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RUSHEN ABBEY

ARCHAEOLOGY NEWS

This Week's News                                                                               No. 3                                           July 2nd  2003                

We have opened up two new areas for excavation. These are at the northern edge of the fenced area and can be seen quite easily by visitors. The heavy rain of last Friday helped soften the ground and make digging much easier, although we were forced to abandon the site for the entire morning. The diggers were squeezed into two small huts and spent the time cleaning pottery finds with toothbrushes!

On Friday afternoon, after the rain had stopped, the dig was filmed b a Belgian television crew who are producing a "travel program" about the Island. Nick Johnson, the Site Director, gave an interview (in English).

Large crowds gathered within the grounds on Sunday for the monthly "Songs of Praise" outdoor service. Many of these visitors came down to the site to see the archaeologists in action afterwards, and we explained to several people that we are not intent on digging up skeletons, but if through careful excavation we can establish where the boundaries of the burial ground actually are, we can avoid our ancestors being dug up, either by us or by contractors etc. in the future.      

Finds                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

At long last we are starting to get some medieval pottery, although the main bulk of finds is fairly modern material most of which has probably come from the demolished Academy Night Club buildings. The most common find at the moment seems to be floor tiles which were perhaps from the kitchen area of the Night Club, which apparently underwent a refit in the 1950s.

Finds tray containing pieces of floor tile etc.

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Calendar of Events                                                                                                                                                                                        

ARCHAEOLOGY

Wednesday July 2nd ................................................ 2nd Group of University students arrived on site to dig

Sunday July 13th ...................................................... "Excavation at Rushen Abbey" 10.00am to 4.00pm

Wednesday July 16th ................................................ Final group of University students arrived on site to dig

Saturday & Sunday, 19th & 20th July ........................ National Archaeology Days : Cregneash 11.00am to 4.00pm

OTHER EVENTS

Sunday July 27th  ...................................................... "Songs of Praise" at Rushen Abbey 2.30pm

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 III 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 in 1997 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 a early Christian burial ground. "Lintel" graves were recorded at the east end of the excavation site back in 1926 when a dance floor (later part of the Academy Night Club, and later still, a gymnasium) was being constructed.

Some of the main aims of the excavations are to find out the extent of the burial ground (but not to excavate graves), and see whether there is an trace left of religious buildings before the Abbey. Many large abbeys were built on sites that had already had some religious importance, such as small chapels (or keeills as they are known in the Island). Preliminary test pits, dug in 1998, produced some interesting organic remains in some of the ditches mentioned above. In particular some burnt grain 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 an 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 pot and ceramic jam jars!

 Manx National Heritage

This excavation is funded by Manx National Heritage and the University of Liverpool, and is being carried out by the Centre for Manx Studies on behalf of Manx National Heritage. All content is (c) Centre for Manx Studies 2003