The Aldewerke at Great Shelford

         There is, in the parish of Great Shelford, an earthwork which has attracted much attention from scholars over the years. The earthwork is part of a complex at Granhams, a manorial site which has existed since before Domesday, when it was held by King Harold.

         The earthwork itself sits within a much larger moated site, and is to the east of the demesne farm (the farm belonging to the Lord of Granhams Manor). There you can see the remains of an embanked enclosure, roughly 750 feet long by 500 feet wide. In 1948, a paragraph was devoted to it in Vol. 2 of the Cambridgeshire Victoria County History (VCH), in the section devoted to Earthworks (p38).  The author, C W Phillips, considered the possible interpretations of the site, and concluded that it bore most resemblance to a “strongly fenced paddock”, comparing it to an earthwork at Childerley which forms a boundary to the park there. The site at Granhams, he considered, was nothing more than a deer park, or cattle enclosure.

         Other interpretations have been placed on the earthwork, both before and since. Baker’s Map of 1821 marked it as Granhams Camp. The surveyor of the First Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1885, interpreted it as a Roman Camp. However, in the 1902 Second Edition, the site was simply marked “Earthworks”.

         Reaney, in Place-names of Cambridgeshire, 1943, takes up the Ordnance Survey’s designation of Earthworks. He notes that Granham(s) (Manor) camp is probably to be identified with Aldewerk(e)(hale) and Aldework, which are to be found respectively in surveys of the manors of the Bishop of Ely in 1221, 1277 (actually 1251), in 1322 from a National Archives document (probably PRO SC 6/1132/14) and in the 14th century in Jesus College records. He notes that the term Aldework derives from the Saxon (ge)weorc meaning old fortification. Likewise the VCH entry for Great Shelford (1982) includes the comment that “The earthwork there (at Granhams) was already known as Aldwerk in the early 13th century”, citing the Jesus College reference as source. Ther VCH also tells us that the open field arable in the 13th century had about 12 “named subdivisions... including Heathfield, Millfield, Aldework, and Dunefield”. Lastly it tells us that there was meadowland which included Rod meadow, Estophill, Fen meadow, Russeholm, and meadow within Aldework, Manmeadow, and Wrongholm.

        Aldwerk certainly occurs elsewhere in the country with a similar meaning. There is a street named Aldwark in York, and the old fortification in question is considered to be the old Roman city wall. There is also a parish called Aldwerk in the Hambleton district of Yorkshire: here the term is considered to mean old fort, and is thought to refer to a Roman fort guarding the nearby ferry crossing. Lastly there is, of course, Aldwych in London. In this case, the name referred to a seventh century Anglo-Saxon settlement which was built outside the walls of the Roman city of Londinium. After Alfred the Great refortified the walls in the late 9th century and moved the settlement within them, the original Anglo-Saxon settlement became known in time as the “old settlement”.

         However it was the Anglo-Saxon scholar Cyril Hart who seized upon the site in Great Shelford with his paper of 1995, The Aldewerke and Minster at Shelford, Cambridgeshire. He began the paper with a description of the horde of Danelaw coins found at Cuerdale in Lancashire. Two of these coins were minted at Sceldfor, and Hart discussed the possibility that the Cambridgeshire Shelford might be the site of this mint. His attention was attracted by the presence of the Aldewerke, and he accepted implicitly Reaney’s assumption that the name referred to the earthwork at Granhams.

         The site we now call Granhams Manor (after its fourteenth century owners, the Grendons) can readily be identified in Domesday. It was somewhat unusual in being a berewick, or outlier portion, attached to King Harold’s estate at Newport, Essex, some 13 miles away. Hart noted that the term aldwerk occurs almost exclusively in the Danelaw, and said of its multiple occurrences that “the defensive works they describe are mostly pre-Conquest, some being of Viking construction” (p53). He therefore viewed it as possible that the old fortification in Shelford dated from the Danelaw era. He then went on to float the possibility that the Sceldfor mint might have been sited within the Aldewerke, and argued a case for its presence there as part of the estate of a Danish earl. Hart accepted that he had not proved his case. However, in his Final Word he commented, “The answer must remain in doubt at the present time, but the further one probes the question, the more likely it appears that it should be answered in the affirmative” (p63).

         Landscape archaeologist Christopher Taylor, who was very much our local expert, was more inclined to accept the garden feature theory put forward by Phillips in the VCH (see above). In Domesday to Dormitory (1971), a landscape history of Great Shelford which he edited, the earthwork was treated thus (p12): “in fact it is merely the home paddock or field of the manor house”.  However, archaeologist Mark Hinman, in 1999, cited an unpublished work by Taylor in which he commented that the earthwork “has strong parallels with a 16th to 17th century garden”; he qualified this with the comment that, if the earthwork had already been in existence, it would influence the layout of the garden (Hinman, 1999, p8).

         The area surrounding Granhams has been the subject of recent archaeological investigation. In 1999, evaluation took place ahead of a proposed golf course development (planning permission for which has since lapsed). Trial trenches were dug over a wide area. However, it was decided that no trenching should be done at the site of the earthworks, so no conclusion was reached as to their date (Hinman, p28). Instead, a geophysical survey was requested and duly took place. The following year, five evaluation trenches were dug through the enclosure. The earthwork was proved to be post-Roman. There was evidence which might support the idea that “a timber structure or revetment held the bank in place”, and possible pits or postholes were identified. It was noted that “the aceramic nature of many Saxon and Danish sites would be consistent with the non-Roman features at Granhams Farm”. But a precise date could not be established.

         In 2000 David McOmish produced a survey report for English Heritage on Granhams Farm. In his summary, he described the earthwork thus: “This is almost certainly the enclosure referred to as Aldewerke (ancient fortification) in early 13th century documents. If this was already regarded as being ‘ancient’ at such an early date, then its provenance might be a good deal earlier” (p24). He further commented that Hart’s suggestion of a mint on the site “remains a highly attractive but, as yet, unproven theory” (p24).

             So Reaney’s initial hypothesis that the Aldewerke was the earthwork at Granhams has become an orthodoxy. Unfortunately, this assumption that the Aldewerke is the enclosure at Granhams appears to be mistaken. I have recently been working to create a glossary of the place-names of Great Shelford. I was particularly interested in the name Aldewerke, as it is one of the very few names in the parish with a long pedigree, dating back to the 13th century. From this first occurrence it can be found – with various spellings - until as late as 1834, when the proprietors’ claims were submitted to the Enclosure Commissioners.

         The process of locating the position of a piece of land from the terriers which precede mapping can be extremely challenging. Nevertheless I set about tracing all the occurrences of the name Aldewerke I could find, and trying to fix a position for it.

         A document in Jesus College archive, a Gift with Warranty, dated between 1230 and 1250, records the gift of 4 acres of land and 1 acre of meadow to Nicholas le Moyne of Shelford. One of these four pieces of land was “half an acre of meadow at Aldework between land of the Bishop of Ely and land of Andrew Brond” (Jesus/Nuns/Add. 76, formerly referenced as Caryl S.1). This, plus various other portions of land, was gifted by the le Moynes, to the Nuns of St Rhadegunds Convent in Jesus Lane, Cambridge. When the convent was suppressed in 1496, the lands passed to the newly-created Jesus College, and remained in the college’s possession as a discrete estate, known as the Nuns’ Lands, until Enclosure, when the college was allotted lands in lieu. Thus this half-acre of meadow at Aldewerke remained as part of this identifiable estate until 1835.

         The consensus from the references I examined was that the Aldewerke was common meadow and that it abutted onto the West Fields. Great Shelford is bisected, roughly NNW to SSE, by the Cambridge Road (which was turnpiked in the 18th century). To the west of the road lie the West Fields, three fields of open field arable; to the east a further group of open fields and also the Granhams site. The Aldewerke, I found, is on the opposite fr side of the turnpike road to Granhams.

         The common meadow in Great Shelford parish runs alongside the River Granta, beginning just beyond the water bridge between Great and Little Shelford, and extending right the way to Hauxton Mill which sits almost on the parish boundary. There exist a number of terriers for Buristead Manor, and these were compiled by perambulation. It is therefore possible to gain an impression of the sequence of meadows running along the river. In every case it appears that the Aldewerke is a meadow beside the Granta towards the Hauxton end of the parish. It also seems that, by extension, one of the open fields was given the name Aulework, or Auldewerkhale. This might seem surprising. But I have found other occurrences where names move around, taking their name from neighbouring land. Hoppin, too, was a meadow, but in the later 20th century, the neighbouring arable field had taken the name too. I have found no evidence of land called Aldewerke at Granhams. Although Reaney’s and Hart’s hypotheses were good ones, there is no evidence to support either. The Aldewerke is at the other end of the parish. The Saxon mint theory thus also seems unlikely.

         This then begs the question as to whether there was an old fortification by the river towards Hauxton. All these riverside meadows are flood meadows, so it seems improbable. This, in turn, leads to the second question, one which remains to be answered. If the enclosure at Granhams is not the Aldewerke, what is it? Planning permission was recently granted to redevelop the site of Granhams Farm, the buildings of which were largely redundant. Apart from the site of the house, (called Granhams and thought to be on the site of the old Granhams manor house), this is the only part of the demesne site which had not been investigated by archaeologists. The planning permission included a condition that archaeological investigation of the site be made. Perhaps this will yield further evidence as to the purpose of the site (see below - Archeological Investigation 2019 - for further details).

Since the building of the motorway, the line of meadows along the Granta is bisected by the M11. The putative site of the Aldewerke is now on the far side of the motorway fron the village centre.

  The medieval sources give no clue as to the actual location within the parish of either Aldewerke meadow or open field Aldewerkehale. Later sources yield some clues. In the 1635 and 1657 terriers, Aulework is one of the three West fields. It buts onto the riverside meadows. It is also called Cliffield. The three main meadows are constantly identified (in all their variant spellings) as Hollick Meadow at Hauxton end, Hoppin or Charity (Cherry Tree) Willow Meadow and Homeward Meadow at the village end. Aside from these, there are a number of smaller meadows. Most notable is a bulge where the river turns, between Hollick and Hopham. The St John’s College map of 1790 (MPS221) shows that the strips in this bulge are divided in an unusual way, with three separate runs of strips (one would call them furlongs if they were in the arable). These appear to correspond to Short Meadow and the Butts, which are described in Elstobb’s Particular of 1756, a tithe survey, which therefore contains every piece of land in the parish (Jesus College Archives, ref. to be identified). I think it is probable that Short Meadow, possibly also named on occasion Little Hoppin, is the meadow called Aldewerke.

Aldwark

'The old fortification'.

Elements and their meanings

• ald (Anglian) Old, ancient; the old(er) one of two; former, disused.

• weorc (Old English) A work, a building structure; a fortification.

The References from Reaney and Hart

1203 "Aldewerewelle" occurs in Feet of Fines, 5th John, PRO CP25(1)/23/6/3, Ailbric Lesstan and Cristiana his wife v William fil’ Bernard in Trupinton. This is quoted as a reference by Hart who says the earthwork “ was already called the Aldewerke by 1203”. Not exactly true. While it refers to a piece of land called Aldewerewelle, it doesn't tie down its location, and the entry is for Trumpington.

1221 "Aldewerkehale", Survey of Ely Manor, BL Cotton MS Tiberius B II, f215v

hay lying in Aldewerkehale, quoted as ref. by Reaney, quoted in turn by VCH. Its  location is not specified, but it refers to Ely Abbey land not Granhams, and the meadow would most likely be by the river.

Note: Hale dervives from ‘healh’, Old English for nook or haugh. The OED comments that

“The original sense was perhaps ‘corner or nook (of land) in the bend or angle of the river’”. This adds credence to the identification above of Aldewerke(hale) as the bulge surrounded on three sides by the river. 

1230-50 "Aldework", Jesus Nuns/Add.76

½  acre of meadow at Aldework between land of the Bishop (of Ely) and land of Andrew Brond, with liberty of fold as his ancestors had, quoted as ref proving site of Aldewerke at Granhams by VCH, 

1249-50 "Aldewerkhale", Survey of Ely Manor, BL Cotton MS Claudius C XI, f127r, in a field called Aldewerkhale 38 ½ acres, quoted as ref. by Reaney date 1277, quoted by VCH.

1707 "Alwarke", Terrier of lands belonging to Granhams Manor, St John’s D030/021 

There are two occurrences:

under the entries for West Field, there is a heading the furlong butting on Alwarke,

also, a strip Item two acres & half the lands of Mr Freeman West the lands of John Haworde East abuting on Allworke South,

quoted as a reference by Hart, dated 1717.

Hart, p53 “Later in the 13th century one of the common fields lying near to the enclosure was called Aldewerk field; at this date we also find mention of ‘the meadow within the Aldework’. He gives no reference for this. He may be referring to the VCH, where the references are actually 14th century.

He also claims that there is a run of Aldewerke-related names along Hobson’s Brook. Reaney, in his Place Names, notes that these names - Aldewerewelle, Aldewerkedic and Audrake Fenne - "are perhaps to be associated with" the earthworks in Grantchester (marked on the 6in OS map as Roman Camp") (p19). I take it that he means semantically associated. Hart interpets Reaney's statement as mistakenly placing them in Grantchester (see below), which I think is itself an error. Confusion reigns. Hart states,

“West of Granhams Road those parts of the stream not culverted are now called Hobson’s Brook; its medieval name, even as far downstream as Trumpington, was the Aldewerkdic”.

Refs. for this:

"The Aldewerkdic  referred to in a deed of 1225 entered in the Lewes Cartulary (BL Cotton Vesp F xv) is clearly the small river called Hobson’s Brook, into which the stream ran. Hobson’s Brook ran through Trumpington to join the Cam south of Cambridge. It appears as Aldwerewelle  in the 1203 Cambs Feet of Fines and as late as 1480 the marshy ground along its banks in Trumpington was called the Audrake Fenne (PN Cambs 19); the editor has located some of these places wrongly".

Locating Aldework and Aldewerkhale

1628-9 Terrier of Nun’s Lands (Jesus  Caryl.S.16 Nuns’ Lands) 

Jesus College was by this time the owner of the Nuns' Lands

Meadow land – 2a and 1r of meadow against Hoppen, to the south next Grandam’s meadow;

½ a in Alwarke lying next to the Bury meadow east.

This gives a total of 2a 3r (11r) of meadow. In 1834, when Jesus College submitted their claim to the Enclosure Commissioners, they claimed right to “2a 3r by field measure of meadow ground”, evidently the same land (UL Doc 652/8). The location of the meadow is not clearly specified.

 (Note I have tried to trace the Aldewerke meadow belonging to the Nuns' Lands through the various Jesus College surveys, but this has proved problematical. Sometimes the Nuns' Lands meadow holding is shown as 2a 1r, sometimes 2a 3r. However, I don’t think this is pertinent to the argument, since there is no reason to suppose that Jesus College held meadow land at Granhams Farm).

1635 Terrier of Buristead Manor G&C BUR: XXXVIII

composed by perambulation.

It begins at West Church Field and itemizes the strips.

Then proceeds to the second of the West Fields,

Aulework alias Cliffeild beg. at Oyster-bush bauke, going west having the town of GS on our backs. This clearly identifies the field as the later Hauxton West Field. It gives a long list of arable strips, and then moves onto the meadows. There is no mention in the meadows of Alwark/Aldewerke but Little Hoppen is mentioned.

Finally, we come to Moor Wesfield (sic.), Rod Meadow on east.

Other strips within this field are described (a)buts on Moor. This marks it out as the later Causeway West Field which ran along Cambridge Road.

1657 Terrier of Buristead Manor, BUR: XXXVIII

composed by perambulation

Very similar to the 1635 terrier. It first surveys the Town, then West Church field. It then moves on to

Aulework alias Clifffeild, beginning at Oyster bush banke, going westward, having the towne of Gt. Shelf. on our backs.

1707 Terrier of lands belonging to Granhams Manor, St Johns College Archive/D030.021

The terrier charts the open field arable strips belonging to the college.

The heading is

West feild called the mell feld

It gives as sub-heading

the furlong abuting on Alwarke

Then a strip

Item two akers & half the lande of Mr Freeman

West the lande of John Hawarde East abutting on Alworke South 2a 1r.

This clearly establishes that Alwarke was not at Granhams.

1736 Buristead Manor court book, p64 BUR: XXXVIII

All that one acre of customary arable land called The Butts and abutting upon allwark.

Note According to the OED, a butt is "a raised strip of cultivated land between two furrows, a ridge. Also: a measure of land equivalent to this in size". This may refer to the fact that the Butts were divided into meadow or arable strips, according to the context.

1834 Claim of John Austin UL Doc 652/67

Claim In a common meadow called The Butts pasture, 2a 2r. This contradicts the 1736 entry above which shows 1a of the Butts as arable land, but in either case there seems to be a close proximity between the Butts and the Allworke.

Sources

Hart, Cyril   The Aldewerke and Minster at Shelford, Cambridgeshire, published in Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History, 8, 1995.

Hinman, Mark Neolithic to Medieval: the Archaeological Landscape surrounding Granhams Farm, from Nine Wells to Hinton Way, Great Shelford, Cambs

An Evaluation, 1999, Cambs CC, Report no. 167, Archaeological Field Unit

McOmish, D  Granham’s Farm, Great Shelford, Survey Report, 2000, English Heritage

Reaney, P H  Place-names of Cambridgeshire, 1943

Taylor, C ed) From Domesday to Dormitory

Victoria County History Cambs, Vol. 2, 1948, ed. L F Salzman

Victoria County History Cambs, Vol. 8, 1982, ed. ed. A P M Wright

   Available here https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol8/pp207-219

   Unfortunately, to access volume 2, you will have to visit the library!

Archival sources as referenced in the text from

Cambridge University Library (UL), Gonville & Caius College Archives, Jesus College Archives, National Archives (PRO), St John's College Archives

v1 © Helen Harwood, uploaded January 2024

Archaeological Investigation 2019

When planning permission was granted to convert the redundant farm buildings of Granhams Farm into dwellings, an archaeological field evaluation of the site was specified as part of the planning permission. This took place in October 2019. Ten trenches were dug. These yielded evidence of a number of drainage ditches, demonstrating that the site had been wet and in need of drainage. The ditches may well have drained from the moats on the site. There was much packed chalk, which formed the surface of the farmyard, a common feature around the farmsteads of the village. Apart from this, one sherd of pottery and a few animal bones were the only signs of occupation. The authors concluded that  "the site has archaeological potential and further work has to be considered in order to understand the evaluation findings". Quite a disappointing result really. Given the documentary evidence of activity on Granhams site, there has to be much more archaeological evidence - somewhere. But so far none of the digs has yielded that evidence. 

You can find the report here

archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-483-1/dissemination/pdf/thamesva1-395558_2.pdf 

 Uploaded March 2024