Archaeological Evaluation
Date April 2019 - October 2019
Event ID 1107387
Category Recording
Type Archaeological Evaluation
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1107387
NX 69993 54238 Further trial excavations were undertaken, from April to October 2019, at the N end of the garden of Mansewood on the site of the Premonstratensian Abbey, founded by Alan, Lord of Galloway in 1218 (DES 2015, 60; DES 2016, 53-4; DES 2017, 68; DES 2018, 64-5).
Six trial trenches were excavated to the S and E of the 2018 trenches and recovered more structural evidence for the location and plan of the abbey. The line of the broad, 1.30m wide wall foundation was found to continue further to the SW through Trench 19 but in the form of a 0.90m wide shell-mortared stone foundation. A corner was exposed in the trench where the wall line turned through a right angle towards the SE. Immediately to the S of this wall and parallel to it was a stone-lined water channel / drain with a clay base. In Trench 18 to the N, remnants of a heavily-robbed foundation were found bonded at a right angle into the 1.30m foundation noted above. This was aligned towards the SE and could be traced for 8m within the trenches opened, and was seen to be continuing further SE. Immediately S of this wall, fragmentary evidence was found of a floor comprising a weathered red sandstone surface with a skim of mortar. There was some evidence for a wall running at a right angle towards the SW from the heavily robbed foundation.
Taken together, the evidence appears to indicate the existence of a floored, rectangular, enclosed space 5m wide (NW-SE) and 7.5m long (NE-SW), probably forming the extreme W end of the S range of the cloister; a space often identified as a kitchen on other monastic sites. The location and alignment of the water supply channel / drain to the S of the range would support this interpretation. If this interpretation is correct, then the N side of the heavily-robbed NW-SE wall would presumably define the S side of the cloister garth. If it is assumed that the area occupied by the cloister garth probably measured in the region of 20-25m square, then the site of the abbey church will probably lie beyond the N boundary of Mansewood grounds and within Tongland
Archive: NRHE (intended). Report: Dumfries and Galloway HER, NRHE (intended)
Funder: Hunter Archaeological and Historical Trust
David Devereux
(Source: DES Vol 20)
