Excavations at Wenlock Priory, 1981–6

Abstract

New investigations at Wenlock Priory serve to allow a reinterpretation of the earlier excavations of Cranage (1901) and of Jackson and Fletcher (1962–3). A number of walls exposed in earlier excavations, and thought to be Saxon, seem to have comprised part of a Roman complex, whose abandonment is represented by a layer of collapsed plaster in the latest work.

The abandoned Roman buildings were re-occupied in the seventh century when a double monastery was founded here. The topography of the site, the location of the two churches and the extent of the monastic precinct are examined.

The plan of the Romanesque church, published by Jackson and Fletcher, and by them dated to before the Conquest, is revised and sculptural evidence, radiocarbon determinations from burials and documentary sources are used to suggest rather that Roger de Montgomery was the builder after the Conquest.