The Cookham Abbey monastery was first discovered in 2021 by archaeologists from the University of Reading in the county of Berkshire, England.
Previous excavations revealed structural remains dating to the reign of Cynethryth, Queen of Mercia, who, after the death of her husband King Offa, entered a religious order and became the royal abbess of the monastery.
A network of monasteries was founded along the Thames, a key Anglo-Saxon trade route, allowing them to grow into prosperous centres. Cookham’s stretch of the river marked a contested boundary between Mercia and Wessex, giving its monastery strategic and political importance.
In the latest season of excavations, to be featured in a forthcoming episode of Sandi Toksvig’s Hidden Wonders on More4, archaeologists unearthed a manmade water channel known as a ‘leat’, used for powering a watermill, in addition to decorated combs and a fragment of Anglo-Saxon vessel glass.
The base of the leat retained a timber lining made of horizontal boards retained by massive oak uprights known as piles. One of the latter was extracted for tree ring dating.
Professor Gabor Thomas, leader of the Cookham Abbey excavations, said: “Cookham Abbey never fails to surprise us. This summer’s discoveries paint an increasingly vivid picture of monastic life in 8th-century England.”
“What’s particularly exciting is the mounting evidence that the monastery at Cookham may have been a centre for healing and medical care, some of the earliest evidence of this kind from medieval England,” added Thomas.
The excavations were carried out with the kind permission of, and in collaboration with, Holy Trinity Church, Cookham, and are set to continue in 2026. The Cookham episode of Sandi Toksvig’s Hidden Wonders is set to air on More4 at 9 pm on Tuesday, 11th November.
Header Image Credit : University of Reading
Sources : University of Reading
