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Wicken, in Northamptonshire, appears to the modern visitor to be a typical English village, complete with church and manor house. But back in the medieval era there were two churches and two manor houses here, making up two separate villages – Wick Hamon and Wick Dive.
The residents of modern-day Wicken were curious to learn why there used to be two villages here, and what happened to the church and other parts of Wick Hamon that have long since disappeared. They also wanted to discover which was the older part of the village and whatever else Time Team could tell them about its past.
As usual, Tony Robinson and the Team had just three days to dig up the answers.
Time Team's excavations at Wicken focused on two distinct sites, one in what used to be Wick Hamon and one in Wick Dive. Wick Dive was the wealthier of the two villages by the time of their merger in 1587, with its manor house and restored church. Wick Hamon, which had lost its manor some time previously, lost its church in 1619, after it had fallen into disrepair and was pulled down.
In Wick Hamon, Time Team concentrated its efforts on the site of the lost church, now buried in a cornfield. In Wick Dive, the focus was on Warren Field, an undeveloped site full of 'earthworks' in which test pits for a project run by Cardiff and Leicester universities had produced large amounts of medieval pottery and some Saxon finds from the 9th century.
Wick Hamon: A shroud pin and spectacles
A 1717 map marks the location of 'the old churchyard' at Wick Hamon, so the 'geophys' team didn't have much trouble in locating the site of the church for the diggers. The excavations produced a rich haul of finds, including a number of tiles from the old church, a clasp hinge to a bible or other book, a shroud pin, a Henry VI halfpenny and even a possible 15th or early 16th-century bone spectacle rim.
Most time was spent, however, investigating two burials under the walls of the medieval church. One of these was on a north-south alignment, rather than the normal east-west alignment of Christian burials. This prompted some excitement at the possibility that this may have been an early Saxon burial. Unfortunately, there was no definitive dating evidence, despite the discovery of one piece of Saxon pottery from about 650AD in the same level as the grave.
Wick Dive: Pottery and postholes
At Warren Field, Time Team put in four trenches, three of which produced a wide range of finds. These included a lot of mid-13th to 14th-century pottery from nearby Pottersbury, which got its name from the fact that there were a lot of potters working there – about 20 kilns have been excavated there. Other pottery dated from just before the Norman Conquest through the medieval period, and included a Nottingham knight's jug.
Non-pottery finds included a lace end, a 17th-century royal farthing token, an 18th-century halfpenny from Ireland and a 13th or 14th-century medieval buckle that still shone in the light. Walls and medieval postholes that were excavated were thought to be connected with the manor, with some relating to houses that were cleared in the 15th century and others to houses that were cleared for later landscaping.
The village of Wicken, in Northamptonshire, was created in 1587 by the joining of two separate villages, each with their own church built 'not a flight shot asunder'. Until this time, the villages were known independently as Wick Hamon and Wick Dive.
Wick Dive took the latter part of its name from William de Dive, who came to hold the manor in 1242, while Wick Hamon derives from the de Hamon family, who held the estate in the 12th century.
The placename elements 'wick' or 'wich' – or other variations, such as 'week' or 'wyke' – can carry a number of different meanings. On the coast, particularly in the north, 'wick' is most often derived from the Norse 'vik' and means 'bay' or 'inlet'. But it also has a Saxon origin, with a range of meanings, including port (such as Ipswich or Norwich) or farm (such as Gatwick, meaning goat farm; Shapwick, sheep farm; Chiswick, cheese farm; Oxwick, Butterwick, Cowick and so on).
In many cases, 'wick' is derived from the Roman 'vicus', or settlement – often associated with an adjacent Roman garrison, farm or centre of industry. This is thought to be the case with Wicken, where the two villages developed close to the site of a former Roman villa.
There are a number of different possible meanings and origins of the placename element wick' in Wicken, as you'll know if you've read What's in a name? elsewhere on these web pages. But what about other placenames? Try our quick quiz to see how much you know.
What is the meaning of the common river name Avon (or 'afon' in Welsh)?
River
Water
Rain
It's certainly not a cast-iron rule, but generally speaking, which of the following is true?
The shorter the river, the older the name
The longer the river, the older the name
The wider the river, the older the name
The 'Man' in Manchester and 'Mam' in Mam Tor derive from an old British word meaning what?
Breast
Beast
Best
What is the most common meaning of the Anglo-Saxon placename element 'hamm', as found minus the second 'm' in modern spelling – in Fulham, Hampton Court and Southampton (not to be confused with 'ham', which means settlement)?
Island in a lake
Island in a river
Land in the bend of a river
Most of us know that Essex derives from East Saxons, Sussex from South Saxons and Middlesex from the Middle Saxons. But which of these groups ruled Surrey, which gets its name from being their 'suther ge' or southern district?
East Saxons
South Saxons
Middle Saxons
The cross from which London's King's Cross gets its name was demolished in 1845. Which king had it erected?
Edward I
Charles II
George IV
Answers here.
Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third-party sites.
A Little History of Wicken by Wicken Conservation Society, £2.50
A booklet produced by the Wicken Conservation Society tracing the history of Wicken from when it was the Saxon freehold of Siward, who hunted deer in Wicken forest, through to the present day. It includes details of significant figures from its past, such as Sir John Spencer of Wormleighton, ancestor of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, who moved to Wicken in 1514 and built the original house at Wicken Park around 1571.
Medieval Wicken Discovered DVD by Wicken Conservation Society, £9.99
DVD made in 2004 reporting many of the discoveries from the original excavations carried out by Cardiff and Leicester universities into Wicken's medieval past.
To order the above booklet and DVD, see www.wickennorthants.co.uk/wcsPublications.html
Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third-party sites.
Wicken Archaeology – the Wickenpedia
www.wicken-archaeology.org.uk
The 'Wickenpedia' was set up to accompany the archaeological investigations being carried out in Wicken by Cardiff and Leicester universities. It was set up using 'wiki' software (the same principle as Wikipedia), allowing anyone to contribute to or edit the pages and engage with the ongoing Wicken excavations. The idea is to develop collaboration between the archaeologists in the trenches and wider interested communities.
The website includes details of the excavations at Wicken, including weekly updates and summaries; survey work, including fieldwalking and 'geophys'; and post excavation work, including finds processing and recording. It includes large numbers of photos and many other bits and pieces, including 'An Outsider's View Of Time Team' – a diary and other commentary by one of the people working on the universities' dig about Time Team's involvement in the village. It makes fascinating, albeit often critical, reading.
Wicken village website
www.wickennorthants.co.uk
The Wicken village website includes a brief history and other material about the village.
For details of other archaeology websites, organised by both period and subject, see Archaeology websites.
What is the meaning of the common river name Avon (or 'afon' in Welsh)?
River
It's certainly not a cast-iron rule, but generally speaking, which of the following is true?
The longer the river, the older the name
The 'Man' in Manchester and 'Mam' in Mam Tor derive from an old British word meaning what?
Breast
What is the most common meaning of the Anglo-Saxon placename element 'hamm', as found minus the second 'm' in modern spelling – in Fulham, Hampton Court and Southampton (not to be confused with 'ham', which means settlement)?
Land in the bend of a river
Most of us know that Essex derives from East Saxons, Sussex from South Saxons and Middlesex from the Middle Saxons. But which of these groups ruled Surrey, which gets its name from being their 'suther ge' or southern district?
Middle Saxons
The cross from which London's King's Cross gets its name was demolished in 1845. Which king had it erected?
George IV