RUSHEN ABBEY
ARCHAEOLOGY NEWS
This Week’s News                                                             No. 1          June  16  2003
On behalf of Manx National Heritage a team of archaeologists from the Centre for Manx Studies arrived on site last Wednesday (11th June) to begin planning this year’s dig. Together with additional local volunteers, this team will be joined by twelve archaeology students and a tutor from the University of Liverpool next Wednesday (18th June). We may then see some serious amounts of topsoil being moved around in wheelbarrows!
Finds
Last year we found the following metallic object. Do you know what it is? We don’t! It’s about 10 cm (4 inches) long.

Calendar of Events

June 11 .................................................................. Archaeologists arrive on site
June 18 .................................................................. First intake of students arrive
July   2 ................................................................... Second intake of students arrive
July 13 ................................................................... A day of Archaeology at Rushen Abbey
July 16 ................................................................... Third intake of students arrive

Why are we digging at Rushen Abbey ?

The abbey was founded in 1134 by Savignac monks from Furness in Cumbria at the invitation of the manx king Olaf 1st. In 1153 Pope Eugenius 111, in confirming the grant, adds the intriguing information that the abbey occupied the site of the monastery of St Leoc, about which we have no further information. Geo-physical survey work carried out in 1998 suggested that there were several deep ditches in and around the area in which the archaeologists are currently working, and that the arrangement of these ditches suggested the boundaries of an early Christian burial ground. “Lintel” graves at the east end of the excavation site were recorded in 1926 when a gymnasium (later a dance hall, and more recently the Academy Night Club) was being constructed. It is hoped therefore to establish the extent of the burial ground, and locate if possible any monastic buildings which predate the founding of Rushen Abbey. It is possible that, like the monastery which existed in Maughold at about this period, there may be the remains of several keeills (small chapels) on site.

Preliminary test pits dug in 1998 produced some interesting organic remains in some of the ditches mentioned above. In particular some burnt grain found was radiocarbon dated to 1075-1155 AD. These dates straddle the founding date of the Abbey, so unfortunately we cannot be sure if the grain was from the Savignac period of the Abbey (1134-1147) or from the earlier occupation of the site.

What do we hope to find this year ?

Our main aim is to find structures, or evidence of structures, that would assist in our understanding of the development of the site in the 11th and 12th centuries in particular. 

Ideally, in connection with such structures, we would hope to find some organic material (wood, bone, etc.) from which we could get some fairly precise radiocarbon dates. Alternatively a coin or two in a sound archaeological context (e.g. within a particular floor level) would be quite handy!

As we are still working around an area which contains some burials, we may come across some burial goods which would assist in dating the graves. We will certainly continue to find small pieces of pottery of all sorts, including pieces of modern plant pots and ceramic jam jars!