ABSTRACT

This chapter presents to reconstruct the various components of Wallingford's religious landscape and to ask what they reveal of the town itself and of its population. The standing church archaeology offers fairly limited guidance on Wallingford's medieval religious landscape and even less for the pre-Norman configuration. The earliest historic maps for Wallingford are 18th century and the first to depict the southern part of the Bullcroft in any detail is a 1786 survey of the estates of Robert Hucks. While records indicate that the Bullcroft has long been open space, for pasture and much more for public recreation units, it was partly expected that modern landscaping might have masked many of the pre-20th century features. N. Doggett argues that where conversion of buildings occurred, with wealthy owners moving in to purchase structures and space. The fishponds identified by geophysics are expected components of a monastic house and would have been highly visible status features in the precinct.