A sacred landscape

Summary. The site for the first cathedral at Licetfelda had two churches, a cemetery. and later a shrine. The layout was numinous; it had a resemblance to Jerusalem.

           It is thought, early church mynsters were laid out in a sacred landscape. The layout resembled the 4th-century Roman construction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. There was a line of buildings: a set pathway for pilgrims to process. The pathway was possibly:   

1.     Passage through a gate or vallum. May have involved crossing a river or sea.  

2.     Entry into a church.  

3.     Movement across an open area with a cross or crosses.  

4.     Visit to a shrine which had a sepulchre. It was close to a cemetery with a cemetery church.

Reasoning

·                King Wulfhere of Mercia and Bishop Wilfrid of Ripon and Hexham ‘prepared’ a site for a church at        Lichfield.[1] Wilfrid’s involvement with Mercia, Ripon and Hexham and visits to churches in Italy, infer a planned sacred landscape at Lichfield.[2] A paper on Wilfrid’s building of Ripon as, ‘Rome in Ripon: St Wilfrid’s inspiration and legacy’[3] could have applied to Lichfield.

·       Chad was buried near the cemetery church of St Mary on the site of St Peters.[4] Eight paired churches with shrines are known.[5]

·       Rodwell excavated Chad’s grave within a foundation of a tower shrine in 2003. He said foundations fall into a pattern of churches, chapels, tombs, standing crosses, wells and other liturgical features and have a near alignment.[6] He thought this was apparent in the Lichfield archaeology.

·       In 2000, a 2m wide band of mortared rubble was found between the pillars at the west end of the nave.[7] Some have conjectured whether this is a floor or foundation to the main church of St Peter; that is to the west of the shrine.[8]

Where a church dedicated to an apostle was paired with St Mary, the lesser St Mary church often stood due east of the apostolic church and this followed Continental practice.[9] Gittos expressed it as many chapels were situated in an easterly position when within a group.[10]

·       Early medieval liturgy was often performed in a sequence of small buildings, churches, chapels and shrines, around holy sites.[11] Churchmen, especially Northumbrians who had visited Rome, were interested in processions between buildings as part of their liturgical practices.[12] The holy sites were linear in layout, but in Ireland they were seen as concentric.[13]

 

Adomnán (Adamnán), born c. 625 in Donegal, probably a relative of Columba, joined the monastery at Iona c. 669, and ten years later became the ninth abbot. Around 680, he wrote De Locis Sanctis,^[14] ‘On the Holy Places’, describing Jerusalem, Bethlehem and other holy cities. He described the layout of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem constructed by Emperor Constantine, c. 325.^[15]

 Reconstructed sketch of Adomnán’s layout for the church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, taken from a 9th century drawing in Paris. There are similar drawings archived in Vienna, Brussels and Zurich. It has 4 circles representing the rotunda; the Vienna drawing has 5. The church of St Mary was at the end of the Via Dolorosa; the path Jesus took to his crucifixion. Note the pilgrimage is from East to West. The courtyard was at the foot of a rock of Golgotha which held a large silver cross.

                                                                                                                                                                                             Adomnán gave his book to the king of Northumbria who wanted it circulated in his kingdom. In 702‑3, Bede wrote on the Holy Sepulchre complex,[16] using the same title as Adomnán’s book, but with some changes, and later adding a description in his Historia Ecclesiastica, book 5 chapter 16.[17] The ground plan of the church, though inaccurate, must have become known to priests throughout Europe.[18]  It became a sacred landscape for emulation.[19]  Centres in Ireland[20], on Iona and at Lindisfarne have been cited as good copies. Possible sites in England have been reviewed.[21]

Sites thought to have a sacred landscape.   

1.     Iona

A sacred landscape at Iona was first suggested in 2001.[22] Adomnán listed the buildings and recent archaeology has revealed such a landscape[23]. On the day before his death, Columba compared Iona to Jerusalem.[24]  

Pilgrimage route envisaged at Iona. The site has a 7th and 8th-century formidable inner and outer vallum, a middle 7th-century shrine chapel probably to house the relics of St Columba, and the floor of a burnt wattle building (3.8 m x 2.8 m internally) on a rock known as the Tòrr an Aba. This building is now thought to be the hut where Columba wrote [25]

 

Pilgrims crossed a sea and arrived on the east shore of the island. They entered a southern gate through the double vallum boundary, possibly simulating the walls of Jerusalem. They entered a church (thought to be under the Nave of the Benedictine Abbey, but still has to be located). From here, they moved westwards to the plateola, equivalent to the Jerusalem courtyard, in which stood high crosses, prayer stones and a well that might have been used for baptising. The south side was connected to a 7th or 8th-century paved roadway known as the ‘Street of the Dead’ linking three chapels and having alongside at least 7 standing crosses. Finally, the pilgrim reached Columba’s shrine chapel, of which only the lower courses have survived, reminding them of Christ’s tomb. Pilgrims who visited several times saw it as equal to one journey to Jerusalem.   

2.     Lindisfarne

A sacred landscape is thought to exist at Lindisfarne substantiating its name of Holy Island. Pilgrims arrived by boat on the east side of the island and walked to the church. Isolated sculptured stones found in and around the remains of the Norman priory, 1080, suggest the early St Peter’s church was within or by the priory.[26] This church built by Finan, 651 x 661, might have held the relics of Aidan and Cuthbert. To the west of this putative church stands the parish church of St Mary which could be over the church that held Cuthbert’s relics. Between the two churches is an early cross base within an open place. In 2025, a vallum ditch was found on the south side of the cemetery, and provisionally dated to the 7th-century.

         Pilgrimage route at Lindisfarne  

3.     Ripon and Hexham

          The crypts at Ripon and Hexham were the work of Bishop Wilfrid.[27]  Wilfrid when in Rome between 703 and 705, had every opportunity to participate in the new papal processions across a sacred landscape and presumably from 706 imitated this at Ripon and Hexham.[28] The crypts resemble catacombs in Rome seen by Wilfrid on his pilgrimages, but also allude to the rectangular tomb of Christ in Jerusalem;[29]

AI rendition of how the aedicula around Christ’s tomb might have looked in the 7th-century. It had an outer and inner chamber. Adamnan’s drawing has a rectangular grave surmounted by a rotunda called an aedicula.

  The crypt could have been entered from either the west or the east. There is a first room and then a main chamber. This chamber is vaulted, big enough to hold nine people, and has a low roof. Wall to wall dimension is c. 7 feet and this is the attested length of Christ’s tomb.[30]

  

  Wilfrid’s crypt at Hexham      

Wilfrid’s shrine at Ripon is thought to have been at the east end of the church.[31] Consequently the pilgrimage route, whether starting from the east or west end is unknown, and it is much the same at Hexham. Perhaps, Wilfrid ignored the direction of travel in Jerusalem, that is east to west, and instead built his linear churches to accommodate the conventional direction of west to east in England.

 4.     Lichfield

Imagined layout of the church, shrine and cemetery in the cathedral area. Lichfield is with Hereford the only cathedral with it is thought the original church being on the same site.

The first eight bishops at Lichfield and Bishop Wilfrid were connected with and familiar with Lindisfarne, Iona, Ripon and Hexham,[32] and therefore a similar layout could be expected at Lichfield.  Did Wilfrid arrange a sacred landscape numinous to pilgrims and ensure the enduring cult of St Chad? A difficulty is not knowing whether early medieval pilgrims entered the mynster complex in the 7th and 8th-century from the east end (Dam Street), like Jerusalem, Iona and Lindisfarne, or from the west end (Beacon Street) like many church complexes in England.   

1.      Entry from the east end. This layout chimes with the door to the shrine tower apparently being on the east side.

AI gen sacred landscape with the church-cathedral at the east end (right). The nature of the first cathedral is considered in the post,’First cathedral King Wulfhere’s’.   

2.       Entry from the west end. This layout chimes with the layout for the cathedrals being first to access, and also accords with the main thoroughfare being along St John and Bird Street.

It has been suggested St Mary’s church could have been an annexe on the south side of the second cathedral.[33] The position of a well is not far from where it is thought one once existed.

 

          It is now thought a sacred landscape was relatively short-lived and probably finished with the building of the second cathedral, if undertaken by King Offa, c.770. Offa vigorously promoted and paid for pilgrimage to Rome and Jerusalem. It is likely the second cathedral, if built by Offa, would have a layout special for pilgrimage, and would include the shrine chest with the left end being the ‘Lichfield Angel’. The sacred landscape might now be inside the large basilica cathedral-church.

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[1] Described in the biography of Bishop Wilfrid written by a monk at Ripon called Stephanus and published 712–3. Title was Victa Sancti Wilfridi I. Episcopi Eboracensis. It has been translated by B. Colgrave The life of Bishop Wilfrid by Eddius Stephanus (Cambridge: 1985). “He knew of a place in the kingdom of Wulfhere, King of the Mercians, his faithful friend which had been granted to him at Lichfield, and was suitable as an episcopal see either for himself, or for any other to whom he might wish to give it.”

[2] See the post ‘Wilfrid, creator of the first cathedral.’

[3] J. Hill, Rome in Ripon: St Wilfrid’s Inspiration and Legacy, History, The Journal of the Historical Association, (2020), 105, issue 367, 603‑25.

[4] Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum published in 731, Book 4, Chapter 3. See J. McClure and R. Collins, The Ecclesiastical History of the English People. (Oxford: 2008) 178. This translation has been explained in the post, ‘First cathedral, King Wulfhere’s.’

[5] H. Gittos, Liturgy, architecture and sacred places in Anglo-Saxon England (Oxford: 2013) 94‑7. Paired churches dedicated to a major apostle and St Mary occurred at Canterbury, Glastonbury, Hackness, Lastingham, Lindisfarne, Malmesbury, Monkwearmouth and Whitby

[6] W. Rodwell, Archaeological excavation in the nave of Lichfield Cathedral. (Unpub. report held in Lichfield Cathedral Library) (2003), 6. Also W. Rodwell, J. Hawkes, E. Howe and R. Cramp, ‘The Lichfield Angel: A spectacular Anglo-Saxon painted sculpture, The Ant. J. (2008), 88, 50–1.

[7] W. Rodwell, Revealing the history of the Cathedral: 3. Archaeology in the nave. Unpub. paper in the Cathedral Library, (2000), 23.

[8] Notable kings and saints were generally buried east of the main church and in a line. This is known at Bradford-on-Avon (possibly), Glastonbury, Gloucester, Hexham, Repton, Wells (probably), Whithorn, Winchcombe and Worcester.

[9] J. Blair, The church in Anglo-Saxon society (Oxford: 2005), 200.

[10] See note 5. H. Gittos, (2013), 100.

[11] See note 9. J. Blair (2008), 201.

[12] See note 5. H. Gittos, (2013), 107.

[13] Doherty, C, 1985, 'The monastic town in early medieval Ireland', in H B Clarke and A Simms (eds), The Comparative History of Urban Origins in non-Roman Europe, 45-75,

[14] British Library, Imago mundi (part II, 1r–78r); Adomnán, De Locis Sanctis (part II, 78v–93v). It is part of Cotton MS Tiberius D V, part II, ff 1–93 and was copied in the 4th quarter of the 14th century.

[15] Thought to have been described to Adomnán by a Gallic bishop, Arculf or Arculfus, from his pilgrimage to the Near East, 679–682. Hundreds of pilgrims set out from Europe to the Holy Land between 385 and 1099 AD, but of these only eighteen wrote descriptions which have survived.

[16] G. H. Brown, A companion to Bede (Woodbridge: 2009),71. Also P. Darby and D. Reynolds, Reassessing the ‘Jerusalem Pilgrims’, the Case of Bede’s De locis sanctis, Bulletin for the Council for British Research in the Levant, (2014), 1, 27-31,

[17] J. McClure, and R. Collins, Bede. The ecclesiastical history of the English People (Oxford: 1994), 264. Bede’s abridged account had a few minor differences with Adomnán’s version, see P. P. O'Neill, 'Imag(in)ing the Holy Places: A comparison between the diagrams in Adomnan’s and Bede's De Locis Sanctis', Journal of Literary Onomastics.(2017), 6, 1, 42–60.

[18] T. O'Loughlin, Adomnán and the Holy Place (London: 2007), 175–203.

[19] See note 9. J. Blair, (2005), 201.

[20] D. Jenkins, Holy, holier, holiest. The sacred topography of the early Irish Church. In Studia Traditionis Theologiae. (2010) Brepols Publishers, claimed at least four early Irish monasteries resembled Jerusalem.

[21] See note 5 H. Gittos, (2013) 19–54.

[22] A. MacDonald, 'Aspects of the monastic landscape in Adomnan’s Life of Columba', in J. Carey, M. Herbert and P. O' Riain (eds.) Studies in Irish hagiography: Saints and Scholars (Dublin: 2001),15–30.

A recent Statement of Significance for Iona Abbey given by Historic Environment Scotland 2019, states Adomnán’s work provides a framework for understanding how the planning and development of Iona and its liturgical landscape was conceived as a reflection of the heavenly Jerusalem.

[23] E. Campbell and A. Maldonado, ‘A new Jerusalem 'at the ends of the earth': interpreting Charles Thomas's excavations at Iona Abbey 1956—63’, The Ant. J. (2020),1–53.

[24] T, Ó Carragáin, 'The architectural setting of the cult of relics in early medieval Ireland', The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, (2003), 144.

[25] See T, Ó Carragáin (2003), 133,130–176. It has been suggested Columba’s shrine chapel was the first of its kind and built mid-8th century. This date could indicate the time of construction for Chad’s shrine.

[26] D. Petts, D. ‘A place more venerable than all in Britain: The archaeology of Anglo-Saxon Lindisfarne', in R. Gameson (ed.) The Lindisfarne Gospels: New perspectives (Leiden, 2017), 7.

[27] T. H. Turner, ‘Observations on the crypt at Hexham Church, Northumberland’, Archaeol. J. (1845), 2, 240–1. J. Walbran, ‘Observation on the Saxon crypt under the Cathedral Church at Ripon, commonly called St Wilfrid’s needle’, Royal Archaeological Institute, York Meeting 1846 (1848), 4.

[28] É Ó Carragáin and A. Thacker, ‘Wilfrid in Rome’, Wilfrid Abbot, Bishop, Saint. Papers from the 1300th Anniversary Conferences, ed. N. J. Higham (Donington, 2013), 227–8.

[29] See Conant (1956), Krautheimer (1971), Biddle (1994) and Wilkinson (2002) all quoted by R. N. Bailey, ‘St Wilfrid – a European Anglo-Saxon’, Wilfrid Abbot, Bishop, Saint. Papers from the 1300th Anniversary Conferences, ed. N. J. Higham (Donington, 2013), 120.

[30] Ibid. Bailey (2013) 121–3.

[31]A. Clapham, English Romanesque Architecture, Vol. 1. Before the Conquest. (Oxford: 1930), 156.

[32] Diuma (Irish), Ceollach (Irish or Scottish), Trumhere or Trumheri (Yorkshire), Jaruman or Jurumannus (possibly Irish), Chad or Caedda (Northumbrian), Wynfrith (Chad’s deacon and probably from the same background), Headda (associated with Yorkshire), Wilfrid (Northumbrian), see R. Sharp, Drawn to the light. A history of dark times, (Studley: 2018),109, 113.

[33] M W Greenslade, ed. 'Lichfield: The cathedral', in A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 14, Lichfield. (London: 1990). The funerary church may have stood where there was later a side chapel on the south side of the Early Medieval (Norman) presbytery; that chapel was replaced in the earlier 13th century by one with an altar dedicated to St. Peter.