham,
Kirkbymoorside and Kirkdale might have been interconnected either (1)
Lastingham, a major ecclesiastical centre, with Kirkbymoorside a secular and
ecclesiastical dependent and Kirkdale an ecclesiastical dependent; or (2)
Kirkbymoorside as a secular estate with Lastingham a dependent monastery,
perhaps suitable for transhumance or seasonal grazing of livestock, and
Kirkland a dependent church.
·
An
ecclesiastical estate at Lastingham, a secular estate at Kirkbymoorside, each
having an influence over Kirkdale.
Kirkdale was most likely a continuing
element within 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.
Find ST 42, found in Trench II, stands
out from other stone found at Kirkdale. It may have
been imported from a significant, possibly Italian centre and was perhaps a
relic fragment.
Artefact ST 42
The above ground grace structures
referred to above, were designated ST 7 and ST 8 by the archaeologists. They
were found at the west exterior of the Church and have been interpreted to have
been significant above ground grave structures, likely
associated with elite members of society. Their position in the building might
have been focused with vibrant paint and possibly the play of light.
Artefact ST 7
Artefact ST 8
Reconstructed designs of ST7 and ST 8
ST8
ST7
Artefact OM 3
(St Gregory’s
Minster, Kirkdale, North Yorkshire, Archaeological Investigations and
Historical Context, Philip Rahtz and Lorna Watts,
2021, 293 to 295).
Late ninth
century to early tenth century CE
There are theories that the minster fell
into ruin, perhaps as a result of Danish raids, long
before the sundial tells us that Orm Gamalson rebuilt it. However
this might be the wrong interpretation.
How Kirkdale navigated the transition
from the Anglo Saxon to the Anglo Scandinavian period is opaque. Its placename
incorporating the Scandinavian dalr suggests
that it assumed a Scandinavian identity. The name Kirkdale, the church of the
dale, would have been no guidance in a landscape with multiple valleys flowing
down from the moors, which implies there was a continuation of it being a well known centre.
The archaeologists have found the
presence of graves which appear to be from the Anglo-Scandinavian period.
There might have been unrest, disruption
to religious observance and worse during the early Anglo Scandinavian period,
however the area around Kirkdale was off centre to the known Danish upheaval,
so it is possible that there was a relatively smooth change in local leadership
of the area.
It is difficult to interpret how
Kirkdale might have been affected by the sub division
of previously extensive estates into smaller units during this period of
increasing feudalisation and reestablishment around manors in the late ninth
century. It may well be that the church at Kirkdale might have become more
specifically responsible for the dispersed population around it, contrasting
with a greater concentration of population in the settlement of Kirkbymoorside.
When the Scandinavian government was
exercised from York, Kirkdale might have found
itself in more regular contact with York. The elite associated with Kirkdale in
time acquired property in York, but it is not known when this happened, but
this might have caused greater interconnectedness with York.
The Scandinavian dominance was the
beginning of a period of more profound change, with a tightening of the sense
of northern-ness, as a counterpoint to the southern English court.
(St
Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, North Yorkshire, Archaeological Investigations and
Historical Context, Philip Rahtz and Lorna Watts,
2021, 298 to 300).
Tenth century
to early eleventh century CE
The church appears to have been
destroyed by fire, most evident in excavations on its south side. There is
archaeological evidence of burning and interior fittings of wood and cloth were
inflammable.
Burials suggest that the building
continued to be in use. Any such fire must have been before it was rebuilt by
about 1055, but might not have been so long before as
has previously been interpreted.
The archaeologists suggest that St
Gregory’s minster might have reached its most extensive form before the 1055
building, although not in the nave, so this does not necessarily mean that
there were more parishioners. It probably continued to take an Anglo Saxon form
and not Anglo Scandinavian in form, and parallels have been identified with St Mary’s, Deerhurst in Gloucestershire.
The building therefore probably
continued to attract considerable patronage, and the most obvious candidate is Orm
Gamalson of the later sundial inscription or his family, as the sundial does
not make clear whether Orm’s purchasing of the building and then its later
rebuilding, were close in time.
Orm and his father Gamal were
descendants of a family that gained power when the Scandinavian King Cnut
rewarded his followers for their help in the conquest of England in 1014 to
1016. Their forebears probably included Thurbrand the
Hold (died 1024). Thurbrand was a Northumbrian
magnate in the early 11th century. Perhaps based in Holderness and East
Yorkshire, Thurbrand was recorded as the killer of
Uhtred the Bold, Earl of Northumbria. The killing appears to have been part of
the war between Sweyn Forkbeard and Cnut the Great against the English king Æthelred the Unready, Uhtred being the latter's chief
Northumbrian supporter. The family were likely players in multi
generational Northumbrian politics and feuds. They were known political
figures in the north. They had the wealth to rebuild the church on a
significant scale.
Following the fire, the area of Trench
II in the North Field became a builders yard, where
debris from the church was taken and later components of the new building
programme were prepared within the shelter of a shed like building. Disturbed
graves at the west exterior of the church reflect the chaos of the fire and its
aftermath.
(St
Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, North Yorkshire, Archaeological Investigations and
Historical Context, Philip Rahtz and Lorna Watts,
2021, 301 to 302).
1014
Wulfstan, Archbishop of York’s Serman to
the English People.
Wulfstan was appointed Archbishop of
York in 1002 during the trubulent times of fresh
waves of settlement from the wicinglas, the people
of the fjord settlements. By the end of the tenth century, England was a
sophisticated European state and in this context
Wulfstan envisaged a sophisticated model of society. 1014 was a year of crisis,
when King Aetheraed had been driven into exile,
expelled by Sweyn Forkbeard who was accepted as King of the English before
dying in 1014. Thus his young son Cnut became King.
Wufstan had long served in Aethelraed’s
administration. In this context he wrote his sermon to the English people, Sermo Lupi ad Anglos (Lupi being the Latin
for wolf, Wulfstan’s pen name). The sermon provided a contemporary definition
of morality and was a landmark in the evolution of English civilisation.
The sermon began with a sense of
foreboding: Beloved people, know that this is true: this world is in haste and it approaches its end. And so, because of the
nation’s sins, things must of necessity grow far more evil
before Antichrist’s advent: and then indeed they shall be appalling and
terrible widely throughout the world.
It continued: the devil has too much
led stray the nation … if we are to expect any cure, then we must
deserve it of God better than we hitherto have done…. God’s houses are
too cleanly despoiled … Nor has anyone been faithful in thought towards another
as duly he should … people have not very often cared what they have wrought by
word or by deed …
He then recounted that There was a
historian in the days of the Britons called Gildas, who wrote about their
misdeeds, how they by their sins so overly much angered God that in the end he
permitted the army of the English to conquer their lands and destroy withal the
Britons power …
He therefore continued And let us do as our need is: submit to what is
right and in some measure abandon what is not right …
(“When
the Danes Most Greatly Persecuted them, Wulfstan Archbishop of York’s Sermon to
the English People, translated from the
Anglo Saxon by S A J Bradley, Published by the Trustees of the Friends of St
Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale)
1055
The church
rebuilt by Orm
The introduction has recorded that the Saxon sundial,
bears the inscription “Orm the son of Gamel acquired St Gregory’s Minster
when it was completely ruined and collapsed, and he had it built anew from the
ground to Christ and to St Gregory in the days of King Edward and in the days
of Earl Tostig”.
The inscription refers to Edward the
Confessor and to Tostig, the son of Earl Godwin of Wessex and brother of Harold
II, the last Anglo Saxon King of England. Tostig was the Earl of Northumbria
between 1055 and 1065. It was therefore during that last relatively peaceful
decade, immediately before the Norman conquest, that Orm, son of Gamel rebuilt
St Gregory’s Church.
The sundial consists of a stone slab
nearly eight feet long (236 cm) by about twenty inches wide (51 cm), divided
into three panels. The central panel contains the dial, and the Old English
inscription above it may be translated as "This is the day's sun-marker
at every hour." The panels to left and tight contain the further
inscription in Old English which furnishes precious information about the early
history of the church:
Left-hand panel: "Orm the son of
Gamel acquired St. Gregory's Minster when it was completely ruined.”
Right-hand panel: “and collapsed, and he had it built anew from the ground
to Christ and to St. Gregory, in the days of king Edward and in the days of
earl Tostig."
At the foot of the central panel a
further inscription reads: "Hawarth
made me: and Brand (was) the priest."
Short though it is, this inscription
provides us with a wealth of information. It enables us to date the earliest
phase of the existing fabric with some precision. Tostig, the son of Earl
Godwin of Wessex and the brother of Harold II the last Anglo-Saxon king of
England, was earl of Northumbria from 1055 to 1065. It was therefore during
that decade that Orm the son of Gamel rebuilt St. Gregory's church. It is very
rarely that we can date the construction of an early medieval church so
precisely.
The sundial was preserved in a coat of
plaster until it was discovered in 1771.
What survives of Orm's church in the
existing visible fabric appears to be the south, west, and what remains of the
east walls of the nave; the archway in the west wall of the nave (now opening
into the much later west tower) which probably formed the original entrance to
Orm's church; and the jambs, angle-shafts, bases and capitals of the arch which
leads from the nave into the chancel. The latter archway is some four centuries
later than Orm's church, but it appears that the masons who were responsible for
it re-used what they could of an earlier chancel arch. It is therefore
reasonable to infer that Orm's church had a chancel,
though not all Anglo-Saxon parish churches did, though it was probably a great
deal smaller than the existing one.
Much of the present nave in undoubtedly
Orm’s building. The western entrance arch and the responds of the chancel arch
belong to that period. Old masonry including grave slabs and crosses, was later
used in the west and south walls.
So the Scandinavian named Orm rebuilt the
minster – not Viking destruction, but Scandinavian reconstruction.
Characteristically Anglo-Saxon
architectural features are (1) the size and manner of laying of the qunins of the south-west and north-west outside corners of
the nave; (2) the height and narrowness of the western arch; and (3) the
simplicity of the bases and capitals of the angle-shafts of the western and
chancel arches.
It is possible to discover a little bit
about Orm from the slender documentation which survives from the eleventh
century. Both Orm and Gamel are Scandinavian names. The sundial at Old Byland
church was commissioned by 'Sumerled the housecarl', another Scandinavian name,
and the housecarls were the eilte troops who formed
the backbone of Canute's armies.
Orm Gamalson is an Old Norse name which
roughly translates as Dragon Oldson.
Orm was a prominent person in
Northumbria in the middle years of the eleventh century. He married into the
leading aristocratic clan of the region. His wife Aethelthryth was the daughter
of Ealdred, earl of Northumbria from 1016 to 1038. Among his brothers-in-law
was Siward, earl of Northumbria from about 1042 to 1055, famous for his
exploits against the king of Scots, Macbeth, and as the founder of St. Olave's
(i.e. Olaf's) church in York. Orm was a considerable landowner in Yorkshire
before 1066, as we may learn from the witness of Domesday Book. Among his
landholdings in Ryedale was the big and valuable estate based on
Kirkbymoorside.
Estates in Yorkshire held by Orem
Gamalson before Hugh Fitz Badric, from the Domesday Book records
Earl Tosti. Tosti or Tostig, who became
Earl of Northumberland in 1055, was banished in 1065 for a variety of crimes,
including the murder of Orm's son, Gamal Ormson in 1063, but returned with
Harold Hardrada, King of Norway, in the following year. The Norwegian army
fought against Tostig's brother, Harold Godwinson, King of England, at Stamford
Bridge, and there both Tostig and his Norwegian ally were killed. After the
battle Harold Godwinson carried out his famous forced march to Hastings, where
he was killed in battle by the Norman army of William the Conqueror.
The Parish of Kirkdale
It seems likely that the parish of
Kirkdale (as opposed to the church itself) originated in a process of
fragmentation of a once much larger unit of ecclesiastical administration,
which had its hub in Kirkbymoorside.
The pastoral organisation of the
Anglo-Saxon church within each diocese was focused upon the institution of the
minster. Our modern word Minster is derived from the Old English mynster, itself a derivation from the latin term monasterium,
which is also of course the ancestor of our word 'monastery' By ‘monastery’ we
usually understand something like 'a community of monks vowed to living
according to a monastic rule, cut off from the world the better to devote
themselves to prayer and worship.' The Anglo-Saxons sometimes used mynster in this sense, but more often they
understood something rather different by it;
something akin to what today is called in the Church of England a 'team
ministry'. One should think of the typical Anglo-Saxon minster as a community
of clergy (not necessarily celibate) who discharged pastoral functions over a
wide area round about which could embrace many square miles and several
villages or hamlets. It was an institution ideally adapted to the early days of
Christianity in England when there were few priests, few churches and much work
to be done: these early minsters had something of the character of mission
stations. Much later on - and in northern England the
key period seems to have been between about 1000 and 1150 - these early units
came to fragment into smaller ones.
The most cause of fragmentation was the
tendency for the landed classes to build village churches for their tenants
staffed by individual priests whose pastoral responsibilities were restricted
to the territory of the particular village itself.
These smaller units became the parishes which in most rural areas of England
retain today the shape and boundaries which they acquired in the eleventh and
twelfth centuries.
This evolution was complicated in much
of the north and east of the country by the disruption occasioned by the Viking
attacks and subsequent Scandinavian settlements of the ninth and tenth
centuries. Whatever status Kirkdale might have enjoyed as a pastoral centre in
the pre-Viking period, it appears that by the eleventh century the main
ecclesiastical centre in this area was at Kirkbymoorside. Orm's great estate
with its nucleus at Kirkbymoorside had a number of
outliers attached to it. Some of these settlements evolved into separate
parishes, for example Kirby Misperton.
Kirkdale seems to have shared this evolution, with the difference from Kirby
Misperton that its church was not built at a nucleated village because none
existed in the dale. The parish consisted of a scatter of small hamlets and
isolated farmsteads - Welburn, Skiplam, Nawton, Muscoates, Sunley Hill, Wombleton,
and others, some of them now lost such as Walton
and Hoveton. but
its new church as rebuilt by Orm, embellished with its sundial by Hawarth, and served by the priest Brand, was where the old,
ruined, minster church had stood in days gone by, the ruined church whose
cemetery was still used by the local people for the burial of their dead.
(http://www.ormerod.uk.net/Places/Kirkdale/placekirkdale.htm)
The area of Trench II became a workshop
for the rebuilding work. The destruction of the old church was so extensive
that much of the previous structure required to be rebuilt, but the previous
church seems to have been used as the basic template for the new foundations.
The
sundial was placed over the south doorway, by then clearly the main entrance to
the building. The basic form of the south doorway is attributed to this phase
of work. There can be no certainty that the sundial was built into the new
church as it was constructed, but the general dating of the fabric suggests
this was so.
“We
cannot be sure that its present position is its original position … The sundial
could even have originally been separate from the church structure itself; but
there is a strong probability, given the dedicatory nature of the associated
inscription … that it always comprised a prominent display on the face of Orm’s
rebuilt church – on the south side of the building, that is, in order the catch
the sun.” (Orm Gamalson’s Sundial, The
Lily’s Blossom and the Roses’ Fragrance,
The Kirkdale Lecture 1997, Published by the Friends of St Gregory’s Minster,
Kirkdale, S A J Bradley MA FSA, Professor Emeritus, University of York)
SAJ
Bradley sees some parallel with the seventh century dedication inscription of
St Paul’s Church, Jarrow, In hoc singulari signo vita redditur mundo, “In this
singular symbol, life if restored to the world”.
SAJ
Bradley observed that the characters of the inscriptions are mostly in the
Latin alphabet, they are non runic. They are in Old
English, apart from the conventional Latinate forms of sanctus
(in the abbreviation SCS), Christus (christe,
abbreviated to XPE), and Gregorius. Otherwise
the wording is of late Old English.
There
are several personal names within the inscription:
·
Orm.
Orm, though a Scandinavian word, is stripped of its Norse form of Ormr, but appears in anglicised form. Orm is almost
certainly Orm of the Domesday book.
·
Gamal.
·
Tosti.
Earl Tostig of Northumbria.
·
Eardward. Edward the
Confessor.
·
Hawarth. It has been
speculated that Hawarth may have been the sculptor
who executed the work.
·
Brand.
Brand was probably the priest, perhaps custodian of the science of the computes
lying behind the sundial.
It is possible that Provost Brand, who
was elected abbot of Peterborough in 1066, and the maker of the Kirkdale
sundial, were one and the same; so that a colony from Peterborough were
involved in the reconstruction of S. Gregory's minster. (Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, Vol 5, page 151)
Kirkdale is now recognised to have been
at the forefront of contemporary English architecture, with comparisons even to
Westminster and comparisons with Deerhurst.
There may have been influence from Ealdred Archbishop of York
from 1061 to 1069, who had also been bishop of Worcester and who later crowned
William the Conqueror at Westminster on Christmas Day 1066. Orm Gamalson held
property in York, and may well have been subject to
Ealdred’s ideas. It might have been Ealdred who influenced Orm Gamalson to
commission the inscription. Ealdred was a diplomat, almost a ‘prince bishop’.
The stone for the rebuilding was from
local sources and reused material. If the stone came from the quarry of North
Grimston near Wharram Percy, 27km south east of
Kirkdale, this might have been an asset of Orm Gamal’s family.
There was a continued importance of symbolism and the sundial was replete with sophisticated
allusions, with symbolic and liturgical meaning, and resonances of Romanitas.
The sundial provides an extraordinary
wealth of information conveying Scandinavian, Latin and English associations.
It provides information about the past both distant and more recent,.
·
It
is the first known reference to the dedication of the church to St Gregory, but
the inference is that the church was already dedicated to Gregory. The
inscription reaffirms the importance of Kirkdale’s
connections with Rome.
·
Earl
Tostig, referred to in the inscription, with Archbishop Ealdred of York, had
been on a pilgrimage to Rome in 1061.
·
The
inscription is the first surviving reference to the church being a minster,
probably an age old title, but whose meaning and
connotations might have changed over time.
Where the priest lived is unknown as no
evidence has been found of a residence of this date.
Time, the Computus
and the sundial
The sundial itself bears the inscription
“This is the day’s sun circle at each hour”
S A J Bradley has observed that whilst sundials
were already old in England by the mid eleventh century, Orm Gamalson’s
community were not equipped to create sophisticated gadgetry for time telling. So the community at Kirkdale would have been as well off
using such things as the shadow of hill tops or other features of the landscape
as natural shadow clocks. He therefore suggests it is highly likely that
Kirkdale would have used natural; features for time telling and its steep sided
valley would have offered good opportunities for such methods. This is
consistent with such records as the Prologue to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales,
in which the narrator was able to calculate that it was foure
of the clokke by a calculation based on his own
shadow.
Bradley surmises that religious
symbolism might be an alternative explanation for the sundial.
·
The
faithful; dead were buried on the south side of the churchyard, so the exterior
of the south wall was a logical site for such symbolism.
·
The
adoption of an octaval division for the sundial matches the division of the 24 hour day into eight sections in the New Testament, with
daylight divided into four period each corresponding to three hours starting at
6am.
·
The
sundial might have been intended as a symbolic reminder of temporal progression
or pilgrimage. Time was perceived as the linear temporal space within which the
world moved towards its final judgement and dissolution.
·
By
the fourth century CE, the Christian fathers had moved away from eschatology
(focused on the ending of the world and the last things) towards a focus on
history, and God’s plans for how life on earth was lived.
·
Orm’s
octaval sundial might have been a reminder to those who passed to keep watch of
the day and night against Christ’s Second Coming, but also as an incentive to
live life as a pilgrimage through time.
·
There
were ideas that people were in temporary exile from the heavenly homeland
through this world so there was a place for a symbolic reminder to every
pilgrim in spirit. This was a subject that later ran through English
literature, such as John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. The Seafarer
written in about 1000 CE described the seafarer who, despites the dangers, was
irresistibly drawn to journey onwards over the oceans.
The Kirkdale sundial might have
originally been painted in strong colours. It might have been intended for
those who set eyes upon it, to think upon Time. Consciousness of time was
growing through awareness of history. Bede was the national historian of the
English people and in Alfred of Wessex, the English people understood the need
for civilised people to keep historical records. After the Conquest in 1074,
the Benedictine missionary Aldwin came to Jarrow, inspired by Bede to see
whether the centres of monastic life were still thriving as recorders of
history. Perhaps on his journey from York he might have come across Kirkdale.
If so, Kirkdale would have reassured Aldwin that there was already a
revitalisation of ancient religious sites.
There was a striking investment of
wealth at this time into church buildings, often from secular patrons, which
characterises the revised English church of the late tenth and eleventh
centuries. It is all the more striking that in this
period when losses of the period of Scandinavian domination were being made
good, Kirkdale was rebuilt by so Scandinavian sounding a patron. It seems
likely that these men were inspired by an awareness of history.
It is also of note that this was an
uneasy generation of the period just after the end of the first millennium. In
1014, Wulfstan, Archbishop of York, had published his sermon addressed to the
English nation. He anticipated the coming of the Antichrist and found moral
decline in the nation. There was always some uncertainty about the exact span
of the thousand years. There was uncertainty of the precise date, but not of
the fact of a Second Coming. So it is possible that
Orm’s sundial was recording the passing of the last of days. It is uncertain
whether it was a symbol of foreboding, or whether it was a more optimistic
symbol.
Orm’s sundial was also likely to have
reflected a central and arcane ‘science’, focused on the searching for a
knowledge of the Creator and his universe, and his purposes, through the
interpretation of the calendar, through the calculations of the computus.
·
In
325 CE the Council of Nicaea ruled that Christians should hold Easter on the
same day, always a Sunday, and referenced to the Jewish means to determine the
date of the Passover.
·
The
computational method involved complex cycles of years and never worked
satisfactorily.
·
Bede’s
De temporum ratione was a resource to help
calculate the dates of Easter up to the millennium and beyond.
·
There
was a renewal of computes learning in the late tenth and early eleventh
centuries.
·
Aelfric’s
De temporibus anni was largely based on Bede’s
earlier work.
·
It
had become possible for a reasonably educated cleric to make his own
calculations. There was likely to have been a network of ecclesiastical
connections, leading to the restored library at York.
·
There
was also an idea that the sun in its daily course was appointed to declare
mystical truths of God’s creation. The sun and moon were understood to mirror
God’s purposes and the destiny of humankind.
In this context a sundial on the south
wall of the church might have aspired to turn light into knowledge, as it
charted a shadow of this great continuum. Orm’s ornate sundial might have been
intended to offer a glimpse into the divine order of things.
(Orm Gamalson’s
Sundial, The Lily’s Blossom and the Roses’ Fragrance, The Kirkdale Lecture 1997, Published by the Friends of
St Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, S A J Bradley MA FSA, Professor Emeritus,
University of York)
Anglo-Saxon or Scandinavian, or mixed?
The old English of the sundial reflects
the late Anglo Saxon period. There is a single Old
Norse work, solmerca, or sundial. It has been
suggested that this might have been a loanword from the Norse language, but
Bradley suggests that it is more likely that Old Norse borrowed solmerca from English. As above, the Scandinavian
names, particular Orm, have been Anglicised from the Norse Ormr.
Orm might therefore be seen as a
rebuilder and a re dedicator of the ancient ruined
church to St Gregory, who thereby symbolically stepped back from the disorder
of the Viking centuries, back to the pre Viking Christian traditions.
So the sundial might reflect a rejection
of Scandinavian culture and a recovery of the earlier Anglo-Saxon Christian
period.
(Orm
Gamalson’s Sundial, The Lily’s Blossom and the Roses’ Fragrance, The Kirkdale Lecture 1997, Published by the Friends of
St Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, S A J Bradley MA FSA, Professor Emeritus,
University of York)
However we cannot ignore the clear evidence of
Scandinavian culture on the local community.
Orm and Gamal are common personal
Scandinavian names.
Orm’s name appears in three other texts
of the period – the Domesday Book and De Obsessione
Dunelmi, On the Siege of Durham which states that
after the Norman Conquest, a thegn of Yorkshire, called Orm, son of Gamel,
married Aetheldryth, one of five daughters of Earl
Eadred, and they had a daughter called Ecgfrida, wjho by Aelsfsige of Tees, had a
son, Waltheof, two other sons and a daughter, Eda. Symeon of Durham’s Historia
Regum recorded that Gamal, the son of Orm, was
killed by Earl Tosti in York in 1063 or 1064.
Brand is likely to have been the priest
responsible for the design of the sundial. Brandr weas a common personal name
in Viking Age Denmark and Iceland.
Hawaro was probably the craftsman, responsible
for the inscription. This is also a medieval Scandinavian name, as in the
Icelandic saga, Havaroar saga.
The inscription provides the names of an
elite landholder, Orm Gamalson, a priest called Brand and probably an artisan
called Hawaro. Whilst not describing the local
peasantry, this provides a cross section of middle and upper ranks of society.
The Anglo Saxon
Chronicle records that a great army of Vikings arrived in England in 865. In
876, the Anglo Saxon Chronicle records “Healfdene
shared out the land of the Northumbrians, and they turned to ploughing and
making a living for themselves.” Place name evidence of settlement,
especially in North Yorkshire, is plentiful.
In 1016 the Danish King Cnut followed
his father Swein Forkbeard and granted many of his followers estates in England. It is possible that Orm’s
father Gamal was a recipient of such estateland and
in marrying Ealdred’s daughter Aethelthryth, Orm was certainly well connected
into the Scandinavian and English elites. By the tenth century there was
extensive interaction between England and Scandinavia.
The preferred model is not of a transplanting
of Scandinavian culture into England, but rather of continuing and developing
practices.
In this context a Scandinavian name
could, on the one hand, have been evidence of Scandinavian descent, but on the
other, might be evidence of an increased use of fashionable Norse names. However Townend argues these were more than just fashionable
Norse names, but rather evidenced links with prominent Scandinavian families in
England. Names were used as a means to slot into a
social network, bringing familial and communal obligations. Naming practices
were therefore carefully controlled and constrained. Orm Gamalson may well have
been named after his grandfather.
There was a frequent use of Scandinavian
names in Yorkshire. The Domesday book shows a very high proportion of 70 Old
Norse to 30 Old English names, that is English names outnumbered two to one.
The highest of all such names was in Yorkshire and the Ryedale Wapentake
including Kirkdale had a higher than country average, Townend calculates this
as 92 to 8. The sheer quantity of Scandinavian names is striking.
He also points out that whilst there was
a similar quantitative adoption of Norman names after the conquest, the total
number of different names adopted from the Normans was very small. However the evidence of Norse names is of a large number of
different names which were used. So it is not a case
of a small number of popular names being widely used.
Old Norse continued to be spoken in
Viking Age England, particularly in Yorkshire and there was a rich tradition of
Old Norse poetry for English audiences. It is evident that over time Old Norse
speakers were continuing to enter the country, particularly as
a result of Cnut’s 1016 invasion. The Old Norse language flourished in
Cnut’s court in England. In the north of England there was an audience for
elite poetry in the Old Nose language.
The contrary evidence to a strong
Scandinavian culture is the language of the Kirkdale inscription itself, which
is in Old English. There are four other examples of similar inscriptions which
are quite similar:
·
Aldbrough:
Ulf ordered the church to be erected form himself and for Gunnwaru’s soul.
·
Great
Edstone: Looan
made me. The Traveller’s Clock.
·
Old
Byland: Sumarleoi’s house servant made me.
·
St
Mary Castlegate, York: … and Grim and Aese
raised this church in the name of the holy Lord Christ and to St Mary and St
Martin and St Cuthbert and All Saints. It was consecrated in the … year in the
life of …
However Townend points out that Old Norse had
never become a written language in the Roman alphabet. The two traditions of
Roman literacy were Latin and Old English. Since Old English and Old Norse were
related languages, the Scandinavian elite were content to continue to existing
traditions of Old English and Latin as the written languages of record.
The Vikings were originally pagan but
from the tenth century there is extensive evidence of religious piety
particularly through Scandinavian inspired stone sculpture. James Land in Corpus of Anglo Saxon
Stone Sculpture 1991, catalogued 9 items of sculpture at
Kirkdale, apart from the sundial. These sculptures seem to be funerary
monuments for the new Scandinavian elite of the area.
Kirkdale is a place where Scandinavian,
Latin and English traditions meet and find expression.
(Scandinavian
Culture in the Eleventh Century, Matthew
Townend, Department of English and Related Literature and Centre for Medieval
Studies, University of York, the 2007 Kirkdale Lecture, Published by the
Trustees of the Friends of St Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale)
Orm Gamalson was the holder of the
complex estate of Kirkbymoorside, evidenced in the Domesday Book. When his
family came into possession of the estate, isn’t known for sure. In 1066 he
held land across the Vale of Pickering and beyond. He might have held land not
surveyed in the Domesday Book as far as the Tees.
Orm
Gamalson was clearly a substantial figure, and the place he chose to articulate
his power was Kirkdale.
York was a centre for Tostig Godwinson (1029
to 1066)’s later career, a member of the major West Saxon house under which his
brother Harold Godwinson had gained his kingship. Tostig’s initial role in
Yorkshire, as Anglo Saxon Earl of Northumbria on the death of Earl Siward, was
to strengthen the king’s influence in this unruly land.
Tostig
was the third son of the Anglo-Saxon nobleman Godwin, Earl of Wessex and Gytha Thorkelsdóttir, the daughter of Danish chieftain Thorgil Sprakling. So he had parental associations with both Godwins and Scandinavians.
It
was during this period that the son of Orm Gamalson was murdered in his house
at York, probably part of the ongoing multigenerational feud. This might have
been the start of a period of disorder, during which Tostig changed his
allegiance in 1066 from the West Saxon housed in favour of the Scandinavian
side, to die soon afterwards at Stamford Bridge.
Kirkdale
clearly had political significance in this historical episode.
(St
Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, North Yorkshire, Archaeological Investigations and
Historical Context, Philip Rahtz and Lorna Watts,
2021, 302 to 306).
1086
The Domesday book evidences that
Kirkdale by about this time comprised ten villagers, one priest, two
ploughlands, two lord’s plough teams, three men’s plough teams, a mill and a
church. Orm seems to have held five carucates of
land at Chirchebi (Kirkbymoorside) So presumably this area of land
described the five carucates of cultivated land around Kirkdale.
There was a nearby settlement at Hoveton, a settlement listed
by the Domesday Book of 1086 and believed to have been somewhere between Fadmoor and Kirkbymoorside.
The Domesday Book records two churches
at Chirchebi, with one (clearly
Kirkdale) in the manor of Orm and the other in the manor of Torbrand
(now Kirkbymoorside Parish Church).
The north field beside Kirkdale Minster,
which shows clear evidence of ridge and farrow patterns, evidencing medieval
farming
1131
Walter Espec
encouraged the founding of the Cistercian abbey at Rievaulx in 1131. These austere monks sought
detachment from the world, in contrast to the Benedictines and the
Augustinians.
A breakaway group from St Mary’s Abbey
in York established Fountains Abbey and
Kirkham Priory.
The twelfth century boundaries of Rievaulx suggest that Kirkdale was “an island
amidst abbey land.” (J McDonnell, A History of
Helmsley, Rievaulx and District, York 1963, map p 111). The sub property
within the Kirkbymoorside estate to which Kirkdale was clearly attached, was
Welburn (St Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, North
Yorkshire, Archaeological Investigations and Historical Context, Philip Rahtz and Lorna Watts,
2021, 4). Kirkdale was by then surrounded by abbey lands.
1145
Roger de Mowbray
granted the church to Newburgh Priory, who held it until the dissolution.
The field to the immediate north of
Kirkdale Church retains prominent earthworks of ridge and furrow, which suggest
that this field was in arable use by the twelfth century. (Archaeology at Kirkdale, Supplement to the Ryedale
Historian No 18 (1996 to 1997), Lorna
Watts, Jane Grenville and Philip Rahtz, 2).
1150
There was some association in the
twelfth century with Rievaulx and the Cistercians. A scheduled site at the farm
still named Skiplam Grange, situated above Hodge Beck not far
north-west of St Gregory’s Minster, preserves an earthworks, associated buried
remains and some above-ground remains of buildings from the grange maintained
there by Rievaulx Abbey up to the date of the Dissolution. Skiplam
was part of the large grant of land given to Rievaulx Abbey by Gundreda d'Aubigny between 1144
and 1154 and later confirmed by her son Roger de Mowbray.
This grant included some land in cultivation along with previously unexploited
land which the abbey was allowed to assart, or
improve and bring into productive use, as they wished. By the time of Abbot
Ailred (1147-1167) Skiplam was operated as a grange.
1292
Under Pope Nicholas’ taxation of 1292,
Kirkdale was taxed at £23 6s 8d.
1432
At about the same time as the
Farndale grant in 1154, Roger granted the whole of the vil
of Welburn with six bovates of land (but excepting the Church of Kirkdale) to Rievaulx.
This land had been in the possession of the Augustinian priory of Newburgh.
The Cistercians obtained papal freedom
from payment of tithes on land which they cultivated themselves. The
Cistercians tenaciously maintained their tithe privileges.
In 1432, the prior and convent of
Newburgh brought a case in the consistory court of York against Robert Hewlott and Richard Page for non payment of titches of coppice wood, by virtue of
their possession by that time of the parish church of Welburn. The records of
the case provide a description of the parish church at Kirkdale at that time:
The parish church of Welburn, otherwise
known as Kirkdale, built and dedicated in honour of St Gregory, of the said
diocese, which has been canonically united, annexed and appropriated to their
said priory [Newburgh] to
their own uses.
He submits and intends to prove that for
the whole periods stated above there was, was accustomed to be,
and is, in the said diocese of York, a certain parish church with the cure of
souls, universally and commonly known as Welburn or Kirkdale. It has well known
boundaries by which it is distinguished, divided and separated from the other
neighbouring parishes. It has a goodly number of parishioners of both sexes, a
baptismal font, cemetery, and other attributes of a parish church.
He submits and intends to prove that the
right to take an enjoy tithes of whatever kind, both personal and predial, and
great and small, and especially titches of coppice wood issuing from whatsoever
places within the parish of the said church [of Welburn] otherwise known as
Kirkdale, and the boundaries, borders and places liable to tithe located within
the parish belonged and belongs under common law, by sufficient legal right and
praiseworthy custom, which has been observed peacefully and inviolately, to the
parish church of Welburn, otherwise known as Kirkdale, and the said religious
men, the prior and convent, and their monastery or priory in the name of the
said church.
(Monasteries
and Parishes in Medieval Yorkshire, Janet Burton FSA FR Hist S, Professor of
History, University of Wales, 2010 Kirkdale Lecture)
1539
On 23 January 1539, Newburgh was
dispossessed of Kirkdale. This was probably part of the Reformation
redistribution.
1944
Sir Herbert Edward
Read, art historian, poet and critic was born at
Kirkdale and wrote a poem in his collection A World within a War:
|
Kirkdale I, Orm, the son of Gamal Found these fractured stones Starting out of the fragrant thicket The river bed
was dry |
The rooftrees naked and bleached, Nettles in the nave and aisleways, On the altar an owl’s cast And a feather from a wild dove’s wing |
There was peace in the valley; Far into the eastern sea The foe had gone, leaving death and
ruin And a longing for the priest’s solace |
Fast the feather lay Like a sulky jewel in my head Till I knew it had fallen in a holy
place Therefore I raised these grey stones up again |
Texts, books and links
St
Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, Arthur Penn, Parochial
Church Council,
St Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, Richard Fletcher, 2003,
Published by the Trustees of the Friends of St Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale
Archaeology
at Kirkdale, Supplement to the Ryedale Historian No 18 (1996 to 1997), Lorna Watts, Jane Grenville and Philip Rahtz
St Gregory’s Minster,
Kirkdale, North Yorkshire, Archaeological Investigations and Historical Context, Philip Rahtz and Lorna Watts, 2021
The Friends of St Gregory’s Minster
University of Chester Book Review.
Orm
Gamalson’s Sundial, The Lily’s Blossom and the Roses’ Fragrance, The Kirkdale Lecture 1997, Published by the Friends of St
Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, S A J Bradley MA FSA, Professor Emeritus,
University of York
Power, Religious Patronage
and Pastoral Carte, Religious Communities, Mother Parishes and Local Churches
in Ryedale, c650 to c1250, Thomas Pickles, D Phil (Oxon), Lecturer in Medieval History
and Fellow by Special Election at St Catherine’s College, Oxford, The Kirkdale
Lecture 2009, Published by the Friends of St Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale
Monasteries and Parishes
in Medieval Yorkshire, Janet Burton FSA FR Hist S, Professor of Medieval History,
University of Wales, Lampeter, the 2010 Kirkdale Lecture, Published by the
Trustees of the Friends of St Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale
Scandinavian Culture in
the Eleventh Century, Matthew Townend, Department of English and Related Literature
and Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, the 2007 Kirkdale Lecture,
Published by the Trustees of the Friends of St Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale
Lastingham and its Sacred
Landscapes, Ian Wood, Professor of Early Medieval History in the
University of Leeds, The Fifth Lastingham Lecture, 2008
Viking Age Lastingham, Heather Donaghue,
Professor of Old Norse in the University of Oxford, Lecture on 1 October 2016,
Printed for the Friends of Lastingham Church
East Coast Connections, Ian Wood, Professor of
Early Medieval History in the University of Leeds, The Thirteenth Lastingham
Lecture, 2016
“When the Danes Most
Greatly Persecuted them, Wulfstan Archbishop of York’s Sermon to the English
People,
translated from the Anglo Saxon by S A J Bradley,
Published by the Trustees of the Friends of St Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale
The Ryedale Historian, Vol
10, 1980:
The Ryedale Historian, Vol
11, 1982:
