Monument record 802/2 - Possible site of an Anglo-Saxon palace, later monastery, Weedon

Possible site of a royal Anglo Saxon palace which was later converted to a monastery by St Werburgh, niece of King Ethelred of Meria, (685-704). Roman coins are said to have been recovered from the vicinity, where sources suggest that foundations have been found

{3} "An old town seems to have stood in 2 pastures W of the road and S of the church of Weedon Bec. There are manifest vestiges of the ditch and ramparts that surrounded it, and many marks of great foundations. Many Roman coins have been dug up here".

{4} Ethelred, King of Mercia, (675-704), converted the royal palace of his brother and predecessor at Weedon into a monastery, under his niece Weburgh. The nunnery was standing when Bede wrote, but was destroyed by the Danes in the 9th c. At the time of Leland there was : A litle from the south side of the chirch yarde ys a faire chapel dedicate to S. Werburge, that sum tyme was a nunne at Wedon… there apperith on the south side of S. Werburges chapelle, wher in hominum memoria was an area and fair building about it, and a chapel withyn it: now there is nothing but greate barnes longging to the fermar. {1} Bridges states that "by digging in the upper part of the ground called Ash-yards to the S of the church, the foundations of old buildings have sometimes been discovered and large wall stones taken up. These, in all probability, were the ruins of St Werburgh's monastery".

{?} Baker's account is largely the same as those of all the other sources (Camden, Tanner, various Lives of the Saints etc) {4}. However, there is no reference in Bede to a priory at Weedon, though St Werburgh is mentioned, and no proof is available as to the burning of the priory by the Danes. It is difficult to know from where this often repeated siting of the priory arises. The foundations mentioned by Bridges and Reynolds are doubtless the same and could represent an AS palace/priory, though the coins, with Watling Street nearby, are most likely Roman.

The above descriptions seem to locate the site at approx SP 634 591. This area is crossed by both railway and canal embankments and nothing of interest was seen either here or in the immediate vicinity.

{7} Geophysical survey found a complex network of positive linear and curving anomalies probably representing former ditches throughout the survey area. Most striking amongst these was a wide, generally east-west orientated, ditch in the north of the area – possibly an important boundary.
Three sub-circular likely ditched enclosures amidst other small curving and discrete positive anomalies, possibly the remains of prehistoric settlement were identified in the east of the survey area in a region bounded by a gently curving ditch. The western half of the survey area was dominated by a series of linear ditches. The magnetic intensity of these ditches increased the further to the west that they were detected, suggesting perhaps that settlement activity may be found outside the survey area.

<1> Leland J., 1543, Itinerary, (unchecked) (Series). SNN13988.

<2> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.93 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77325.

<3> Reynolds T., 1749, Iter Britanniarum, p.470 (unchecked) (Document). SNN14799.

<4> Baker G., 1830, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.452 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77327.

<5> RUMBOLD M., 2009, Saxon Remains at Weedon Bec, (unchecked) (Correspondence). SNN106898.

<6> Ordnance Survey, 1950s/1960s, Ordnance Survey Record Cards, SP65NW1 (checked) (Index). SNN443.

<7> Fisher I.; Butler A., 2004, A Geophysical Survey on Land to the East of Weedon Bec (Report). SNN109004.

<8> CLASP, 2005-12, CLASP (Community Landscape and Archaeology Survey Project) Newsletter, (unchecked) (Newsletter). SNN108402.

Record last edited

Feb 10 2025 7:57PM