TC Lethbridge | The Sons of TC-Lethbridge

T.C. Lethbridge at Shudy Camps

21st Jul 2004

An overview of T.C. Lethbridge’s report of the excavations of a cemetery at Shudy Camps, Cambridgeshire

You may be interested in locating the Shudy Camps cemetery on OS Landranger 154 (TL 605 446) before reading this essay.

In 1936, the Cambridge Antiquarian Society published a report on the excavations of a Christian, Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Shudy Camps in Cambridgeshire. The report was compiled and illustrated by T.C. Lethbridge, F.S.A.

It is difficult to imagine what Lethbridge’s peers and the academics of the time thought of him. This ‘young’ (Lethbridge was 35 years old at the time of writing) upstart, who presented his reports as if conducting a briefing in a local hostelry whilst presiding over a pint of ale. Lethbridge’s unique approach to his task is apparent in his ‘Preface’ to the Shudy Camps report, his wit, informality and observation to detail are evident within the first paragraph.

Lethbridge was aware that he had a task to fulfil, but from the outset it was always his intention to broaden his brief and extended his assignment far beyond the reporting of the mere facts in hand. He commences by first apologising to the reader, explaining that the report had indeed been, “an onerous business to compile” and therefore, must, out of necessity, be a tedious read. But ‘here’s the rub’, this casual introduction is simply a ploy to engross the reader and share with them his enthusiasm for the discoveries at Shudy Camps.

Lethbridge transforms the report from the mundane, by painting a picture of a bleak mid-winter scene, when a snow squall at a graveside, transformed his colleague - Dr. Palmer, into a ‘snowman’. Here we see the arch storyteller in full flow and this poetic approach must have sent reverberations through the Cambridge academia. The sexist remark(1) of Joe Hall - one of Lethbridge’s workmen, with regard to the discovery of a female skeleton in one of the graves, and recorded here by Lethbridge, may seem out of place in today’s politically-correct world. It was obviously not Lethbridge’s intention to offend, but to paint a picture of the camaraderie and must be perceived in the light of the times.

Lethbridge’s jovial nature is again demonstrated, when one of his volunteer helpers was clearing Grave No. 85(2), and happened to remark upon a handful of bone objects, which Lethbridge describes as looking like ratafia biscuits. The volunteer demanded aggressively, “Ought a man’s ankles to look like that?” a comment that inspired Lethbridge to question whether he was personally being held responsible for an Anglo-Saxon bodily malfunction!

Nearly 150 graves were discovered at Shudy Camps and Lethbridge’s report details the contents of each individual burial. Grave-objects and finds are beautifully illustrated in Lethbridge’s unique style and this artwork alone, makes the report an enchanting publication to own, should you be luck enough to encounter a copy.

It was Lethbridge’s colleague Dr. W.M. Palmer, who had been responsible for the discovery of this second cemetery at White Hills Field situated at the juncture of the roads from Shudy and Castle Camps leading to Bartlow. At the time of the dig, O.S. Crawford was in the process of compiling a map of the distribution of Anglo-Saxon sites, so it was considered appropriate to discover a few of the burials merely for the purpose of identification.

The Shudy Camps excavations revealed two types of burial; those with the heads facing south/west and the others, which faced north/west and were similar to those unearthed at nearby Burwell. Many of the objects exhumed, were also found to be similar to those discovered at Burwell. However, environmental conditions at Shudy Camps were not conducive to the preservation of bone and many of the skeletons had almost disappeared and consequently, relatively few bone objects were unearthed.

Lethbridge remarked that the nearby Burwell site had revealed long, bone combs which resembled those associated with the Viking period, but the normal comb of the pagan period was double-sided or if single-sided, was normally short in length. The excavations also revealed an absence of pagan Anglo-Saxon brooches and only six weapons were found on site. Few of the graves had associated objects and it was these cumulative observations that led Lethbridge to conclude, that the cemetery was of the later, Christian Anglo-Saxon period, for graves with associated ornaments, were considered closer to the pagan Anglo-Saxon era.

It was obvious that the cemeteries at Shudy Camps differed widely from the normal pagan Anglo-Saxon cemeteries of the district and the finds also revealed little of British-Romano influence. There was however, plenty to evidence to make connections with the pagan Anglo-Saxons and this provided further evidence that the Shudy Camps cemeteries were of the later period.

In his appendix, W. M. Palmer explores the etymology of ‘Shudy Camps’. It appears that the earliest reference to the name was in the early-thirteenth century, where it is referred to as ‘Sud’. During the same century, it later appears as ‘Suthe’, ‘Sude’ and ‘Shutte’. Palmer guesses that ‘Sudecaumpes’ may well have meant ‘South Camps’ were it not for the fact that it lies to the north of nearby Castle Camps.

W.W. Skeat (1835-1912) provides the word(3) ‘Schutt’ meaning ‘mound’ and there is evidence to support this theory, as there is a barrow in a meadow at Priory Farm on the left of the road from Mill Green to Haverhill. Palmer observed “….this (the barrow), however, is not a very striking feature of the landscape.”

Palmer reveals that in a letter sent by the late A.C. Yorke (the then Rector of Fowlmere) dated 8 October 1924, he describes the existence of a further three circular mounds and supports his observation with a rough plan of the area. At the time of writing his report, Palmer states that the mounds were no longer in existence, but further research in the locality, revealed to him oral tales of their place in the landscape.

Personally, I am unable to expand upon Palmer’s research, only to suggest that ‘Shudy’ sounds similar to ‘Shony’(4) or ‘Shoney’(5) – A sea god often associated with the Hebrides. Could it be that the name was brought to Cambridgeshire by ancient (Viking?), mariners and later became corrupted to ‘Shudy’? This may sound a little tenuous, until me discover that the Norsemen named the Hebrides as ‘Suthreyar’ – ‘the southern islands’ as they were considered south of Orkney and Shetland. It is most likely however, that Shudy Camps is indeed aScandinavian, geographical reference to the ‘south’ and possibly references a site or feature that has long since vanished from the environs.

Palmer concludes his brief etymological study by suggesting that a mistake by the clerk who wrote the accounts of Shudy Camps in the Hundred Roll of 1279, had helped to make the origin of the word ‘Shudy’ obscure.

welbourn TEKH – Lincoln – July 2004

Notes:
1. “Would that be woman?” he (Joe Hall) asked. We replied that it was. “Well,” he remarked, “I reckon that they must have been about the same then as now, small as mice and spiteful as devils”.

2. Grave No. 85: Fragmentary skeleton, probably male; laid on back, legs straight, arms on pelvis. Pot at right side of skull (Fig. 12). At the left side of the feet were fifty-six disc-shaped playing-pieces of bone and a decayed bone object which resembles a die.

3. Skeat 'Place Names of Cambridgeshire' p.39

4. Lethbridge T.C. (1962) 'Witches – Investigating an Ancient Religion' Routledge and Kegan Paul. p.125 “In the north of Lewis, not so very long ago, men waded into the sea, poured beer into it and implored Shony (Sithonaid?) the holy one, to give them of its fruits. This is precisely the same ritual, although curtailed through time, as that described by Apuleius. And yet we are told that the people of Lewis are descendants of Norsemen, while they have serpents and bulls of the Cailleach, and call on the holy one in Gaelic.”

5. As I am writing this essay, I am drawn to the similarity between the words ‘Shoney’ and ‘Sunhoney’ – the name given to a recumbent stone circle in Aberdeenshire, which I once visited on 23/09/94.