An Early Medieval Town at Torksey, Lincolnshire

The impact of Scandinavian raiders and settlers on urbanisation is a major research question for understanding later Anglo-Saxon England. From 2012 onwards we have undertaken investigations at Torksey (Lincolnshire), as part of the broader ‘Tents to Towns’ project. Our research into the winter camp of the Viking ‘Great Army’ of 872-3 revealed extensive evidence for trade and manufacture across a c.55ha island, accommodating thousands of people (https://doi.org/10.5284/1018222). From 2019-21 we focussed on fields to the south of the modern village, which formed part of the early medieval town, and these investigations form the basis of this digital archive.

Torksey presents a unique opportunity to examine the contribution of Viking armies, and those following in their wake, to industrial and urban development. By the 11th century Torksey was a town, with a mint, four cemeteries and at least three churches. However, the most important evidence for incipient urbanism comes from its pottery industry, which saw new manufacturing technologies introduced by continental potters, arriving in Torksey with the ‘baggage train’ of the Great Army. Since Torksey was in decline by the 13th century, shrinking in size, much of the former town is unencumbered by later occupation, and in the 1960s Maurice Barley recognised the potential ‘to study by excavation the character of an urban settlement in the early middle ages’ at Torksey.

We have undertaken survey and trial trenching south of the modern village with two aims: 1) to present new evidence for the nature and chronology of the Torksey pottery industry; and 2) to search for other types of occupation and activities that both preceded and followed the arrival of the Great Army.

The impact of Scandinavian raiders and settlers on urbanisation is a major research question for understanding later Anglo-Saxon England. From 2012 onwards we have undertaken investigations at Torksey (Lincolnshire), as part of the broader ‘Tents to Towns’ project. Our research into the winter camp of the Viking ‘Great Army’ of 872-3 revealed extensive evidence for trade and manufacture across a c.55ha island, accommodating thousands of people (https://doi.org/10.5284/1018222). From 2019-21 we focussed on fields to the south of the modern village, which formed part of the early medieval town, and these investigations form the basis of this digital archive.

Torksey presents a unique opportunity to examine the contribution of Viking armies, and those following in their wake, to industrial and urban development. By the 11th century Torksey was a town, with a mint, four cemeteries and at least three churches. However, the most important evidence for incipient urbanism comes from its pottery industry, which saw new manufacturing technologies introduced by continental potters, arriving in Torksey with the ‘baggage train’ of the Great Army. Since Torksey was in decline by the 13th century, shrinking in size, much of the former town is unencumbered by later occupation, and in the 1960s Maurice Barley recognised the potential ‘to study by excavation the character of an urban settlement in the early middle ages’ at Torksey.

We have undertaken survey and trial trenching south of the modern village with two aims: 1) to present new evidence for the nature and chronology of the Torksey pottery industry; and 2) to search for other types of occupation and activities that both preceded and followed the arrival of the Great Army.

Previous excavation has revealed some fifteen kilns in Torksey, the majority in a field adjacent to the River Trent, and to the south of the post-medieval Torksey castle, but only those excavated in the 1960s by Barley have been published, since when ceramic analysis has been transformed. In 2016 Perry published a detailed analysis of the Torksey industry, demonstrating the influence of continental potters on a revolution in ceramic production. The 9th- and 10th-century wheel-thrown industries are restricted to areas of Scandinavian settlement, in contexts that were or became urban. They are therefore critical to understanding the impact of Scandinavian settlement on urbanisation, which paved the way for migration of craftworkers. However, several important questions about the Torksey pottery industry cannot be answered from previous partial and poorly-recorded excavations. We have undertaken a geophysical survey and identified the archaeomagnetic signature of Barley’s kilns in Castle Field, excavating one of the transitional types of Torksey ware kiln, and identifying the first instances of glazed Torksey ware.
Barley also excavated two areas of burial but left the remains in situ, precluding further analysis. Our fieldwalking in Castle Field recovered human remains, and radiocarbon dating suggests this is the location of the earliest of the four known cemeteries in Torksey. Nearby our geophysical survey revealed an enclosure (c.60m x 100m), through which we excavated a section to determine its nature, date and relationship to the burials. Making use of hand-collected human remains from field-walking and badger disturbance we have now undertaken a study of this skeletal assemblage.

Finally, we have undertaken a metal-detector survey of the field south of Torksey castle, and of a field to the east, adjacent to Sand Lane, to help contextualise the metal-detected finds from the winter camp, and to provide another means of identifying the chronology and nature of occupation in this part of the town.

The archive comprises a number of unpublished reports which cover the different aspects of our investigation, digital photography from the trial trenching (TOCF20), plus spreadsheets of supporting data.

External deposit with Archaeological Data Service