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Time Team descended upon the sleepy Oxfordshire village of Islip (population about 600), the birthplace of Edward the Confessor, for one of the most challenging and intriguing excavations of the 2006 series.
The eldest son of King Ethelred 'the Unready' and the last of the Saxon kings (though his mother was Emma of Normandy), Edward reigned from 1042-66. He built Westminster Abbey and was responsible for starting a chain of events that led to the Norman conquest of Britain in 1066. The fact that he died childless and with the succession to the throne uncertain led to the conflict that saw the Saxon claimant, Harold, killed in the Battle of Hastings and the Norman claimant, William, victorious.
The villagers of Islip had been celebrating the millennium of Edward's birth in the first years of the 11th century. They wanted Time Team to discover the location of a medieval chapel dedicated to their famous royal son – and possibly to find evidence of a reputed royal palace belonging to his father, Ethelred.
A detailed drawing of the chapel, with measurements of its key dimensions, showed how it looked when it was in use as a barn before it was eventually demolished around 1780. A variety of maps were also available, showing a number of possible locations for the chapel – and one for the reputed royal palace. The hunt for the chapel was to result in a number of well tended back gardens, together with a timber yard and a pub car park, being turned upside down. And as the diggers continued their search for the remains of what would once have been an impressive structure, some of the Team travelled to Westminster Abbey to see what secrets their archives might hold.
After three days of tenacious, and often frustrating, excavation the results were not exactly what the villagers hoped for – or the archaeologists expected.
Watched the programme, browsed the web pages? Now try our quick quiz about Edward the Confessor to see how you get on.
Edward the Confessor may have been born in Islip, Oxfordshire, but where did he spend most of his early life?
London
Denmark
Normandy
Who did Edward's mother, Emma, marry after the death of his father, Ethelred the Unready, in 1016?
Richard, Duke of Normandy
King Canute
Godwin of Wessex
Who did Edward succeed as king of England in 1042?
Canute
Hardicanute
Harold
What was Edward's relationship to Hardicanute?
Half brother
Brother
Stepbrother
Why was Edward's marriage to Edith in 1045 childless?
Edward was sterile
Edith was sterile
Edward had taken a vow of celibacy
Who was the legitimate heir to the throne of England (by blood line) on Edward's death in 1066?
Edgar Atheling
Harold of Wessex
William of Normandy
Answers here.
The chapel and the cesspit
Time Team came to Islip, the birthplace of Edward the Confessor, in search of a possible Saxon royal palace and a 13th-century chapel built in Edward's honour. The chapel was to prove elusive, and the team came to the conclusion that there was unlikely to have been a Saxon palace there at all. They did, however, uncover a grand moated medieval manor house in a field on the edge of the village.
Most of the time and effort of the diggers over the three days went into the search for the chapel. They had a detailed drawing to go on, together with an indication of its size and a rough location ('to the north of the church'). They also had a number of possible targets identified from old maps. The only thing that was missing was any sign of the chapel itself.
The chapel would have been an impressive structure in its day, but it wasn't maintained and was eventually used as a barn. According to an 1843 report, the building 'continued to be used as a barn or outhouse until about 1780 when being found dangerous it was taken down and the present barn constructed out of its material'.
Various trenches were dug to explore likely locations for the chapel. These included the local timber yard, the car park of the Red Lion pub, the garden of the promisingly-named 'Confessor's Gate' – and that of the house next door. For a while, the Team thought they had located the chapel there, but the stone walls that were uncovered turned out to belong to a 17th-century cesspit, complete with well-preserved human faeces.
'Ethelred's palace'
By the third day, then, with all efforts to trace the chapel having drawn a blank, attention turned to a field on the edge of the village. The site was initially identified by a reference to the 'supposed site of Ethelred's palace' on an 1876 map. The field contained 'lumps and bumps' clearly visible on the surface, but Stewart and Mick felt they were typical of a moated medieval site and that the reference to Ethelred's palace was an example of how local supposition can often be wrong. Their assessment was supported by the fact that John Flete's History of Westminster Abbey, written in 1443, referred to William de Curtlyngton building a manor house in Islip at some point during his time as Abbott of Westminster between 1315 and 1333.
A geophysics survey of the site produced clear results showing the former moat, perimeter wall and buildings. A trench dug across the site found the base of the wall still in place. Phil was able positively to identify the remains as medieval because, as he explained, 'All the pottery above it is medieval – thereÕs nothing earlier and nothing later, so it's sealed by medieval pottery. And, more importantly, there's a superb assemblage of roof tile.'
Big posh house
Paul Blinkhorn, Time Team's finds specialist, described the finds as 'a stunning collection of medieval glazed roof tiles', with 'incredible posh ridge tiles, the sort of thing you would only have got on a really big posh house in the medieval period'.
These included fine red glazed tiles and coxcomb ridge tiles, so named because of their similarity in appearance to a jester's hat, or coxcomb.
There was also a fragment of medieval glass uncovered that particularly interested Tony. Paul Blinkhorn and regular Time Team digger Brigid Gallagher identified it as quite likely being the base of a urinal – a glass vessel used by physicians of the day to collect a patient's urine, which could then be held up to the light for inspection and diagnosis of possible ailments.
Moated manor
In its heyday, the moated manor at Islip would have been a rather grand collection of separate stone buildings set around a great hall. With its newly channelled water supply, fishponds and extensive grounds it would have been a manor house fit for royalty to visit. It didn't, however, have any connection with Edward the Confessor or Ethelred's palace. As John Flete wrote in his History of Westminster Abbey, Abbott William de Curtlyngton 'built the manor of Islip from the foundations'. In other words, it was built from scratch and not on the site of any pre-existing structure.
It might not have been quite what the modern-day inhabitants of Islip had hoped for when they invited Time Team to their village as they marked the millennium of Edward the Confessor's birth. But it added greatly to their understanding of the history of where they live nonetheless.
Find out about medieval moated sites.
Time Team digger Raksha Dave gives the inside story on what it was like to dig gardens in Islip.
From a digger's point of view what was the site like to dig?
It was a typical Time Team garden archaeology programme.ÊThe one where you go in and create a huge hole in people's gardens.
I always feel guilty about it because I always think they don't really envisage how their garden will look like at the end of three days. I am constantly amazed at how enthusiastic people are. I suppose we are very lucky in that respect.
Logistically, it can be a bit complicated digging in people's gardens – especially when you're trying to squeeze a mini digger in there.ÊAnother aspect of this sort of digging is that you can become very isolated and very rarely have time to go around other people's trenches to get an overview. I had a great time digging in the garden I was allocated except that it had huge hairy spiders in it…
What was the most interesting part of making the programme for you?
I think the most interesting part of this programme was the reason why we were there. It was an investigation to try to prove archaeologically whether a chapel existed and whether there are any links between Islip and Edward the Confessor.ÊIt's more exciting in a way when there hasn't been any real archaeological work done in an area because you have no expectations of what will be there.
Tell us about the cesspit that got mistaken for the chapel
After ruminating on day two with Stewart Ainsworth and Jonathan Foyle that I may have found the chapel and then finding out on day three that it was an outhouse was slightly amusing to say the least.ÊIt just shows that you can interpret as much as you like but you will never know if something exists or prove your theory unless you have the evidence for it.ÊThat's why excavation is important.
Who had the best archaeology to dig?
It was all interesting in different ways.ÊMatt, Phil and Brig had some really interesting garden archaeology – and yes, I had a toilet!Ê Yeah, so that would be me…
Edward the Confessor by Frank Barlow (Yale University Press, 1997) £14.95
This biography of Edward the Confessor, first published in 1970, aims to rescue the image of the king from what the author sees as myth and bogus scholarship. Disentangling fact from legend, the text recreates the final years of the Anglo-Danish monarchy and examines England before the Normans.
The Feudal Kingdom of England 1042-1216 by Frank Barlow (Longman, 1999) £19.99
Frank Barlow's classic survey of Anglo-Norman England from the eve of the Norman Conquest through to the aftermath of Magna Carta. Now in its fifth edition, this hugely successful text has been updated, to include discussion of the place of women in Anglo-Norman England. Frank Barlow – doyen of Anglo-Norman historians – illuminates every aspect of the period as he goes, but the central appeal of the book remains its firm narrative structure. Here is a fascinating story compellingly told.
See Archaeology websites.
Edward the Confessor may have been born in Islip, Oxfordshire, but where did he spend most of his early life?
Normandy
Who did Edward's mother, Emma, marry after the death of his father, Ethelred the Unready, in 1016?
King Canute
Who did Edward succeed as king of England in 1042?
Hardicanute
What was Edward's relationship to Hardicanute?
Half brother
Why was Edward's marriage to Edith in 1045 childless?
Edward had taken a vow of celibacy
Who was the legitimate heir to the throne of England (by blood line) on Edward's death in 1066?
Edgar Atheling