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EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL SITES IN SOMERSET : THREE CASE STUDIES

We know that the emergence of the ‘English’ church can largely be attributed to Augustine who came to Britain in 597 to re-establish Christianity along ‘Roman’ lines, and it is generally accepted that the Anglo-Saxon kings of Wessex had been converted to this Roman form of Christianity by the time that they started to exercise significant influence over Somerset in the late 7th century. However there has been considerable discussion as to what extent a ‘British’ church existed before this time, and if it did what its origins were, given that the Romans are credited with bringing Christianity to Britain, but also given the potential significance of other evangelising activities such as those by western missionaries from Wales and Ireland. Significantly in Somerset there were nearly three centuries between the end of Roman period and when the Anglo-Saxons started to take control. In the past Radford (1963, 31–6) has stressed the importance of western missionaries in the conversion of Somerset, pointing to the evidence from dedications to Celtic saints and associated hagiographical material. However, in the 1970s and 80s this was brought into question when Pearce (1973, 95–120) suggested that a large number of dedications in North Devon and Somerset were the result of a later resurgence of interest in these Celtic saints in the 11th century. Although this view has been widely accepted it is still argued that some of the dedications may indeed be genuine (Burrow 1981, 59) and that they indicate a ‘major revitalisation of Christianity’ at this time (Hase 1994, 49). The following case studies of Street, Kewstoke, and St Decumans (Watchet) look specifically at the evidence for Christianity in this post-Roman and pre-English period by focusing on a number of church sites in Somerset which have associations with ‘Celtic’ saints that have been suggested as possibly being of a genuinely early date (Fig. 1). To start with consideration will be given to how sites may be identified.