Making a Christian Landscape: The Countryside in Early Medieval Cornwall, Devon and WessexSam Turner's important new interpretation of early medieval patterns of landscape development traces landscape change in the South West from the introduction of Christianity to the Norman Conquest (AD c. 450-1070). It stresses the significance of political and religious ideology in both the 'Celtic' west (especially Cornwall) and the 'Anglo-Saxon' east (especially the Wessex counties of Devon, Somerset, Wiltshire and Dorset). Using innovative new research methods, and making use of archaeology, place-name evidence, historical sources and land-use patterns, it challenges previous work on the subject by suggesting that the two regions have much in common. Using modern mapping techniques to explore land-use trends, Turner advances a new model for the evolution of ecclesiastical institutions in south-west England. He shows that the early development of Christianity had an impact on the countryside that remains visible in the landscape we see today. Accessibly written with a glossary of terms and a comprehensive bibliography, the book will appeal to both veterans and newcomers to landscape archaeology. |
Contents
Churches and the early medieval landscape | 1 |
Studying early medieval landscapes in southwest Britain | 15 |
The location and form of early churches in southwest Britain | 35 |
Copyright | |
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Making a Christian Landscape: The Countryside in Early Medieval Cornwall ... Sam Turner No preview available - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
administrative Alfred's Anglo-Saxon charter Anglo-Saxon England argued Blair Bodmin Moor boundary clause Britain Carver Celtic cemeteries chapel Christian landscape Cornish Cornwall and Wessex County crosses Devon documentary Domesday Book Dorset early churches early medieval settlements early middle ages ecclesiastical centres ecclesiastical communities ecclesiastical sites eighth century eleventh century elite English established example excavated Glastonbury hundred ideology important inscribed stones King land landscape archaeology late Saxon period later medieval later middle ages Lesnewth major maps medieval farmland Medieval fields medieval parish middle Saxon minster monasteries monastic monuments names ninth Okasha Olson Padel parochiae Phillack place-names Plate post-Roman period pottery Preston-Jones probably recorded region relationships religious rough ground royal centres royal vills saints secular settlement pattern seventh Shapwick Somerset St Buryan St Keverne St Kew St Neot study area suggests tenth century thegns Thomas Thorn & Thorn Tintagel Trethurgy valley Wessex western Wessex Whilst Wiltshire