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Back in the seventh century, Viking pirates sailed up a muddy Essex creek. Legend has it they captured a lonely nun who, when offered a choice between her 'modesty or her mortality', chose to die. The nun carried her severed head up the hill to her church where she collapsed. Where she lay a spring bubbled up.
The nun was St Osgyth, or Osyth, the wife of the Saxon king of Essex, who chose the veil rather than consummate her marriage. The site of her death became a shrine and a busy settlement grew up. In the 12th century Richard de Belmais, bishop of London, founded a large Augustinian priory in the middle of the village. This became a powerful establishment, which, by the time of the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s, was one of the wealthiest Augustinian monasteries in Europe.
A few years ago a local boat builder noticed some decayed timbers sticking out of the mud in St Osyth Creek. The tides gradually revealed more of these timbers, which are on a significant bend in the channel. Could they be the remains of a medieval wharf that served the town in its early days?
Time Team was also interested to find out whether they might be the key to unlock a bigger mystery. The present town of St Osyth seems to date only to the 15th century but the famous priory is much older. There must have been a busy settlement servicing it – so where was the original town of St Osyth?
Time Trail
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Medieval monasteries are Mick Aston's first love in archaeology. Indeed, he's the author of the recently revised Monasteries in the Landscape, one of the standard texts on the subject. So the chance to track down the origins of the medieval town associated with the priory of St Osyth was bound to capture his enthusiasm. Unfortunately for Mick and the Team, this didn't turn out to be a straightforward task.
Many medieval towns, especially those associated with monasteries or other Church land, were deliberately planned settlements: the 'new towns' of the Middle Ages. Streets, markets, buildings and land holdings were laid out in a regular pattern, with the Church itself acting, in effect, as a speculative developer. Even towns that were not formally planned tended to develop in common or predictable ways.
At St Osyth, though, there were few signs (for example) of the characteristic development around a market place, with long strips of land leading off from the road frontage. Here, instead, there seem to have been relatively small land holdings where shops and stalls once stood facing onto the market. Most of the finds made by Time Team dated from the Tudor and Stuart periods, just before and during the century or so after the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s. These painted a picture of a town in which higher-status dwellings and occupation were centred around the priory and church, while lower-status occupation and industry (such as the brick kiln and ship-building or breaking workshops excavated by Time Team) were found on the lower ground near the bend in the river.
Some of the tradesmen who would have made their livings in St Osyth in the medieval era were identified from the names in historical documents, such as those dating from the introduction of the poll tax in the late 14th century. As well as common trades such as those reflected in the names Carpenter, Potter and Brewer, others included Chapman (which meant a small trader), Chancellor (a court official or usher) and Gauger (a customs or excise man). Sixteenth century documents show a greater range, including Tanner, Glover, Butcher, Weaver and Mariner.
Previous investigations of medieval towns by Time Team have included the now abandoned city of Roxburgh, in the Scottish Borders in the 2004 series. The Team recreated a medieval market for this programme, which featured many of the kind of tradesmen who would also have been found at St Osyth. These included a fletcher, a wood turner, a leather worker and a weaver.
Information on other Time Team digs covering a similar period can be found on the Medieval era, Tudor and Stuart pages.
Watched the programme, browsed the web pages? Now try our quick quiz to see how you get on.
Which of these is not a monastery?
A priory
An abbey
An abyss
Why was Phil Harding particularly impressed with the gateway to St Osyth Priory?
It is inlaid with finely worked flint
It was found by geophysics not digging
It's now a pub serving real ale
The name Osyth (also spelt Osgyth, Osith and Ositha) derives from a combination of two Saxon words. The first, from 'os', is god: what is the other?
Strength
Strewth
Strife
One of the names listed in late 14th-century documents from St Osyth was 'Gauger'. What was he likely to have been gauging?
Wine
Gold
Railway tracks
What would two medieval men with the names Chapman and Kaufman have in common?
Very little
Both names mean 'trader'
Both names mean 'tailor'
Architectural historian Brenda Watkin was able to date one of the buildings in St Osyth by reference to a 'diminished haunch'. Where did she find it?
On a joint of venison
On a timber joint
In the church graveyard
Answers here.
Timbers sticking out of the mud banks of St Osyth Creek had become increasingly exposed over recent years. Fitting in the excavation work between tides, in an environment protected by English Nature, Time Team and Essex County Council excavated these timbers and investigated how they related to the village and priory of St Osyth, which lie one kilometre to the east of the site.
Excavation in the bank revealed a line of vertical, round stakes parallel to the course of the creek. Running perpendicular to these, towards the shore, were the remains of two sets of wattle hurdling. Pottery from gravel within this hurdling dated the destruction of the feature to the second half of the 17th century. Gustav Milne, of the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, concluded that the damage to the structure indicated that the remaining timbers were part of an unusual truncated feature. This had once extended further south into the creek and been destroyed in a particularly violent natural event. Carbon 14 analysis of timber and wattling gave a calibrated date of 1550 AD ±100 years.
A variety of 12th-13th century pottery was collected during fieldwalking in the field north of the creek and geophysics surveys there indicated a lot of activity. However, rubbish pits, structures and a brick kiln excavated in the field were all dated to the 15th-17th century. It appeared that the earlier pottery finds, including imported wares and one mid-Saxon German wine jar sherd, were residual, relating to earlier periods of occupation for which no evidence of structures was found.
Residents of the village helped to dig test pits on their properties in an attempt to understand how their village had developed. Despite the 12th-century foundation of the priory and the presence of a 13th-century house, pottery dating from before the 15th century was very scarce. Dendrochronology on timbers from a public building on the market place gave a date of 1494-1500.
A few pieces of mid 14th-century pottery were excavated in the churchyard. These were identified by finds specialist Paul Blinkhorn as a sherd of late London ware; one of early German stoneware; and another of Dutch medieval pottery. The general picture was one of wealthy merchants up by the priory and industry down by the creek.
New to Time Team for the 2005 series is another Wessex archaeologist: Nick Cooke. (Both Steve Thompson and Phil Harding work for Wessex Archaeology. Together with Steve Thompson, Nick's job is to make sure that all of the archaeology is properly recorded. This involves countless context sheets, which record what each layer looks like and where it is in relation to any other; piles of plans (such as mini maps of the site); and stacks of section drawings (such as vertical maps of trench and feature sides). Nick also takes colour slides and monochrome pictures of all the archaeology.
When an archaeological layer is found it has to be cleaned up and then recorded. Only then can it be dug up to reveal what's underneath. This new layer of archaeology is then cleaned up and recorded in turn; and so it goes on until the site is completely excavated and all that's left are the records, the finds and the film.
Time Team uses the same standard recording conventions as any other archaeological field unit. This makes sure that any other archaeologist can look at the records and understand them. It also makes comparisons between a Time Team site and any other site easier when all the records are done in the same way.
Hear Nick Cooke talking about archaeological recording.
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Ros Ereira, cameo producer.
We decided to do a cameo about salt works when we realised that the St Osyth site was exactly the right sort of environment for making salt – and that in fact salt is still produced just down the road at Maldon. Unfortunately, this had to be cut back to almost nothing in the finished programme, as the archaeology ended up being so complex that there simply wasn't enough time to fit it all in. This was a great shame as the cameo had been amazingly successful and very interesting.
Andrew Fielding and his assistant, from the Lion Salt Works Trust, demonstrated how salt-making would have been carried out at sites such as this and produced an enormous mountain of salt in just a single day. Then Derek Lawrence was able to demonstrate how salt was vital in food preservation, salting and smoking fish, and cooking some amazing salt beef to an original recipe. We were able to taste the food – along with a barrel of the local ale – at the end of the day, and it was polished off very quickly indeed!
Andrew Fielding, Lion Salt Works Trust.
The Lion Salt Works Trust is working to restore the last open-pan salt works in Cheshire as a working salt museum. Part of the research being carried out involves building replica salt pans and hearths from different periods.
Our role in the St Osyth cameo involved making salt at the edge of the salt marsh in a lead salt pan, which we constructed with the help of Phil Harding. A simple lead salt pan was made by folding a 5mm sheet of lead to make the pan 750mm square with a 100mm upstand. Lead salt pans post-dated the earlier ceramic salt pans, which produced characteristic 'red hills' in the area.
The simple process of evaporating brine in an open pan was carried on at Lion Salt Works in Cheshire until 1986 and is the basis of the process still used by the Maldon Crystal Salt Company near St Osyth.
Further information about the work of the Lion Salt Works Trust to restore a 19th-century salt works and reconstruct historic salt pans can be found at the trust's website at www.lionsaltworkstrust.co.uk. To discover more about the modern process used by the Maldon Crystal Salt Company, see their website at: www.maldonsalt.co.uk.
The trust would like to thank British Salt and British Lead Mills for assisting with the supply of brine and lead for this project.
Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third-party sites.
The Port of Medieval London by Gustav Milne (Tempus, 2003) paperback £17.99
Gustav Milne, of the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, is the medieval harbour specialist used by Time Team for the St Osyth programme. In this book he provides a detailed account of the medieval port of London, large parts of which have been excavated since the mid-20th century, including by Gustav Milne himself.
Monasteries in the Landscape by Mick Aston (Tempus, 2000) £14.99
Mick explains how and why monasticism developed in Britain and why monasteries were placed where they were. This book also takes a look outside the monastery at the agricultural, industrial and commercial activities of monks and friars.
English Medieval Industries: Craftsmen, techniques, products edited by John Blair and Nigel Ramsay (Hambledon Press, paperback edition, 2001) £19.95
This work is intended as a modern successor to L F Salzman's English Industries in the Middle Ages (1913). The approach to each industry is by material, discussing its acquisition, working and sale as a finished product. Only industries that resulted in the production of consumer goods and where substantial numbers of artefacts survive from the Middle Ages are dealt with (fishing and brewing are therefore omitted); the text is illustrated by pictures of surviving objects and contemporary representations of medieval work.
The Medieval English Economy by Jim Bolton (Everyman, 1988)
'The book on the subject that I recommended to everyone' – Mick Aston, but unfortunately out of print.
The Rural Settlements of Medieval England edited by Mick Aston, David Austin and Christopher Dyer (Blackwell, 1989)
A wide-ranging collection of essays, written by a distinguished team of archaeologists, historians and historical geographers.
Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third-party sites.
Unlocking Essex's Past
http://unlockingessex.essexcc.gov.uk
All sorts of information about archaeological sites and historic buildings in Essex (including St Osyth) can be found on this Essex County Council website. Advanced search tools enable the user not only to find scheduled monuments in Essex but also to access aerial photos, virtual models and digital video as well as other information from the Sites and Monuments Record and elsewhere.
St Osyth's Priory
http://mspong.org/picturesque/osyth.html#priory
A labour of love, dedicated to his father, by Matthew Spong has placed this Victorian account of St Osyth's Priory on the web. It is just part of the book, Picturesque England: Its landmarks and historic haunts as described in lay and legend, song and story, compiled and edited by L Valentine and published by Frederick Warne & Co in 1894. The entire book, together with 140 or so wood engravings and a series of full-page coloured plates, has been put online here and is well worth browsing.
For other information on the periods covered by this programme, Time Team or archaeology in general, see Archaeology websites, our guide to some of the best information on the internet.
Which of these is not a monastery?
An abyss
Why was Phil Harding particularly impressed with the gateway to St Osyth Priory?
It is inlaid with finely worked flint
The name Osyth (also spelt Osgyth, Osith and Ositha) derives from a combination of two Saxon words. The first, from 'os', is god: what is the other?
Strife
One of the names listed in late 14th-century documents from St Osyth was 'Gauger'. What was he likely to have been gauging?
Wine
What would two medieval men with the names Chapman and Kaufman have in common?
Both names mean 'trader'
Architectural historian Brenda Watkin was able to date one of the buildings in St Osyth by reference to a 'diminished haunch'. Where did she find it?
On a timber joint