THE UNIVERSITY of Reading has conducted a dig which discovered that Anglo-Saxon monasteries were more robust than first thought.
A team of archaeologists, led by Dr Gabor Thomas of the UoR, carried out an examination of Lyminge, in Kent, and found it to have been occupied for longer than expected.
The site’s location would have laid it open to particularly violent raids by Viking invaders in the late 8th and early 9th century.
Despite this, new evidence gathered there suggests that the site not only survived, as attested by its ruins, but may also have recovered from the attacks better than previously known.
The main elements of the monastery, including the stone chapel at the heart of the site, were excavated between 2007-2015, and further in 2019.
Animal bones found at the site were carbon dated and showed that monks lived at the site for more than two centuries after it was established in the late 7th century.
Historical records at the nearby Canterbury Cathedral detail that the community was granted asylum within Canterbury, which was a former Roman town, following a raid in 804 CE.
But the new evidence shows that the monks living there not only returned to re-establish a settlement, but remained for well over a century.
The discovery came as a result of the finding of dateable artefacts, such as coins.
Dr Thomas said: “This research paints a more complex picture of the experience of monasteries during these troubled times.
“They were more resilient than the ‘sitting duck’ image portrayed in popular accounts of Viking raiding based on recorded historical events such as the iconic Viking raid on the island monastery of Lindisfarne in AD 793.
“However, the resilience of the monastery was subsequently stretched beyond breaking point.”
He explains: “By the end of the 9th century, at a time when Anglo-Saxon king Alfred the Great was engaged in a widescale conflict with invading Viking armies, the site of the monastery appears to have been completely abandoned.
“This was most likely due to sustained long-term pressure from Viking armies who are known to have been active in south-eastern Kent in the 880s and 890s.
“Settled life was only eventually restored in Lyminge during the 10th century, but under the authority of the Archbishops of Canterbury who had acquired the lands formerly belonging to the monastery.”
The findings were published in the Royal Society of Antiquaries’ journal, Archaeologia, on Friday, January 27.
Dr Gabor Thomas was nominated for Current Archaeology’s Archaeologist of the Year award for 2023 following his work at the site as well as at Bishopstone and Cookham.
Voting is still open, and you can vote online via: archaeology.co.uk/awards/archaeologist-of-the-year-2023
