Excavation of a pre-Conquest Cemetery at Addingham, West Yorkshire

Abstract

EXCAVATIONS at Addingham in Wharfedale uncovered part of a cemetery which, on the evidence of radiocarbon analysis, can be dated to the 8th to 10th centuries A.D. At that period Addingham was an estate of the archbishops of York, and it was to here that Archbishop Wulfhere fled in 867 to escape the Danes. A total of 55 graves were investigated, yielding the remains of perhaps 80 individuals. Of these, about 40 wert undisturbed primary interments; the rest had been reburied in whole or part, leaving some graves empty and others containing several individuals. Later features included a ditch and a drying kiln which belonged to a post-Conquest manorial complex. Further details on the layout and components of the settlement have been gleaned from earthwork survey, geophysical prospection and documentary research, as well as from earlier excavations which until now remained unpublished.