Site Event/Activity record ESF20820 - Church of St Botolph, Iken

Botolph, or Botulf (d.680) was an East Anglian saint who founded his own monastery at 'Icanho' in around 654 after studying on the Continent, most probably at Chelles in Frankia. It is widely accepted that Iken is the site of 'Icanho', though Boston 'Botolph's Stone' in Lincolnshire remains a possible contender. Excavations in the 1970s revealed an earlier timber structure on the site, although not exactly following the line of the existing church, while a large fragment of a Saxon cross, now displayed within the church provides further evidence of the importance of the site in the Anglo-Saxon period. The 'ho' element of the early place-name, indicating a spur of land, is also fairly compelling. The overall impression gained by analysis is that the nave walls are substantially as constructed with the usual enlargements for more fashionable windows and repairs occurring over time. A firm date is more difficult to ascribe, however, though the evidence broadly supports the 12th century. Other features are noteworthy and of interest, including the possible location of putlog holes, some discrete repair and probable partial reconstruction at the west end, associated with the raising of the tower in the 15th or early 16th century. Much of the render now surviving is probably of 18th or 19th century date, but it overlies areas of repair or possible sections of medieval pointing and render. Some is associated with the introduction of new windows and doors (Phase 2) in small, discrete patches, while Phase 3 could represent remnants of surviving medieval render, but equally could be later repair. Insufficient areas are exposed to be certain.