1066 anniversary march passing through Essex

Today (6th October), the 1066 anniversary march from Stamford Bridge to Hastings travelled from Little Hadham in Hertfordshire to Waltham Abbey Gatehouse (via Stanstead Abbotts) in Essex. In 1066, King Harold of England halted the march at Waltham Abbey so that he could pray at the church. Yesterday (5th October), the anniversary march travelled from Linton in Cambridgeshire to Little Hadham, via Audley End House in Essex. Tomorrow (7th October), they will travel from Waltham Abbey to London, to Hyde Park and then on to the Jewel Tower in Westminster. The 1066 anniversary march has been organised by English Heritage to mark the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings and the Norman conquest of England in 1066. The Battle of Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire was commemorated there on the 25th September, and a small group of Saxon warrior re-enactors, walking or riding horses, are now re-enacting the march of King Harold and his force from Stamford Bridge to Hastings. The Battle of Hastings, which took place on on the 14th October, will be commemorated at Battle Abbey in Sussex with a re-enactment of the battle on the 15th and 16th October. English Heritage are Tweeting and retweeting daily images of the march.

King Harold was, of course, killed at the Battle of Hastings. The Battle of Hastings was followed by the Battle of London in 1066, and then the Norman leader – William of Normandy or William the Conqueror – went on to Barking in Essex to receive the submissions of noblemen. He then proceeded to Norwich, possibly via Colchester. He was crowned the king of England at Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066. King Harold may have been buried at Waltham Abbey: he had founded a college there in 1060 and this was the origin of the later abbey. Harold was the Earl of Wessex and had been the Earl of Essex and East Anglia, with large estates in Essex. He owned two strategic groups of estates in Essex, along the River Blackwater and along the River Colne: he held the manors of Benfleet, Great Waltham, Witham, Writtle, Roding, Black Notley, White Notley, Feering, Rivenhall, and Layer, and Stanway, Lexden and Brightlingsea (Kings and Lords in Conquest England, by Robin Fleming, 1991) . He also held estates in Norfolk and Hertfordshire. Harold’s brother Leofwine succeeded him as Earl of Essex and East Anglia when he became the Earl of Wessex.

Anglo-Saxon Colchester – Colneceaster – was an important regional town (‘Colneceaster’ means ‘fortress on the River Colne’). It was an early Anglo-Saxon royal vill, ie the regional and administrative centre of a territory which would have been visited by the king and the royal household on regular circuits of their kingdom. In the late Anglo-Saxon period, the late 11th century, it was a royal borough or burh and one of only two burhs in Essex (the other being Maldon). It was a fortified town and, possibly, it included a royal residence. In 1086, as recorded in Little Domesday, the town was still defended by the Roman town wall, it was a hundred as well as a borough, and it had its own court: it was also important enough to have its own coin mint. There were over 400 houses and six water mills here and it was also, apparently, a pottery-manufacturing centre.

Nine of the churches within the town wall were Anglo-Saxon or Anglo-Saxon in origin and St Botolph’s church, just outside the town wall, was also probably Anglo-Saxon. Near this there was the Anglo-Saxon church of St John, which may have been constructed of re-used Roman building materials. Holy Trinity church includes an Anglo-Saxon tower which was  built of re-used Roman building materials, probably in the mid 11th century. The Anglo-Saxons re-used the standing remains of Roman monumental buildings here, for example, to build the first St Nicholas’ church in what is now the High Street. There was also, probably, an important Anglo-Saxon building which incorporated the standing remains of the Roman temple of Claudius, associated with a timber-framed building, and the temple precinct may have formed an urban estate. St Peter’s Church may have been a minster. Colchester was so important that the Normans gave it a lot of attention after the Conquest. King William I ordered the building of the first Norman castle in England here, in AD 1070. His steward Eudo Dapifer built the castle keep and its bailey from 1075, on the site of the Roman temple of Claudius, and the king granted Colchester to Eudo in 1101, when it ceased to be a royal borough. Eudo founded St John’s Abbey here, near the Anglo-Saxon church of St John, and it was built from 1095.

The Trust has uncovered some archaeological evidence of the late Anglo-Saxon town, within the walled town centre, including Saxo-Norman pottery from the Cups Hotel and Lion Walk sites; rubbish-pits at the Cups Hotel site; a hut; and a possibly late Anglo-Saxon bronze furnace and casting-pit at the Gilberd School site. Outside the town wall, we have uncovered evidence of a defensive ditch which was dug in AD 1050-1075 at the base of the town wall, in what is now Vineyard Street, and was associated with a gravelled roadway. We have uncovered evidence of late Anglo-Saxon street development in what is now Lion Walk and, also, possibly late Anglo-Saxon burials at Middleborough. In 1972, ahead of the construction of Southway, we investigated the remains of the late Anglo-Saxon church of St John. Finds from the town include a fragment of ceramic heating tray used for refining precious metals, an Edward the Confessor penny of 1062-5, and fragments of Thetford-type ware and early medieval sandy ware pottery, as well as a few almost-complete vessels. These include a cooking-pot dated to about AD 1125-50 which was produced by a pit, with fragments of over 30 other vessels. Anglo-Saxon Colchester is fascinating, but the only above-ground evidence is the remarkable tower of Trinity church. This includes a triangular-headed doorway facing Trinity Street – do go and have a look at this amazing relic of the late Anglo-Saxon people of Colchester…

Read more about the 1066 anniversary march at www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/1066-and-the-norman-conquest/the-1066-march/ and follow the march on Twitter at @EnglishHeritage . English Heritage will retweet your images of the march if you Tweet them using the hashtag #Battle1066 . The route map of the march is at www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/1066-and-the-norman-conquest/the-1066-march/#section7 . You can greet the warriors at their halts or follow the march! English Heritage are also Tweeting on eight Twitter channels as eight Saxon and Norman individuals who are taking part in the historical events of 1066, throughout 2016: please go to www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/1066-and-the-norman-conquest/the-people-of-1066/ .

The images show the tower of Trinity church and its doorway.

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