4 J Patrick Greene

2 Strategies for Future Research and Site Investigation

J Patrick Greene

The advent of the National Lottery, and the National dramatic social and political change. The Norman Heritage Memorial Fund’s estimated income of £150 Conquest had the greatest impact on monasticism in million a year from its proceeds, provides a challeng- Britain until the Dissolution. Recent work at Canter- ing context in which to consider future research and bury, St Albans and Eynsham has resulted in the investigation strategies for monastic archaeology. discovery of the remains of Saxon buildings on sites New funds could provide excellent opportunities to that were refounded as Norman monasteries. The proceed with research projects that, for lack of massive and extensive nature of masonry foundations resources, have been intriguing to contemplate but at Canterbury and St Albans in particular has shown impossible to implement. The NHMF guidelines the large scale of the pre-Conquest establishments, certainly encompass such possibilities, ‘The fund will but also the thoroughness with which the Norman support research and recording projects which are abbots of the refounded abbeys set about the total related to a heritage asset. They should relate to a replacement of existing buildings, however grand. particular building, site or collections and be aimed There is clearly a potential for many further dis- either at preserving evidence of something under coveries of a similar nature on sites of refounded threat or at gathering information necessary for the monasteries. better care and management of the asset concerned’ (NHMF Lottery Guidelines). Ancient monuments, historic buildings and their contents and settings, The original layout of monasteries landscapes and museum collections are all eligible, and thus most of the research projects that are With few exceptions monasteries existed for several mentioned in this paper could qualify. However, it centuries and underwent modifications as a result must be emphasised that there are also many projects of wealth (expansion), poverty (contraction), civil that do not require large resources of money disorder, warfare and fire (destruction and rebuild- (although they may be demanding in terms of time) ing), changes of liturgical practice, structural failure, and which can continue to be pursued by monastic and the effects of the Dissolution. Detecting the archaeologists, professional and amateur, resulting earliest arrangements can be very difficult without in the steady accretion of knowledge about individual large-scale excavation, as at Norton (Greene 1989a), sites, orders or monastic practices. or where circumstances have conspired to keep the This paper concentrates largely on post-Conquest buildings largely in their original form (as with the topics as aspects of the archaeology of Saxon church at Portchester). It is in the early arrangements, monasteries are discussed elsewhere in this volume. however, that schemes of design are likely to be However, the first topic addresses the transformation found, as has been revealed by careful measurement of Saxon to Norman monasteries. at Norton and Bordesley (Hirst, Walsh and Wright 1983). Subsequent additions and modifications are likely to be more pragmatic in design than the Refounded Saxon monasteries original scheme, in which it may be possible to detect the presence of a ‘master plan’ for the The testimony of the archaeological record is capable individual monastery, or possibly for groups of of being particularly vivid at times of rapid and monasteries of equivalent size and date. Much more Strategies for Future Research and Site Investigation 5 could be learnt about the transmission of ideas of characteristics existed – for example the date of planning, layout and measurement by comparative foundation, the order, the founder, the size, the studies of early monastic plans, particularly those presence of standing remains and earthwork features. that fall into a specific group such as twelfth century It might be possible to detect a common approach to simple cruciform churches. That such may exist even design in the foundation period, but equally revealing in the midst of the grandest monastic remains has would be the ways in which the subsequent history been dramatically demonstrated at Fountains Abbey of the houses diverged or paralleled each other. There (Coppack 1994). would be possibilities of extending such a trans- national study to other countries. Funding through European Union programmes concerned with the The excavation of an early, temporary site Common European Cultural Inheritance could be explored. Many monasteries suffered a false start due to factors as various as poor water supply, flooding, a change of mind by the donor of the land, or of the Recording of standing buildings brethren themselves, or even the famous case of the confusion caused by the bells of and There is no doubt that monastic remains are suffer- Byland Abbey on their adjacent sites in . ing accelerated deterioration as a result of aerial Fifty Augustinian and Cistercian houses moved site pollution, especially particulate emissions from (Robinson 1980; Donkin 1978). It follows that there vehicles and the chemical effects of acid rain. There is the opportunity to select such a site with a known is a need to raise public awareness of this damage, as history and likelihood of good preservation for a well as recording deteriorating remains for posterity. large-scale excavation. The short occupation would Projects such as that carried out by the Lancaster result in simple stratigraphy enabling extensive University Archaeological Unit at examination to take place, relatively quickly. It provide a model for such studies, but recording can should be possible to reveal three aspects of the early take place at a number of levels including those within stages of a monastery: reach of the amateur archaeologist. The structures of standing, occupied buildings can also provide con- a) Temporary timber buildings for the brethren to siderable information from, for example, the study of live and worship in, as have been discovered at their timber roof structures as at Ely, Lincoln and Fountains, Norton, Sandwell and a few other Canterbury. Much can also be learnt about techniques sites. The opportunity to uncover a complete of construction of masonry buildings from traces such suite of such buildings would amplify greatly as marking-out lines, and the outline of mouldings as the excavated evidence and documentary recently discovered at Guisborough where masons accounts of the early years at Fountains, Meaux had used the flat surface of paving to design the nave and Kirkstall for example. arcade. b) The layout and construction techniques of masonry buildings. If the site chosen had been occupied for, say, two decades, substantial progress is likely to have been made with the Monastic cloisters construction of the church and the layout of the Whilst there is a powerful argument for concen- claustral buildings. Excavation would provide a trating future excavations of monastic sites away valuable picture of a stage in development that from the main claustral buildings, a surprisingly is obscured on sites where subsequent occupa- neglected subject for study is the cloister itself which tion, rebuildings, and burials in the church have would certainly repay detailed examination. There complicated the archaeological record. are several possible avenues of research: c) The short duration of occupation would provide a usefully restricted chronological context for a) The structure of early cloister walk arcades. The artefacts, contributing to studies of material revelation of the complex triple-shafted trefoil culture. headed arcade at Norton, the traceried, glazed cloister at Bordesley, and the recently discovered twin-shafted cloister arcade at Haverfordwest A linked investigation: Britain, France, demonstrate the exciting possibilities that exist. Ireland Whilst it might be imagined that to recover such designs would be impossible, experience has It would be possible to select pairs of sites for shown that fragments of open cloister arcades intensive investigation in France and Britain, and were frequently built into the foundations of their Britain and Ireland where a number of shared fenestrated successors and can be recovered by 6 J Patrick Greene

excavation. The quality of stonework, especially water management. Another worthwhile study is the embellishment with foliage and figures in that of precinct boundaries which are capable of West Country style at Norton and Haverford- being traced through standing walls, earthworks, west, demonstrates the high level of investment charters and field names. The features of monastic that monasteries with limited resources were estates, including granges, widen the study still prepared to apply to the cloister. further; the earthworks and structures of a site such b) The cloister garden. Surprisingly little is known as Monknash Grange in South Glamorgan show about the layout and use of cloister gardens – what can be located (Williams 1990); the study of were they grassed, planted with herbs or other the field boundaries at Roystone Grange in Derby- useful plants, or decorative shrubs and trees? shire shows how the landscape of this grange of The use of techniques of garden excavation and Garendon Abbey has evolved (Hodges 1991). A final pollen analysis developed at sites such as Fish- topic offered for study is that of extractive industries bourne Roman Palace, and more recent gardens – quarries, mines, sandpits, clay digging and peat such as Kirby Hall and Hampton Court (Dix exploitation on monastic estates. International 1994) could be applied to monastic sites. comparisons can be particularly revealing c) Drainage of the cloister. Considerable quantities (Pressouyre 1994). of water drained from the roofs of the church and claustral ranges into the cloister; little is known about how it was removed (soakaways, Artefact studies drains, or used as part of the monastery’s water The collections of museums, compounds at ancient supply). At Norton it was carried in a drain monuments, and standing buildings themselves have beneath the west range, and in the final remodel- many classes of artefacts whose study can enhance ling of the cloister a drain around the perimeter the knowledge of monasteries and monastic life. of the cloister became a ‘water feature’. In Some studies have been assisted by results of recent addition to rain, water was then brought by pipe excavations, most notably the casting of bells for into a monastic cloister for distribution from a monastic churches, and the techniques and trade of cistern, for use in a cloister lavatorium. This too tile manufacture (Lillich 1993). An excellent study of had to be removed. a class of artefact closely associated with monasteries d) The position of the cloister. The association of is that of the pilgrim badges in the Salisbury and cloisters placed to the north of the church with South Wiltshire Museum which provides a model of the cult of the Virgin has been suggested for how insights into belief, iconography, social mobility nunneries (Gilchrist 1989). Irish friaries usually and techniques of production can be obtained have the cloister to the north. These are both (Spencer 1990). The study of loose moulded stones worthy of study using international comparisons. from excavations on sites which are apparently well- known can reveal aspects of the demolished struc- tures that have never been suspected. The study of Monastic precincts and properties marking out lines on individual moulded stones can show how the mason has measured and shaped them, Attention has rightly been given in recent years to and tool-marks can reveal the tools used. The the precincts and estates of monasteries, but much comparison of mouldings from different buildings, remains to be done. Sites where the claustral build- as well as masons marks, still have enormous ings have been investigated and which have full potential for the investigation of comparative dating, documentation provide the best opportunities as the the movements of craftsmen, and the size of labour surroundings can then be related to the monastic forces (despite being studied for a century and a half core within a historical framework. Thus sites such – the use of computers to process the complex and as Fountains and Rievaulx have proved particularly voluminous material has the potential to revolu- interesting, and yet even at Fountains the functions tionise these studies). of up to forty buildings lying to the south of the River Skell in the outer courtyard are unknown (Coppack 1994). Structures such as bridges, mills, Anatomical studies and burial practices spring houses, barns, smithies, dovecotes etc can be studied with resulting information about the Despite the number of excavations of monastic monastic economy. Earthwork surveys, and aerial churches and graveyards there is still a paucity of photography such as the revealing study of Norfolk reports on anatomical research and burial practices. houses such as Shouldham and West Dereham Very big, well-excavated samples such as the 1600 demonstrates the extensive nature of precincts and skeletons from Whithorn (Hill 1991) and skeletons estates, and often impressive measures taken for from St Gregory’s Priory in Canterbury provide Strategies for Future Research and Site Investigation 7 excellent opportunities for demographic and health can stimulate research. For example, the pre- studies, with the information made much more paration of a model of a monastic site requires useful still by comparison with other regions (and the synthesis of information from a breadth of countries) and chronologically. There needs to be a sources with the discipline of presenting it in clear distinction drawn between the different groups three-dimensional form. The recreation of the likely to be buried on a monastic site – the inmates chapter house entrance at St Mary’s Abbey, , themselves, benefactor families, lay servants, and by the Yorkshire Museum is the result of innova- possibly inhabitants of the demesne estate. tive research into twelfth-century architectural details, and into contemporary materials used in the reconstructed portal and flanking windows. Environmental studies c) There is a need for evaluation of visitors’ responses to the interpretation of monastic sites The wealth of information produced by the study of to improve the quality of presentation and environmental remains shows this to be one of the publications. most productive areas for expanding knowledge of monastic life and practices. Analysis of faunal remains, especially animal and bird bones, shells, Conclusion fish bones and scales etc has revealed much about monastic diet, butchery practices etc. Vegetable Despite a century and a half of research into medieval remains, in the form of grains, seeds, pollen etc have monasticism, the field for further investigation likewise elucidated diet, the flora of monastic remains very extensive. The potential scope is widen- precincts and medicinal practices. The assessment of ing as innovative techniques of investigation and locations where such material is likely to be found recording, and novel research methodologies such as should be part of any excavation strategy for an spatial analysis are applied to the vast subject of individual site. Drains, moats, fishponds and rubbish monasteries. The international nature of monasticism pits have high potential for preserved organic makes it particularly appropriate for collaborative materials. research on a European scale. A sense of urgency is generated by the knowledge that standing monastic sites are vulnerable to increasingly intensive land The Dissolution use. The need to interpret monasticism to a public interested in the past yet often with little contact with Most sites with standing masonry are capable of being religious observance is particularly challenging, studied in terms of how monastic buildings were requiring evaluation into methods of interpretation. damaged or converted to new uses at the time of the Dissolution or thereafter, but surprisingly little research has been published. The combination of structural studies, sometimes excavation and always Bibliography documentary, cartographic and pictorial research can Coppack G 1994, Fountains Abbey, London, Batsford/ provide valuable information into one of the most English Heritage. fundamental transformations that society in Britain Dix B 1994, ‘Garden archaeology at Kirby Hall and has undergone (albeit more gradual in Scotland and Hampton Court’, Current Archaeology 140, 292–9. Ireland, but nonetheless far reaching). Standing Donkin R A 1978, The Cistercians: Studies in the Medieval buildings themselves usually represent the point at Geography of England and Wales, Toronto. which systematic demolition and casual ‘quarrying’ Gilchrist R 1989, ‘The archaeology of English medieval stopped, and thus can provide copious information nunneries: a research design’ in Gilchrist and Mytum, 251–60. on the process of destruction. Gilchist R and Mytum H (eds) 1989, The Archaeology of Rural Monasteries, British Archaeological Reports British Series 203. The interpretation of monastic sites Greene J P 1989a, Norton Priory; the Archaeology of a Medieval Religious House, Cambridge University Press. Research is invaluable for interpretation in three Greene J P 1989b, ‘Methods of interpretation of monastic major aspects: sites’ in Gilchrist and Mytum 1989, 313–25. a) Good interpretation has as a prerequisite high Greene J P 1992, Medieval Monasteries, Leicester University Press (paperback 1994). quality research, or what is presented to visitors Hill P H 1991, Whithorn 3: Excavations at Whithorn Priory is misleading, or stereotyped, or bland, or all 1988–90, Whithorn Trust. three (Greene 1989b; 1992). Hirst S M Walsh D A and Wright S M 1983, Bordesley b) The requirement of authoritative presentation Abbey II, Oxford, British Archaeological Reports III. 8 J Patrick Greene

Hodges R 1991, Wall-to-Wall History: the story of Roystone ment in England and Wales, Oxford, British Archae- Grange, London, Duckworth. ological Reports. Lillich M D, 1993, Studies in Cistercian Art and Architecture Spencer B 1990, Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum 4, Cistercian Publications. Medieval Catalogue: Part 2, Pilgrim Souvenirs and Secular Pressouyre L (ed), 1994, L’Espace Cistercien, Comite des Badges, Salisbury. Travaux Historiques et Scientifiques, Memoires de la Williams D H 1990, Atlas of Cistercian Lands in Wales, Section d’Archaeologie et d’Histoire de l’Art No 5, Paris Cardiff, University of Wales Press. Robinson D M 1980, The Geography of Augustinian Settle-