Archaeology Notes

Event ID 710183

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/710183

NT08NE 1.00 08964 87310 and 08996 87309

NT08NE 1.01 c.0907 8730 Entrance Gateways and Precinct Wall

NT08NE 1.02 08940 87254 The Pends (Gatehouse)

NT08NE 1.03 0918 8710 Gate

NT08NE 1.04 0896 8737 Gate

NT08NE 1.05 0894 8734 Gate

NT08NE 1.06 08919 87261 Palace and Kitchen

NT08NE 1.07 08963 87261 Frater Hall

NT08NE 1.08 09036 87379 Abbot's House

NT08NE 1.09 0896 8728 Cloisters

NT08NE 1.10 090 871 Mill

NT08NE 1.11 0895 8721 Barn; Stables; Mill

NT08NE 1.12 0903 8737 Trial Excavations; Burial Ground; Culvert

NT08NE 1.13 089 872 Watching Brief

NT08NE 1.14 0903 8731 Chapel

NT08NE 1.15 0904 8128 Cemetery

NT08NE 1.16 08994 87243 Dorter and Reredorter

NT08NE 1.17 08947 87346 New Abbey Parish Church, Boundary Wall and Railings

NT08NE 1.18 09079 87308 New Abbey Parish Church, East Gateway

NT08NE 1.19 08964 87377 New Abbey Parish Church, North West Gateway

NT08NE 1.20 08937 87310 New Abbey Parish Church, West Gateway

NT08NE 1.21 09068 87320 New Abbey Parish Church, Gatehouse.

(NT 0898 8731) Abbey (NR) (remains of)

OS 6" map (1967)

The remains of the Benedictine Abbey founded by David I in 1128 overlying the foundations of the Church of the Holy Trinity, founded by Queen Margaret c. 1070, in which a priory was apparently established. The plan of Queen Margaret's church is outlined on the floor of the nave of the later church and parts of the foundation can be seen through gratings. The plan, recovered by excavation about 1916, consists of a nave with a square set tower. A choir and apse appear to have been added at a slight later date and on a slightly different axis.

Of the Benedictine Abbey, the nave of the church, also dedicated to the Holy Trinity, remains, now used as a vestibule to the parish church which was built in 1819 on the site of the choir, transepts and crossing tower of its predecessor. The remains of a 13th century chapel, dedicated to St Margaret, which was attached to the E end of the Abbey Church, still survive at the E end of the modern church.

Of the conventual buildings only the under-buildings of the frater, dorter and rere-dorter remain (NT08NE 1.07) to the S of the graveyard which now occupies the site of the cloister (NT08NE 1.09) and most of

the E range. These are all 14th century, the earlier buildings having been destroyed in 1303 by Edward I who spared only the church.

On the south, these buildings are separated by a terrace, crossed by a late 14th century gatehouse (NT08NE 1.02) from the kitchens and the guest-house. These also are 14th century although in the late 16th or early 17th century's the guest-house was raised in height, substantially altered and transformed into a royal palace (NT08NE 1.6). The 16th century Abbot's House (NT08NE 1.08) is now occupied as tenements.

The Abbey precinct (NT08NE 1.01 and NT08NE 03 -05) was surrounded by a wall 12' high and 4' - 5' thick with ports and posterns, enclosing an area of 360 acres. The Abbey mill was about NT 0903 8719 (NT08NE 1.10).

RCAHMS 1933; D E Easson 1957; E Henderson 1879

The Abbey Church is still in use as a vestibule to the parish church.

Visited by OS (DWR) 18 February 1974

Reports on excavations at Dunfermline Abbey in 1975 and 1977, the latter exposing what may be part of the south wall of the early church.

T M Robertson, G H Williams, G Haggerty and N Reynolds 1982

Correspondence relating to the discovery of stone sarcophagi in 1847, and correspondence, drawings and photographs relating to P MacGregor Chalmer's 1916 excavations are held in the National Archives of Scotland (MW/1/901).

Information from RCAHMS (IF), 19 August 2002.

NT 089 873 A watching brief was undertaken in February 2005 during the excavation of a trench to repair a drain serving the abbey toilets, running from the E wall of the abbey, underneath a tarmac path to the S of St Margaret's Shrine, and joining the main sewage system in the nearby street. The excavations revealed a site that had obviously been disturbed at least four times in the past in order to provide drainage, water and lighting facilities to the early 19th-century abbey. Nothing of archaeological interest was discovered.

Archive to be deposited in NMRS.

Sponsors: HS A, Kilmadock Development Trust.

S Hogg 2005