YEAVERING:
CONTEXT, CONTINUITY, KINGSHIP

Why this conference and why this year?

In 1977 HMSO published the late Dr. Brian Hope-Taylor's monograph "Yeavering: an Anglo-British centre of early Northumbria". This text established the significance of Yeavering, particularly for the early medieval era and it has become something of a monument in its own right in the history of archaeological research and publication. It is time now, twenty-five years on, to look afresh at Yeavering in the light of new work and new approaches. It is the aim of this conference to stimulate new study of Yeavering. Our concern is not just with Yeavering as a 'royal palace' of the Bernician kings, but to examine this place in its geographical and cultural setting though time, hence the context and continuity of the place in which kingship came to be exercised.

Provisional Programme

Saturday 29 March at Bede's World, Jarrow.

9.15 - 9.45 Registration and Coffee
10.00 Welcome to Bede's World from its Chairman, Richard Morris

Morning Session: Yeavering, a special place in prehistory
Chair: Rob Young

This session will provide a brief overview of Yeavering throughout prehistory, suggesting ways in which the area follows a 'normal' sequence and highlighting ways in which it can be considered as 'special'. The first three papers adopt a roughly chronological approach to the traditional three 'Ages' of Stone, Bronze and Iron, although shortcomings of this simplistic model as applied to the Yeavering landscape are recognised. The fourth paper will take an overview of developments in prehistory and consider how these set the scene for subsequent developments.

10.15 Clive Waddington: Stone Age Yeavering in its regional context.
The Milfield basin forms the largest physically contained alluvial flood basin in Northumberland. It also straddles two key communication routes running north-south and east-west with the entrance to Glendale forming the junction of these two axes. Immediately overlooking this naturally defined cross-roads is the most prominent hill of the northern Cheviot rim; Yeavering Bell. When viewed from the lower lying ground of the basin proper it is the twin-topped hill of Yeavering Bell that stands out most markedly against the southern horizon. Therefore, positioned at a key communication junction, and in the lee of the most prominent hilltop, Old Yeavering (Gefrin) clearly occupies a rather special place in the dramatic landscape of the Milfield basin. Positioned on a gravel terrace immediately above the frequently flooded alluvial basin, Yeavering remained high and dry on the fringe of a vast tract of fertile resources immensely attractive to hunter-gatherer and early farming communities. Stone-Age activity from the Mesolithic through to the Neolithic has been discovered both at Old Yeavering and more widely across the basin. However, recent research has indicated that the distribution of Stone-Age activity was tied to patterns of land-use that utilised different parts of the landscape in different ways. It is argued that through an understanding of the differential pattern of landscape exploitation in the basin across space and time we can glimpse something of the way stone-age inhabitants of the valley viewed and understood Yeavering and the wider landscape.

10.45-11.20 Coffee break.

11.20 Trevor Pearson: Yeavering Bell hillfort in context.
The earlier Iron Age hillfort on Yeavering Bell has been described by archaeologists more familiar with the vast earthworks of southern England as 'the only true hillfort in the Cheviots', a statement that carries with it just a whiff of an accusation of social backwardness, and so has unfairly condemned to obscurity the region's many smaller fortified enclosures, along with the society that built them. As part of the Northumberland National Park's 'Discovering our hillfort heritage' project, English Heritage has recently completed detailed analytical field surveys of Yeavering Bell itself and a dozen smaller forts across the Cheviots. These investigations, which offer important new insights into the evolving form and purpose of the whole class of monument, in no way support the idea that the region was under-developed. Rather, it is clear that that Iron Age society in this region was simply different: this difference was expressed through fortified enclosures that adhere to their own distinctive blue-print. In fact, Yeavering Bell, with its large internal area containing 125 building platforms and its lack of firm evidence for continued occupation into the Romano-British period, may be best regarded not in a national framework as an isolated example of some ill-defined norm, but in a local context as an aberration.

11.50 Paul Frodsham Yeavering revisited: further thoughts on the reuse of ancient monuments
Prehistoric monuments at Yeavering appear to have been reused in a distinctive manner during the first millennium AD. It now seems clear that that similar patterns of reuse occur very widely across time and space. This paper will consider the extent to which Yeavering follows a 'normal' sequence, and the extent to which it should be regarded as 'special'. It will suggest that greater attention should be paid to 'the past in the past'.

12.15 Discussion

12.30-2.00 Lunch (with opportunity to explore Bede's World)

Early afternoon session: Yeavering and the context of Bernician kingship.
Chair: Rosemary Cramp

Much commentary on Yeavering has been written from a perspective of Anglo-Saxon England. This is not the only possible approach to understanding the early medieval kingship at Yeavering; other perspectives are needed to understand how leadership might have emerged locally and regionally out of later prehistoric settings in this place which was on (or beyond) the fringes on the Roman world and whose "Bernician" kings had dynastic ties in the west of Scotland.

2.00 Steve Driscoll Ad Gefrin and Scotland: the implications of the Yeavering Excavations for the North
This paper will review the influences that Yeavering has had on the interpretation of social structure and political organisation in greater Northumbria. It will begin by examining the empirical legacy to see how the excavation evidence has been utilised to understanding other sites in the Lothians, particularly Dunbar and Doonhill. These naturally lead on to a consideration of how Yeavering has influenced views on the growth and development of royal estates and systems of royal government. The work of Leslie Alcock is central to this topic. Yeavering also invites a reconsideration of the broader theories of land use and social organisation which are associated with work of Barrow, Glanville-Jones, Joliffe and others.

Perhaps the most significant consequence of the Yeavering excavations is that we are more willing to allow that early medieval peoples were deliberately manipulating the landscape and the cultural resources embedded within it for political purposes. So the paper will conclude by considering how an appreciation this process has enhanced our understanding of the development of the power centres of early medieval Scotland.

2.25 Colm O'Brien. The "Great Enclosure" at Yeavering
Hope-Taylor's sub-title, "an Anglo-British centre" indicates his idea of Yeavering as a site of culture contact between an "Anglian" elite and an native tradition, with the "Great Enclosure" being the key element on-site effecting the transition into the historical era. This paper looks again at the stratigraphic and chronological context of the Great Enclosure in the light of subsequent critiques of the Yeavering phasing.

2.45 Carolyn Ware. Social Use of Space at Gefrin.
Much attention has centred on Yeavering being the location of the villa regia of King Edwin and the place of Paulinus's conversion of the Northumbrian people to Christianity. However, the identification of the archaeological site with Bede's Ad Gefrin has eclipsed some interesting archaeological questions, particularly towards understanding how authority was held, dispensed and symbolised in the material world during this period. In the light of research undertaken on early medieval settlements and architecture in the last 25 years and also recent advances in archaeological social theory this paper will argue that the histories of spatial organisation and change found at Yeavering represent a significant medium for understanding the negotiation of social relations and the expression social dominance in early medieval society. The paper questions why it was that hitherto unpresupposing places were rebuilt almost from scratch as architecturally imposing ensembles of buildings, furthermore, why Yeavering was remodelled on so many occasions and what did the changing configurations of space and order embody for the people inhabiting this place.

3.10 Discussion

3.20-4.00 Tea break

Late afternoon session: Burial and Ceremonial Dimensions of Yeavering.
Chair: Richard Morris

Burials - in prehistoric monuments - maybe with cult objects - perhaps under Christian influence; "totem poles"; geometries of sacred and secular; cult practice involving cattle, temple (pagan), church (Christian); place of assembly; halls of kings: all these ideas feature in the literature of Yeavering. What understanding are to be reached of the multifarious cultural dimensions of this place?

4.00 Sam Lucy. The Yeavering Burials

4.25 Paul Barnwell. Anglian Yeavering and Royal Ceremonial: a Continental perspective.
This paper will concentrate on some specifically royal aspects of Anglian Yeavering. The main focus will be on the nature and function of the 'amphitheatre'. Certain of the physical attributes of the structure will be re-examined in the light of written evidence from sixth- to eighth-century Continental Europe, and similar evidence will be used to suggest both ways in which the structure may have been used and forms of Anglian royal ceremonial. From that discussion will emerge some tentative thoughts on the relationship between Anglian kingship and contemporary Continental kingdoms.

4.50 Ian Wood Concluding thoughts.

5.15 Discussion

Evening events (Timing to be arranged)

6.30 Dinner (buffet-style) at Bede's World (optional). Pay Bar

8.00 After-dinner session: 'An unlocking of word-hoards': reflections on Brian Hope-Taylor, his work and his influences.
A panel with Philip Rahtz, Rosemary Cramp and Diana Murray followed by open forum.
Chair: Colm O'Brien

Sunday 30 March Field Visit to Yeavering.
Guides: Paul Frodsham, Ian Hedley

Coach to depart from Bede's World at 9.15 am and from Central Station, Newcastle at 9.30 am

Arrive Milfield 10.45/11.00
Coffee stop
11.30 View the Maelmin reconstruction complex. Introduced by Clive Waddington
12.00 depart Milfield

12.15 Arrive at Yeavering
Guided walk to the top of Yeavering Bell. Leader Paul Frodsham
Estimated time for walk = 3.5 hours

4.00 Return coaches depart
5.15 Return central Newcastle
5.30 Return Bede's World

The summit of Yeavering Bell is 360 metres above sea level (1200 feet) and is some 300 metres (1000 feet) above the starting point for the walk. Some of the walking is quite strenuous and the descent is very steep. The conference organisers recommend that conference members consider their capability for completing such a walk before deciding to set out. Those who make the walk are advised to wear stout footwear and sensible clothing.

Exhibition at Bede's World

A Process of Discovery: the work of Brian Hope-Taylor

Exhibition Curators: Laura Sole and Richard Morris

Post-Conference Publication

The organisers are in discussion with a publisher with a view to producing a volume of papers from this conference. Details will be announced later.