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Digging up the living room
The Prebendal Manor House is situated in the centre of Nassington village opposite the church. This fantastic 13th-century building has even earlier origins. Local chronicles suggest that the present manor may well have been the site of an earlier Saxon manor, which at one time belonged to the estate of one of England's most famous kings, Cnut. Time Team is here to try to uncover something of that earlier history, and the Team is doing it in a way it hasn't tried before: by digging up somebody's living room!
Post holes and beam slots
Previous work in the manor had discovered some large postholes, which were thought to be a part of a Saxon hall. Time Team started by digging up the floor of the house to try to find additional remains that could indicate the size of the hall and highlight any special alignments between features.
Modern concrete and Victorian tiled floors were lifted – with the help of some heavy-duty mechanical equipment – to reveal an earthen floor packed with features. Further excavation revealed the features to be a mass of postholes, beam slots and foundation trenches. Large postholes associated with an early Saxon hall were found to have been cut into by later beam slots and foundation trenches. This supported the theory that two or more phases of construction had occurred on the site.
Pottery fit for a king?
Further trenches were excavated outside the manor house to try to locate associated buildings. These produced few finds, apart from some limited evidence for structures in Carenza's trench. It was thought that later landscaping had removed any evidence that may once have been there.
Pottery expert Dr Paul Blinkhorn managed to identify two main concentrations of pottery use in the early 11th and 13th centuries AD. These were thought to have been associated with the construction and demolition of the Saxon hall. These dates fitted well with the King Cnut story and helped to date the features found inside the manor. The prize find was a small sherd of 11th-century Rhineland pottery thought to have been of very high status. Fit for a King?
Total station
Time Team surveyor Henry Chapman used the latest 'electronic distance measurer' (EDM) at Nassington. The EDM sits on top of a tripod and is referred to as a 'total station' because it can record any distance, height or angle.
'It's like having a theodolite, level and distance measurer all in one instrument,' says Henry. The EDM can measure points in relation to the total station and this information can be drawn together into a plan on a computer.
Laser-fired
The EDM works by firing a laser, which is then reflected back by a prism attached to a surveying staff. The total station records where the staff is in relation to itself at each reading.
The special thing about Henry's EDM is the fact that it doesn't need two people to operate it (one on the total station and one with the staff). 'It's got sensors and built-in motors, so it follows you everywhere on its own as you walk about the site holding the staff,' says Henry. 'It can work over several kilometres and still be millimetre accurate.'
GPS
The usual global positioning system (GPS) was only used for the outside trenches at Nassington. 'The GPS requires a "line of sight" with the orbiting satellites and we'd got trenches there that were actually inside a building, so its just not suitable,' says Henry.
'The EDM is just the right instrument to tackle a job like this. The data I record with the EDM is stored on the same palm computer that I use with the GPS in the field, so everything is easily joined together into one big survey by the time I download it onto my PC.'
Back to basics
With just about every technical surveying gadget at his fingertips Henry still likes to get back to basics at times. 'I like the basic work with trigonometry, using hand tapes and having to work it all out on paper,' he says. 'The GPS equipment is probably my favourite of all the technical kit, but it does so much for you. Sometimes its nice just to do it the old fashioned way.'
The reconstruction cameo for this programme was based on Saxon musical instruments. Experimental archaeologist and ancient music expert Graeme Lawson has been making replicas of ancient instruments for years and here at Nassington he made a reed pipe. You can try to make one yourself by following Graeme's step-by-step plan.
Graeme Lawson, the reconstruction cameo expert for the Nassington programme, is an archaeologist, instrument-maker, composer and performer. He specialises in the exploration and development of music's pre- and proto-history, from the beginnings of 'early music' back to the origins of anatomically modern humans. One of his particular passions is the Anglo-Saxons and their instrumental music, as revealed in the archaeological record. An experienced performer, and one of Europe's most expert lyre-players, Dr Lawson is a Fellow of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge University.
He is also director of Archaeologia Musica, Cambridge. In 1985, he and his wife set up their own archaeological record label and their first Music from Archaeology recordings, with titles such as Sounds of the Viking Age, sold more than 50,000 copies. Since then, Graeme has produced all the music (including interactive virtual instruments) for Maris Multimedia Ltd's CD-ROM Atlas of the Ancient World (1997).
As a composer, one of his most recent commissions has been the replica lyre and accompanying music for the National Trust's new visitor centre at Sutton Hoo, the royal burial place of East Anglia's Anglo-Saxon kings. He has also been working on musical pipes from the Old Stone Age, with a radiocarbon date of 36,000 years ago, as well as featuring in The Song of the Earth with David Attenborough on BBC2.
Archaeologia Musica
PO Box 92
Cambridge CB4 1PU
The Prebendal Manor House at Nassington and tithe barn museum, as featured in Time Team, is open to the public every Wednesday and Sunday, 1pm-5.30pm, from Easter Bank Holiday Monday until the end of September. Admission (includes free audio tour): adults £4.50, children £2. Home-made teas are served within the tithe barn museum.
For further information or to make a group booking contact:
Tel: 01780 782575
E-mail: info@prebendal-manor.demon.co.uk
Website: www.prebendal-manor.demon.co.uk
Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third-party sites.
Cnut: Danes in England in the Early Eleventh Century by M K Lawson (Longman, 1993)
This study of Cnut's reign by Dr Ken Lawson, who featured in the Nassington programme, includes an analysis of the state of late Anglo-Saxon England and a review of the main sources. It offers new interpretations and highlights the problems facing medievalists in evaluating information. This is the first full-length study of Cnut since 1912 and is essential reading for anyone with a serious interest in the period.
The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England edited by Michael Lapidge (Oxford, 2000) hardback £24.99
A reference work covering the history, archaeology, arts, architecture, literatures and languages of England from the Roman withdrawal to the Norman Conquest. Drawing on contributions by scholars of international standing, the book comprises a series of some 700 articles by 150 contributors, describing the people, places, activities and creations of the Anglo-Saxons. The articles are illustrated by maps, line-drawings and black and white photographs; the book is accompanied by a comprehensive table of the 'Rulers of the English, c450-1066', and by a classified index of head-words to facilitate access to the encyclopaedia itself. If you were interested in the music cameo for the Nassington programme, look out for the articles by Graeme Lawson under the headings 'Music', 'Chant' and 'Musical Instruments'.
For more general reading on Anglo-Saxon England, see the Further reading for the South Carlton programme, also in the 2004 series.
Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third-party sites.
The Prebendal Manor House, Nassington
http://www.prebendal-manor.demon.co.uk/index.htm
Built in 1230, the Prebendal Manor House at Nassington, where this Time Team dig took place, is the oldest inhabited house in Northamptonshire. This website tells the history of the manor and explains about prebends. It also provides information about the recreated medieval gardens at the site and photographs of both the manor and the gardens.
The Prebendal Manor Research Project
http://www.prebendal-manor.demon.co.uk/archeology.htm
Excavations in and around the Prebendal Manor at Nassington have been in progress since 1984. The accumulated archaeological data demonstrates that the Prebendal site has been occupied since early prehistoric times. A detailed archaeological research report is available online here, together with a downloadable file on the huge volume of pottery finds made on the site.
Nassington village
http://www.maurice.skynet.co.uk/genuki/
big/eng/NTH/Nassington/
Short description of the village, from The Northamptonshire Village Book, compiled by the Northamptonshire Federation of Women's Institutes.
Anglo-Saxon England
www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/vikings/angsaxe.html
Includes, among much else, a map of Anglo-Saxon Britain and a detailed bibliography. The website also has a special emphasis on King Cnut.
Anglo Saxon England: A guide to online resources
http://www.the-orb.net/encyclop/early/pre1000/asindex.html
Part of the ORB Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies, this website has perhaps the best set of web links covering everything from original Anglo-Saxon texts to bibliographies, maps and teaching resources.