Did London's bishops walk in these long lost walls?

It is a matter of record that “Sudmunstra”, as it was known, once belonged to the Bishops of London.

As antiquarian Richard Newcourt states in his History of the Diocese of London (1708), “the manor was formerly an Episcopal See (in other words an area of a bishop’s ecclesiastical jurisdiction) and continued part of the possessions of the Bishops of London until Bishop Ridley, by his deed dated April 12th 4.Edw.VI (a Saturday in 1550), granted it to that King (Edward VI)”.

That had, in fact, been the arrangement right back to the time that Canute (r.1016-1035) took possession of it and when William the Conqueror (r.1066-1087) restored it to the See of London.

The Domesday Book confirms that “King Canute took away this land, but Bishop William recovered it”.

The Bishop William in question was “William the Norman”, consecrated in 1051 and died in office in 1075.

As Newcourt tells us, it then stayed with the bishops (a succession of 49 of them in all) until Ridley (elected 1550 and burned at the stake in 1555) gave it away to the Crown.

Edward VI eventually granted it to Thomas, Lord Darcy, whose grandson sold it to Thomas Sutton, Esq, who then settled it upon the Charter House, London.

Present day Southminster Hall

But for almost 500 years, Southminster was under the bishops, so where exactly was their manorial seat?

A manor normally has a hall (the principal house) and sure enough there is still a Southminster Hall.

However, the current building is a much later 19th Century house, albeit built in a neo-Jacobean style in red brick with painted lozenge and chevron patterns.

It has limestone dressings and a two-storey porch topped by a crenelated parapet bearing the arms of Charter House.

Notwithstanding the late date, it has the curious form of a hall house with cross-wings – a throwback to a much earlier era.

Not only that, it is partially moated – so is its footprint on earlier foundations and does it provide a clue to those Norman origins?

Enter stage left Burnham U3A Archaeological Group, an enthusiastic bunch of amateurs with a genuine passion for the past.

In the course of some desk-top studies they noticed, from a Google Earth image, some curious crop marks in the grounds of the hall.

Tell-tale evidence of Norman occupation

In July 2020, with not just permission but positive encouragement from the current owners, they started digging.

With financial grants of more than £11,000 from the Essex Community Foundation and direction from experts (including Archaeology South East), what they eventually revealed were the massive foundations (up to 13 courses deep in places) of a very rare building made of stone, flint and septaria (hardened London Clay) with some re-used Roman brick.

Believed to date from the 11th to 13th centuries, the suggestion is that it could possibly be the last vestige of what was a ‘chamber block’ built for the bishops of London.

These structures were usually of two stories – the lower floor was public space and the upper private accommodation.

They had garderobes (primitive toilets) and fireplaces and might also have included a chapel. The doors and windows might have been decorated with elegant carvings and by the end of the 12th Century, wool and linen hangings on the inner walls would have cut drafts and added to the comfort and luxury of the room.

Pottery evidence from the Southminster dig tells a story that encompasses everything from prehistoric to post-medieval times, but it is the material from the Middle Ages that pins down the actual age of the building.

Could it really be that Bishops of London once walked within those walls?

On a day to day basis, their manor house would have been occupied by lay retainers, agents and servants, but just like nearby Wickham Bishops (another Domesday possession of the bishops) the top man would have made occasional visits.

(Saint) Roger was Bishop in 1228

Perhaps Bishop William the Norman stayed there when it was newly built.

Did Bishop Gilbert Foliot and his retainers arrive there in the 1170s?

And what about our “local boy made good” – Bishop Roger Niger de Beeleigh?

Born in the Maldon hamlet of the same name, he was elected to the See in 1228 and would have been very familiar with the Maldon district and its diocesan possessions.

Just like documentary research, uncovered archaeological remains can be a wonderful stimulus for the imagination.

Those old walls are much more than just stone and septaria – they represent a very physical connection with the human endeavours of our ancestors, a link to a past age when Southminster served as the rural seat of senior churchmen recognised throughout the land as the “King’s Bishops”.