Anchorites in Shropshire: An Archaeological, Historical, and Literary Analysis of the Anchoritic Vocation

This thesis uses my original archaeological methodology to study surviving anchoritic features, resulting in a more comprehensive perspective on medieval anchoritism. Chapter One demonstrates that current scholarship places textual anchoritic sources in a literary framework, leaving archaeological evidence undervalued. Anchoritic archaeology is often assumed to be rare and difficult to interpret without textual evidence, and antiquarian references to anchoritic features are dismissed. Chapter Two develops my archaeological typology and methodology, which allows anchoritic archaeology to be identified and interpreted based on the archaeological evidence alone for the first time. This methodology also separates data from interpretation in antiquarian sources, ensuring that the data can be used effectively. Chapter Three focuses on a case study of seven parish churches with surviving anchoritic archaeology in Shropshire. Anchoritic archaeology is present from the Norman period until the Dissolution; even in churches where only the squint survives, an archaeological methodology focusing on wider context still provides important data about the lived experience of anchorites. Chapter Four re-evaluates the model anchorite cell and male anchorite-priest. Documentary and archaeological evidence indicates that the same features were present in male and female cells, and that cells are characterised by variety instead of conformity. An archaeological framework shows that gender is one factor of many that impacted lived experience, and focusing on wider context emphasises the importance of analysing the relationship of a particular cell to a specific church building. Chapter Five concludes with a case study of the grave slab lintel at Ellesmere, Shropshire, which shows that anchoritic archaeology impacts wider discussions, such as the nature of anchoritism in the Welsh Marches and the concept of liminality. An archaeological methodology allows the archaeology to speak and also integrates historical and literary analysis, thereby offering a more complex perspective of medieval anchoritism, and providing new research possibilities.