This month’s cover article explores the findings of a recent community project that has rewritten the history of two West Sussex villages, Burpham and Wepham. The former’s name refers to a burh that was thought to have been founded under Alfred the Great – but the excavation’s findings have added fascinating new details to our understanding of the origins and evolution of these defences.
Thanks to the research described above, the promontory fort at Burpham can now be linked to two significant periods of medieval conflict – and our second feature continues this theme, examining perhaps the most famous battle to take place on English soil (and its most famous depiction). Having recently visited the British Museum’s spectacular new Bayeux Tapestry exhibition, here we examine what the images preserved in this iconic embroidery can tell us, not about kings and conquerors, but about the experiences of ordinary men and women in 11th-century England.
Hastening north from the battlefield of Hastings, we then report on a very different fight: the tireless efforts of a local community who have been striving for the last 40 years to protect, preserve, and promote the unique collection of archaeological remains (including a significant series of Pictish carvings) in the sea caves at East Wemyss, Fife.
Our penultimate article returns to a Norman theme, examining the evolution of castles in Ireland after the AngloNorman invasion of 1169, and we close with another exploration of monumental architecture, touring the unique Neolithic structures at the Ness of Brodgar in Orkney.