The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca

• 242 • Roberta Gilchrist
reference to the church of the Holy
Sepulchre in Jerusalem (Figure
13.9). In Britain, preceptories seem
to have been ordered more on the
model of secular manors than on
monasteries. Excavation at South
Witham, Lincolnshire, showed that
religious and agricultural buildings
were contained in the same ditched
enclosure, but were spatially
separated. Domestic buildings in the
south-eastern part of the site
included halls and a chapel, while
agricultural buildings were placed to
the north and west, and fishponds
were dug in the south-western
Figure 13.9 Little Maplestead, Essex, although now a parish church, this corner.
was the monastic church of a Hospitaller commandery, built c.1245. The round Certain areas of the monastery
nave was symbolic of the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. were favoured for burial of the
Source: R.Gilchrist
dead, including the chapter house,
cloister garth (centre of the cloister
courtyard), cloister alleys, the south transept and aisles of the nave. Place of burial was determined
by social identity and status: the chapter house and eastern arm of the church were commonly
reserved for abbots, priors or a monastery’s founders or most significant patrons. Burial within
the monastic precinct was not confined to religious personnel. Family groups were sometimes
buried in chapels, such as that of the Uffords at the nunnery of Campsey Ash (Suffolk), and
occasionally special areas were given over to the burial of children, for example the western end
of the chapter house at the Dominican Friary in Oxford.
THE SOCIAL LIFE OF BUILDINGS
Changes in belief, liturgy (formalized religious practices) and social mores can be read in the
developing plan and fittings of the local parish church. The ground-plans of the earliest excavated
churches indicate that a simple plan was common by the eleventh century, consisting of a nave
and chancel: the chancel contained the altar and officiating clergy, while the nave held the local
people who stood in observation and worship. A division of responsibility emerged that reflected
this usage, with the maintenance of the nave being in the remit of the parishioners, and that of
the chancel falling under the auspices of the priest or patron. The altar seems to have been placed
at the western end of the chancel at St Mark, Lincoln, and Raunds, allowing easy visibility for
those in the nave. The small scale of these churches implies an intimate setting and high degree
of visibility and interaction between the priest and people. In contrast, during the thirteenth
century, chancels were rebuilt in a more elongated form, increasing the distance between the altar
and the nave, and reflecting the formalization of the liturgy at that time. The chancel received
more elaborate features, such as sedilia (seats for the priests), Easter Sepulchres (for the Easter
liturgy) and piscinae and aumbries (fixed ritual basins and book cupboards, respectively). The junction
between the nave and chancel was marked by a decorated timber, or more rarely stone, screen
that supported the rood, an image of the Crucifixion. Churches acquired fonts by the twelfth