Sidnacester or Sydnaceaster in Anglo Saxon Lincolnshire
Who, where, what or why is or was Sydnaceaster ?
Well, this was started, as many a quest has before, by an old map - a Saxon Map to be precise.
Dug up by historical bloodhound Neville it arrived wrapped in a plain brown envelope in my email box.
Hmmmmm I thought . . .
The map was obviously interesting and the names very old but you could see Lincolne (Lincoln) and Bardanig (Bardney) but as Neville said “what’s Sydnaceaster ?”
A Google search gave, quite literally, no matches at all which is very rare - my interest was piqued.
What excited when I went back to the map was the symbol next to Sydnaceaster - you’ll note it not quite the same in design as that for Lincoln and Bardney etc.
It is the same as that at Elmham which was the site of the pre-Norman cathedral
Cantwaraburh Canterbury again cathedral etc etc
So clearly the Sydnaceaster building was of greater importance than the one at Lincoln and Bardney Abbey !
It is in fact one of the oldest churches in the country
the place is Stow - or Stow-in-Lindsey
I don’t want to get to deeply into the church itself as I will be writing and researching it separately as part of my magnum opus on Lincolnshire Churches
Suffice is to say for the moment that it is known as the
Mother Church of Lincoln
Maps like this seem to excite as once Pamela Anderson did 
is it old age or have I simply just, and finally, grown up - I don’t know and I don’t really care - I just love old maps.
This one came from ‘The Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church’ 1810 by Rev. John Lingard - the spelling of the names clearly indicates it originates from a much earlier map and it obviously has a lot more of interest to offer.
Whilst researching some of the names in order to establish the theory behind the symbol an awful lot of fascinating history came up.
The Danes crossing the Humber from Derawuda (Beverley) and pillaging their way through Lincolnshire and sacking Bardney Abbey in AD 870 is but one example.
As I mentioned before I shall write up the church in another post but would welcome any interesting information about Sidnacester or Sydnaceaster - or for that matter any scans of old Lincolnshire maps
Danishly Yours
Rod
chris keyworth said,
February 6, 2010 @ 12:09 pm
i once attended a metal detecting ralley here all around the village of stow, there was 300 plus of us however the only finds where medieval and the odd bit of roman…
however it is worthy of note that it is not far from Torksey and the site of a vast anglo saxon battle camp and another castle..
regards
chris
Amiguru said,
February 7, 2010 @ 4:34 pm
Rod,
Thank goodness I found the first edition as the American second edition totally ‘cocked up’ the placenames on the map which would have made the task much harder. (No offence meant Annie - honest,) but why can’t they leave English alone?
I give the two versions of some of the placenames with the American in italics
Sydnaceaster……………….Syenaceaster
Bardanig………………………Beardinige
Thornice………………………Thorncie
Cissanceaster………………Sissanceaster
Sylesea…………………………Sylrea
Lundene……………………….Lerdene
Byrcing………………………..name left out altogether!
That is just a few of them
Old Grumbledore
Rod said,
February 7, 2010 @ 6:16 pm
In Lords of the North by Bernard Cornwell he calls for
Lundene for London so that’s good enough for me.
I started it last night because it was all about Saxons and invading Danes.
I was declared in a bookshop that I was officially an historian and that I got all my knowledge and information from Bernard Cornwell books
What people must think of me
Best
Rod
Peter Mullins said,
February 7, 2010 @ 8:06 pm
I’d guess that an 1810 publication about the Anglo-Saxon church will contain much that is accurate history and some things which are nostalgic wishful thinking. But what is certain is that the Conqueror took dramatic control of the Anglo-Saxon church structures (think Hitlers plans for Britain and you are very close to the sort of thing). So if you look at East Anglia you’ll see Cathedrals marked at Elmham and Dunwich which is indeed where Saxon Bishops were based from the seventh century until four years after the conquest when these dioceses were abolished and a new Norman foundation at Norwich replaced them. Something similar happened to the sprawling and huge Saxon diocese of Dorchester-on-Thames, the extreme northern part of which had its most prominent church at Stow which, as a ‘Minister’ served a wider area as a sort of ‘deputy Cathedral’; here the Conqueror built next door to each other a Castle and Cathedral in Lincoln (the pairing is significant - these were symbols of control of state and church) which being so near to Stow simply eclipsed it since there was now no need for anything like a ‘deputy Cathedral’ so near the real one.
Peter Mullins said,
February 9, 2010 @ 3:17 pm
I’ve now had a comment from one of the clergy who serves Stow which takes us back before the Dorchester-Lincoln bit of the story in my comment above, and which probably explains why the name appears on your map in the way that it does. He says “Stow is often identified as Sidnacaester, the cathedral of the Anglo-Saxon diocese of Lindsey, but that identification is possible, but sadly unprovable”. The diocese of Lindsey had ceased and been absorbed into Dorchester before the Conquest. So it looks as if your map maker was trying genuinely to mark the Lindsey Sidnacaester Cathedral (which is why he used his Cathedral symbol). Lincoln will be marked with a church symbol not to represent the future Cathedarl but to represent St Paul-in-the Bail which Bede says was founded by St Paulinius. Bardney will be marked with a church symbol not to represent the future Bardney Abbey but to represent an earlier Bardney Abbey where Bede tells us some of St Oswald was buried.
Rod said,
February 9, 2010 @ 3:23 pm
Peter,
that’s superb and really puts some meat on the bones, if you’ll forgibe thr relic based pun.
It’s a fascinating map and I’m looking forward to getting to Stow, getting some good pictures and plenty of research done.
Thanks again for all the efforts Peter it makes a real difference and it’s great to see this information being gathered in one place and safeguarded fo rthe future
All the best
Rod