The Society for Church Archaeology was delighted to welcome Dr Michael Shapland for 'Selsey Cathdral and the Early Medieval Kingdoms of Sussex' in June 2023.

When the Diocese of Sussex was first established in AD 709 it was centred not at Chichester Cathedral, but on the Selsey Peninsular, before being moved to its present location in AD 1075. Surprisingly few attempts have been made to explain why – to modern eyes – such a peripheral location was chosen for the first Bishop of the South Saxons to establish his See, when the Roman city of Chichester lay only six miles to the north. This talk will argue that Selsey was important to the British Christian communities operating in the area long before the supposed conversion of the South Saxon kingdom by St Wilfred in AD 681. It suggests that early medieval Selsey was viewed as a sacred island in the early medieval landscape, akin to Lindisfarne, Iona or Glastonbury, and that is was chosen in continuity with, rather than as a break from, much older Christian practice.

Michael Shapland works as a historic buildings archaeologist for the UCL field unit, Archaeology South-East, where he records and researches old buildings and their landscapes from all periods. He is a specialist on Anglo-Saxon architecture, and has published a book on Anglo-Saxon lordly towers and the development of castles in England. He is the current archaeologist for Chichester cathedral.


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