Max Adams, TV presenter, archaeologist and historian, returned to give us his view of the formation of early medieval Mercia and Northumberland. His new research has included the examination of place names, ‘finds’ such as coins, documents and chronicles, all addressing what the purpose of individual settlements was and who held the power.
Max charted out the landscapes he believed to be Mercia (meaning ‘border people’), which is roughly what we know as The Midlands. Routeways, woodlands and archaeological evidence show how the population managed the land. The power and land ownership in C7th and C8th was held by the kings, such as Aethelbald and Offa, with an organised and sophisticated system in society. King Offa sent out surveyors to log rivers and roads, and created an C8th Offa’s Dyke, an 80 miles long defined earthwork from the Severn Estuary to the north Wales coast. This ‘wall’ lacks defence features such as turrets, which suggests it was more a zone of control, perhaps even an attempt to unify the king’s people.
Northumbria could possibly have been centred in York, certainly using the River Humber and as far north as the Forth river.
As Marcia was land-locked, the identified roads and rivers would have developed a trade. Salt from Droitwich (brine concentration was 10 times that of sea water) lead from Litchfield, wool and wood, would be shipped, with silver and other commodities, back inland.
There are few written documents from this period for Mercia and Northumbria. The derivation and amount of coinage, and the derivation of place names is useful in painting a picture of life in this era.
Max Adam’s research goes on with the Domesday Book as another record and resource, and of early Northumbria itself.
Report by Celia Chapple