07:10PM, Thursday 01 September 2022
A new excavation at an 8th century monastery on the banks of the Thames in Cookham has revealed that it could have served as a trade and production centre to larger settlements such as London and Southampton.
The four-week excavation, led by the University of Reading this summer, highlighted that the Anglo-Saxon monastery ranks among the ‘most extensively preserved early medieval monastic sites ever investigated in Britain’.
Infrastructure including a waterside loading area, workshops for industrial activities such as metalworking and bread ovens used to feed those who were living there, suggest that the monastery used the nearby river to ‘extensively’ import and export goods and materials.
The excavation also uncovered a monastic burial ground.
Dr Gabor Thomas, lead archaeologist at the University of Reading excavation, said: “This is a once-in-a-generation archaeological discovery.
“We have not just rediscovered the location of this monastery but shown that it’s in a remarkable state of preservation.
“We have uncovered a densely occupied riverside trading and production zone, complete with streets and loading areas. This level of infrastructure and planning is surprising and compares with larger trading and production sites known as ‘wics’ that were the only towns of the period.
“While the population of Cookham would have been considerably smaller than contemporary London and Southampton, which numbered populations in the low thousands, there are similarities in the way in which this monastery was organised, reflecting its importance as a place of trade and production on the River Thames.
“The discoveries at Cookham will enable us to build a detailed picture of daily life within a monastery of this period, including Cookham’s role as an economic hub for the Middle Thames region.”
The university’s Archaeology Field School will return to Cookham in the summer of 2023.
For more information visit: www.research.reading.ac.uk/middle-thames-archaeology
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