Among the volunteers was Councillor Don Fisher who is seen here at the scene of the excavations with a stone head, perhaps a gargoyle, which was found on the site.

THE 1985 DIG IN PROGRESS

BOURNE ABBEY EXCAVATION - 1985

by Christine M Mahany

Reproduced from Fenland Research 1986-87

Bourne Abbey was a house of Augustinian canons of the Arrouasian reform. It was founded in 1138 by Baldwin FitzGilbert de Clare in and to the north of the existing parish church, which was in existence by at least 1086 and probably also served previously as an Anglo-Saxon minster church. The buildings occupied an area close to the river Bourne Eau less than 1 km west of the peat fen. The establishment of the abbey was linked to the rebuilding of the parish church, and much of the nave appears to date from the period immediately after the abbey's foundation. The conventual buildings were assumed by Pevsner to lie to the north of the church, on the basis of architectural evidence.

The building of a new vicarage on the bowling green adjacent to the north side of the church provided the justification for mounting a small excavation in August 1985. The funds available were exceedingly limited (£2,000), and the aims were correspondingly restricted. It was hoped merely to establish the existence of claustral or other buildings and to gain some idea of their nature, state of preservation, and date. In fact, because of the very good support received from unpaid volunteers it was possible to investigate quite a substantial portion of the conventual buildings.

The north range
A substantial range of stone buildings lay on the north side of the cloister garth, separated from it by a wide alley. The south wall of the frater was represented by a robber trench 5 ft thick, and its west wall, which was partially robbed, was 6 ft thick. Imperial measurements are given as being more closely related to the builders' requirements. The frater was 23 ft in width internally, and plaster/mortar floor levels of several periods survived. The cloister alley had a mortared floor surface. The cloister wall itself had been rebuilt in the 15th century and provided with an internal drain, and a possibly battlemented parapet.

The rest of the north range was considerably disturbed by the 18th century vicarage which had occupied the site, but it was clear that west of the frater, the claustral buildings were of slighter construction, and were indeed misaligned to the frater, forming a dog-leg with its south wall.

The west range
The west range had been much disturbed by post-Dissolution buildings, of which ample evidence remained in the form of brick and timber foundation. The expected stone foundations of the abbey buildings were notable by their absence, and it seems clear that the west range never was completed in stone, or certainly not to the standard and scale of the north range. That there was a good deal of 12th century activity on this part of the site was evident from the presence of a large pit containing much charcoal and Stamford ware, just where the western range might have been expected. The area was too disturbed by later structures to be certain of the presence of 12th century timber buildings. On the whole the likelihood is that the early buildings were offset somewhat east of the 13th century west front of the church and related to a previous west front which had been obscured by the construction of foundations of the two west towers.

The east range
The evidence for the east range was limited to the discovery of the eastern extension of the cloister wall. It was clear that the eastern extent of building lay outside the area available for excavation. The scale of the cloisters was probably approximately 95 ft square internally.

There were some small features that could be assigned to the period 1st-4th centuries AD, and some Roman pottery was recovered. The site was evidently peripheral to a more substantial Roman settlement.

Acknowledgements
The excavation was directed by Christine M Mahany and supervised by Jim Hunter, to whom all gratitude is due. Thanks are also due to many volunteers and helpers, and to Councillor Don Fisher and the incumbent, the Rev John Warwick, for their help and cooperation. Thanks are also due to Dr Richard Halsey and Dr Arnold Taylor for visiting the site and discussing its interpretations.